Online Gamers Pro

It would be an understatement to say that Farcry 2 had high expectations. The original game had developed a loyal following and raised the bar for first person shooters.

Graphics:

When Ubisoft created Farcry 2, they introduced a new game engine called Dunia. Like Crytek’s CryEngine 2, Dunia raised the bar for 3d gaming. The Dunia Engine was built specifically for Far Cry® 2 by the award-winning Ubisoft Montréal development team.

Dunia delivers realistic destructible environments, amazing 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..

The best feature of the Dunia Engine is the fact that you don’t need a ultra expensive PC to enjoy stunning graphics. I found that a Q6600 with 3GB RAM and a Nvidia 8600 GT could run with everything on high and AA set to x2 (using Direct X 9). The same PC could only run Crysis on medium, with less than spectacular visual display.

The real-time night and day cycle was a cool effect and was reminiscent of GTA San Andreas. I think this feature would really work well in an online multiplayer environment.

The physics and fire propagation all made for a very realistic virtual world. I was especially impressed at how fire responded to different environments. For example the fire would spread quickly in tall grass and would fizzle out in lush tropical settings.

Overall the Dunia engine is very promising, and makes playing Crysis feel like a step backwards.

Farcry 2 takes place in some small  African country. 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.

Gameplay:

The developers did a good job with simplifying the game interface that results in very immersive experience. The game has standerd first person shooter controls and driving vehicles was surprisingly easy.

The open gameplay style allows for the players to choose thier missions. Missions are broken down into main missions, gun shop missions, buddy missions and underground missions.

In the beginning you are hired to kill the Jackel, the basterard that is arming both sides of the conflict. Within a few minutes, you catch malaria, the jackel saves your life and the war turns into open conflict.

From there you are recurit by one of the factions fighting for control of the country. For a few blood diamonds you will conduct sabatoge and assassinations. The missions do get repeatitous but they offer just enough motivation to keep it interesting.

The rescue buddy concept is interesting and offers a great way of getting out of bad situations. The large map makes for a lot of traveling, but thankfully the bus stops offer a quick way to travel around withour running into too many hostiles.

I have heard some people complain about the bots respawning at checkpoints. I didnt find this too bothersome, and could imagine that any army would re-man their positions.

Final Thoughts:

Overall the Far Cry 2 is a great FPS, with realistic gameplay, stunning graphics, seamlessly rendered African landscape. The open gameplay keeps things interesting, even if the missions seem montenous. I must admit that the days of linear gameplay may be over. I can see for gamers opting for the free roam style gaming over linear gaming.

End.