Marketed as a "sequel" to 2004's Far Cry, this new iteration bears little resemblance to its critically acclaimed predecessor.
Players who remember traversing the lush tropic scenery and battling mutant soldiers in the first Far Cry will now have to contend with the sandy, hot climes of a fictional African nation gripped by anarchy and chaos.
The game pits the player as a run-of-the-mill mercenary - with no real back story or emotive qualities - whose sole mission is to locate and kill a notorious arms dealer called "The Jackal," a man supposedly fueling the bloody civil carnage between the two fictional factions in the game.
Far Cry 2 Brings Africa to Life
The game actually starts off promisingly enough.
Soon after the player selects his or her mercenary, an extended and graphically impressive cut scene shows off the powerful rendering capabilities of Far Cry 2's Dunia engine.
Riding shotgun in a taxi, the player is treated to all the wonders of the African countryside. Huts, villagers, water falls, swaying grass, and realistic sunlight are all brilliantly displayed in this on-the-rails intro.
The graphics continue to wow once the action starts.
Fire from explosions spread realistically across grassy landscapes, convincingly engulfing trees and any unlucky enemy that ventures into the blaze's path. Particle effects from gunfire and the weapons themselves all look great too.
The incredible graphics, however, aren't enough to save this game.
Far Cry 2 a Lesson in Infuriating Gameplay
Eye-catching graphics aside, Far Cry 2 commits a bevy of gameplay sins that only add up to a very frustrating experience.
While the game offers players 50 square kilometres of African landscape to explore, to describe the game as "open-ended" would be a bit of a misnomer. Instead of the truly free-roaming mechanics seen in a game like Grand Theft Auto 4, the player is largely confined to the game's carefully laid out dirt roads.
Many of the vehicles in the game (which range from run-down sedans to larger ATVs) are unable to venture off the beaten path while cliffs and mountainsides are cleverly placed to hinder the player's movement on foot.
This poses a problem as players are then forced to either destroy or drive through the heavily armed guard posts that litter the game's roads. In many instances, there is just no avoiding these checkpoints. Stealth? Forget about it. The enemy AI seems to have an uncanny eye for spotting the player, even when buried under dense foliage, which can get downright irritating.
Firefights with the soldiers and mercenaries at these posts make up the bulk of the action in Far Cry 2. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just that these moments of action feel contrived, repetitive and cookie-cutter after the umpteenth encounter.
It also doesn't help that the guards at these posts re-spawn far too quickly or that there is no way to quick travel to destinations on the map (a la Oblivion or Fallout 3) in order to skip some of these annoying and much-too-frequent guard fights.
Kill or Be Killed and Not Much Else in Ubisoft's Shooter
Mission variety, or lack thereof, also poses a problem in this first-person shooter.
As a mercenary, the player has the choice of taking up jobs from either faction. Along the way, computer-controlled buddy mercs can also offer alternative solutions to game objectives (and help the player out of a jam when he or she is down).
But regardless of the route the player takes, the game's objectives almost always boil down to kill or be killed, with missions devolving into: go here, eliminate this target, collect reward, progress the story.
Of course, the way in which the player executes the objectives will vary - and certainly the game's weaponry, which includes everything from improvised explosives to silenced pistols, encourages a creative approach.
But more often than not, the game's eagle-eyed and unrealistic enemy AI forces the player to take the simplest, most direct route - with guns blazing. And this just makes for boring, unimmersive gaming.
Far Cry 2 a Far Cry From Fun
There's no doubt that Far Cry 2 is a technical marvel.
The game looks and runs spectacular on current gen consoles, and looks even more impressive on a high-end PC.
But for what it achieves in spades in the graphics department, the game is simply not much fun to play.
Like Ubisoft's other triple-A release, Assassin's Creed, this jungle-shooter boasts some great technical prowess but suffers from repetitive gameplay, non-existant mission variety, and an illusory "open world" concept.
On the whole, Far Cry 2 plays like a title that began development with good intentions and high ambitions but for whatever reason was only half-finished.
