Product Description

Far Cry 2, the next-generation first-person shooter, will take you deep into the most beautiful but also most hostile environments in the world: Africa! More than just a visual and technological achievement, Far Cry, the true sequel to the award-winning PC game, will provide you with an unprecedented gaming experience. Caught between two rival factions in war-torn Africa, you are sent to take out "The Jackal," a mysterious character who has rekindled the conflict between the warlords, jeopardizing thousands of lives. In order to fulfil your mission you will have to play the factions against each other, identify and exploit your their weaknesses, and neutralize their superior numbers and firepower with surprise, subversion, cunning and, of course, brute force. OPEN WORLD - The extensive artistic research combined with the next-gen engine will allow you to explore over 50Km2 of seamlessly rendered African landscape. No game has ever provided such freedom of movement! DUNIA ENGINE - The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry® 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montréal development team. It delivers the most realistic destructible environments, amazing special effects such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system, non-scripted enemy A.I. and much more... REAL-TIME IMMERSION - Real-time story telling, systemic auto-healing, minimal in-game interface are just few of the features that will make you feel the tension of being alone against barbarous warlords that threaten thousands of innocent lives. WEAPONS OF CHOICE - Choose from a wide range of weapons to make your way to your primary target. Meet the fight head-on with your machine-gun, go berserk with your machete or make stealth kills as a Sniper. If you feel that the atmosphere is not warm enough, light up your flamethrower and let your enemies and everything around them feel the heat.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #323 in Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Model: 68408
• Released on: 2008-10-21
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows XP
• Format: DVD-ROM
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds

Features

• First-person shooter for Windows Vista/XP gives players an open-ended gameplaying experience
• Roam the beautifully detailed jungles and savannah of Africa
• Pick up a wide range of weapons and hop into different vehicles
• Dynamic environment, including day-night cycles and fire propagation
• Online multiplayer supports up to 16 players

Amazon.com Product Description
Far Cry 2 by Ubisoft is the anticipated sequel to the award-winning original that brings players into the beautiful and hostile world of Africa. Far Cry 2 for Windows Vista/XP features open-ended gameplay that allows you to play the game whichever way you choose, with the choices you make affecting where the game leads you.

Far Cry 2 Players: Offline: 1 Online: 16 Multiplayer Modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Diamond, Uprising Format: Native 720p high-definition output.

Far Cry 2 brings you to Africa where you'll explore the savannah and the jungle. View larger.

Features real-time night-and-day cycles and smart enemy AI. View larger.

Outstanding Graphics
Ubisoft developed the Dunia Engine specifically for Far Cry 2. Among other things, the Dunia Engine delivers realistic, interactive environments, special effects, real-time night-and-day cycles, and smart enemy AI.

Expansive, Realistic Environment
Far Cry 2 is set in a fictional region of Africa where you are caught between two rival factions at war. The Ubisoft team spent a lot of time filming and photographing in Africa to get all the details of the landscape and native wildlife. The result is a huge gameplay area that is 50 square kilometers, taking players into and out of the jungle and savannah. Wild animals such as zebras, buffalo, gazelle are encountered during the game, with both players and enemies allowed to interact with them.

Far Cry 2 features an incredible level of detail and realism, with a minimal in-game interface to detract from immersion. For example, players will need to navigate the world using an in-game map and navigation system, weapons will disintegrate over time, and fires will spread and propagate.

Each of the actions a player takes is reflected in the environment and changes the content of the game. To fulfill your mission, you need to play the enemies against each other, using both strategy and skill.

Huge Range of Weapons and Vehicles
Far Cry 2 offers gamers a wide range of weapons, from a machete for hand-to-hand combat, to a sniper rifle that can stealthily pluck off enemies from afar. As weapons disintegrate over time, they might jam or even explode in your hand.

There are also a large range of vehicles such as gliders, trucks, cars, and boats that will let you fly, drive, slide, and hover over the open landscapes.

Multiplayer Options for up to 16 Players
Far Cry 2 supports up to 16 players and has four gameplay modes: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Diamond, and Uprising. Players can choose from six different classes in multiplayer, each with its own set of pros and cons. Just as in the single-player mode, multiplayer games will feature dynamic elements, making each session unique.

System Requirements
	Minimum	Recommended
Operating System	Microsoft Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
CPU	Intel Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, Intel Pentium D 2.66 GHz, AMD Athlon 64 3500+ or better	Intel Core 2 Duo Family, AMD 64 X2 5200+, AMD Phenom or better
Memory	1 GB	2 GB
Hard Drive Space	12 GB of free space
Graphics Hardware	NVidia 6800 or ATI X1650 or better; must support Pixel Shader 3.0	Nidia 8600 GTS or better, ATI X1900 or better

Amazon.com
Far Cry 2 finds you caught between two rival factions in war-torn Africa. You're sent to take out "The Jackal," a mysterious character who has rekindled the conflict between the warlords, jeopardizing thousands of lives. In order to fulfill your mission you will have to play the factions against each other, identify and exploit their weaknesses, and neutralize their superior numbers and firepower with surprise, subversion, cunning and, of course, brute force.

Built specifically for Far Cry 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montreal development team, the Dunia Engine delivers the most realistic destructible environments, special effects, such as dynamic fire propagation and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system and non-scripted enemy A.I. You can explore 50 kilometers of rendered African landscape. Far Cry 2 also boasts real-time immersion. Real-time story telling, systemic auto-healing, and minimal in-game interface are just few of the features that will make you feel the tension of being alone against barbarous warlords that threaten thousands of innocent lives.

With your choice of a wide selection of weapons, you'll meet the fight head-on with your machine-gun, go berserk with your machete, or make stealth kills as a sniper. If you feel that the atmosphere is not warm enough, light up your flame-thrower and let your enemies and everything around them feel the heat. With your glider, trucks, cars, and boats, you'll fly, run, drive, slide and hover over this huge open world.

Customer Reviews

Far Cry 2 - Meh Edition
Far Cry 2 is OK. It's nothing to write home about, though.

My issues with the game:
1. - Guns - Who did the firearm research on this game? Some guns, like the AK-47, are completely mirror image. Some, like the HK G3, are just wrong. (Charging handle and ejection port both on the left side? Not in this reality.)
2. - Damage - Shooting someone in the chest with 10-20 rounds from the PKM to kill them? Zzzzz.
3. - No prone? Come on, is this the 90s?
4. - Enemies can see me in the dead of night, and know where I am, even when I am in the bushes and using a silencer. Hmmm...
5. - Repetative missions - Wow, let's do the same missions over and over and over and over and over...
6. - Respawning badguys. Just cleared that guard post? Funny that all the guards are back 3 minutes later...
7. - "Most realistic fire ever!" - with fire graphics that look completely unrealistic.

Give this property back to Crytech. Ubisoft did a half-baked job at best.

EDIT: Also, the DRM this game installs broke the Burn feature of Windows Media Player on my PC. Buyer Beware.

EDIT 2: SecuRom has a program on their website that will allow you to remove their DRM from your machine. However, it will be reinstalled - without warning or notification - the very next time you play a game with SecuRom DRM. If - like me - you have issues with burning CDs after installing one of these game, you pretty much have to uninstall the DRM anytime you want to burn. Convenient, huh?

Dumbed Down and a Far Cry From What You Wanted
Before the release of Far Cry 2 the game was being hyped as a new generation of First Person Shooter--one to set a new bar.

What they showed us was footage of combat surgery, fire propagation, stealth gameplay, mercenary buddies, and a vast sandbox.

What we hoped for was a First Person Shooter that would have all of those things finely tuned and greatly expanded upon, immersing us in a world where guns for hire and arms dealers were partners in a civil war.

What we got was exactly what they showed... EXACTLY what they showed. The combat surgery is just for show. The fire propagation dies so very quickly so that it seems more like a fireworks display rather than a true wildfire. The stealth gameplay fails more often than not leading you right back to the run and gun style of play First Person Shooters are infamous for. The mercenary buddies are nothing more than strangers giving you second chances, as well as a means to give you a side-mission whilst doing a mission. And the sandbox is just littered with no-name faces just wandering around, waiting to shoot you on sight--that is to say that they show absolutely no intelligence and are far too plentiful. Let's not forget that the game is very rough around the edges and needs some serious patching.

It's as if they half-made a game, ran out of time, dumbed it all down, stitched the little bits and pieces together, threw in a story, and made three large maps for it. The game is overly easy and is only made difficult by beefing up foes so that they take more shots to kill. And the hardest part about the game is staying interested enough to play smart, and not simply plow your technicle into the middle of an enemy camp just so you can feel a little more excitement.

The only saving grace is the hope that maybe, JUST MAYBE, the modding community can modify the game to be what it ought to be. But as it is right now, there is now SDK for them to work with, so they will have to rough it out on their own until one is released, if ever one is. On the bright side, the STALKER modding community has done wonders for that game even without an SDK, so here's hoping.

Until then, I'm shelving my copy, and warn any prospective buyers to wait for the price to drop before you bother picking it up.

Far Cry 2 is Far off the Mark
Id like to preface my review by stating that in no way has my opinion of the game been swayed by the DRM used for piracy protection by Ubisoft. This review is solely in regards to the gameplay itself.

With my pure enjoyment of Far Cry and Crysis, I was extremely excited about the release of this game. Unfortunatly when I began playing the game, I became more and more disappointed as I played. In fact, if it werent for the graphics, this would easily be considered an instant bargin bin title.

I have so many gripes about this game that Im not quite sure where to begin, so I will start with my biggest one... the firefights. You have so much against you from the very beginning that it is extremely difficult to find them enjoyable. In fact you feel as though you are being punished just for taking the mission. Your gun will continuously jam. You have malaria, so in the middle of a gunfight you may need to pop a pill to get over it (everything turns yellow and fuzzy). If your health gets low (and it will... continually from all the sharpshooters they have in Africa) you must first pull the bullet out, then.. you must heal yourself. I must ask... why?? I suppose it was to add tension, but only succedes in being frustrating. You will die often... not because you get overwhealmed by the (incredibly stupid) AI, but because of a gun jam, having to heal yourself with a two step process or because you get a malaria outbreak.

As I get off that rant, I invite you to another. Lets investigate the whole "sandbox, free roam, open world..." direction in which the developers decided to take with this sequel. First off the compass is horrible and the map is even worse. Not because they are a bad concept... they work extremely well in GTA and games of the like. The problem is, your objective is sooooo far away that even when you pull out your map, because it isnt a full map, all you see is the general direction you are supposed to be going and not able to pinpoint the best route to take or where exactly your objective is. This is compounded by the fact that you hit several checkpoints (more on these later) that ensue a "forced" firefight... and I believe I already explained how much fun they are. It will take you at least 10 minutes to get from point A to point B because of this. Rediculous.

Now, remember the checkpoints. These lovely roadblocks are apparently set up by guerillas (no... not gorillas) who attack you when you come close. I guess that makes sense, however, the frustrating part is after you destroy a checkpoint, they respawn so every time you drive by, you get attacked again and again and again. If you try to blast through in your vehicle, a car chase ensues.... sounds like fun right? Wrong, because no matter how fast you are going, they magically appear behind you and if they shoot your vehicle 3 or 4 times, it stalls. And I bet you thought the engine was in the front of the vehicle. So, because of this you end up getting out of your vehicle and... you guessed it, a firefight begins... malaria.... damn... gun jammed... shot need health... pull out the bullet... use medi.... dead.

Finally the vehicles themselves. For some reason, the geniuses at Ubisoft only give a 1st person view of driving... so you try to drive, look at map and compass at the same time and because the vehicle handles so poorly you hit a boulder and the vehicle stalls out, so you get in front of the vehicle and fix it. Get back in and hit a lovely checkpoint further up.

There are several other nuances in the game like no checkpoints... well theres lots of those, but I mean autosave points... so hit F5 ALOT or your 10 minute trip from point A to point B can take you 30 minutes. There isnt really much of a story here to be found either, so you really just find yourself doing side missions... even the main missions seem like side missions which dont give you much of a feeling of accomplishment.

I realize I have been on quite a rant, and most of my reviews are not as negative or sarcastic as this. As a matter a fact I dont think I have given a single star review to anything before... but this game definitly deserves it. As I attempt to leave with a positive remark, I am at a loss. I could mention the graphics, however theyre really not better than the original Far Cry... and I can max them out on my machine.

I was extremely disappointed and feel my $60 was just wasted. Ive played the game for about 11 hours, and cannot bring myself to finish it... and thats an extreme rarity for me. With all the great games coming out this year, spend your money on something else.