This game isn't awful. Harvey Smith was the production manager on this game, just as he was for the original, but some things had changed - with a huge demand for first-person shooters instead of immersive RPGs, they made this game in the hopes that it would garner to a larger audience. In that respect, it succeeded. DX:IW is a good first person shooter. That's about it. It just can't compare to the original. Not to mention, it under-uses the DX universe and, if I remember correctly, has quite a few bugs. Still worth it if the price is right, and you absolutely have to get more DX
Nope. I couldn't do it. I bought this game a while back hoping that it would be similar to the first one - great graphics, great open-world, fun, fast, exciting gameplay with just a few updates. Not to mention, the Africa setting looked incredibly neat, and I looked forwards to enjoying some open plains and other such African landscapes. Plus, I'd heard that the fire effects were good, and that fire could be used to your advantage on the battlefield. While some of those things may be true, the rest of the game is just so incredibly dull that it failed to hold my attention for more than 40 minutes or so at a time, and in fact, I never finished it (I have played and enjoyed both Crysis and FarCry 1 to a near-ridiculous level, so I'd been expecting a similar level of quality). Now, I'm going to mention a major plot point, but it's not a spoiler, since it's the first thing that happens in the game: You contract malaria. There's nothing fun about that. Your character, who could have the potential to be a badass on a mission in Africa, is now reduced to a pill-munching sad-sack apparently to afflicted by his disease to do what he had initially set out to do. So instead of FarCry 2 being a vast, open world to explore and scout out enemies in, you end up spending most of your time grinding for medication and abiding by some arbitrary ruleset led by crappy AI. Oh, did I forget to mention that part? There's a 'territorial boundary' system in certain town areas where if you step over an invisible line, people start shooting at you. It makes little to no sense, and it ruins the feel of the whole game being 'open,' especially when you're limited to very specific parts of towns. The timescale also has some issues. You need to make sure that you keep checking the time so that you can do things when they're supposed to be done. It feels tedious more than it feels fun. Yes, I get that it's supposed to have some 'immersion enhancing qualities,' but other games that have realistic timescales don't cause your heart to prematurely conk out because you didn't take your pills on time. Now, in order to qualify, I'm not saying that this is a 'terrible' game, just not a very good one. The graphics are good (though not as good as Crysis, in my opinion) and the FPS mechanics are pretty tight (even though the AI is God-awful and have a tendency to have laser-accuracy before you can even see them). However, If you like following a strict set of rules that don't apply to reality while wandering a surprisingly limited open world, this game is for you. Otherwise, I see very little redeeming qualities in this game, and I would not suggest it to anyone. But, for the sake of GoG being a generally awesome distributor, I suggest you pick up Alan Wake or the Witcher 2 if you're looking for a graphical powerhouse with great gameplay. Especially the Witcher 2. Gives me chills just thinking about it.
