Impressions: Far Cry 2 (Eric)

360 version previewed

Far Cry 2 was one of the most graphically impressive games I’ve ever seen. Atmosphere is a challenging component of immersion, but Far Cry delivered the balmy African savannah with remarkable success. It was probably a crisp 60 degrees in the suite, but I could almost feel the sweat rolling down my back whilst looking at the title. Visuals on the Crysis level of awesome was a pleasant aid to Far Cry 2’s draw, especially when you consider many of the games components were ported over from the PC version.

The general premise, an open world take on a first person shooter, seems to feature an absurd amount of freedom. Scripted AI is left in the dust in favor of dynamic, ever changing moments of open ended gameplay. “Something different could happen every time,” is a fine bullet point we’ve seen on countless games, but Far Cry 2 pushes this into reality with remarkable success. Enemy routines are completely random, not falling into any recognizable pattern of routine. This was demonstrated with satisfying precision when we wound up doing some rather ridiculous/accidental manifestations of poor driving skills with a jeep.

In somewhat humors fashion, the developers have chosen to nonchalantly drop the main characters of the previous iteration because, as one of the developers informed us, “no one really cared about that guy in the first place.” Thus you’re now given the optional to control of at least twelve other fully fleshed out characters. What’s more, which ever character you don’t select will likely play an essential role in determining your characters path throughout the game. In our demo, Wesley, a Native American commando, rescued our character after he died (read:lost) and brought him back to safety (he was even kind enough to hand off a pistol upon resurrection).

While that seems like a nice way to skirt the whole realism issue with ‘lives’, the reality is much more complex. For example, Wesley can request backup for his own mishaps and, if you choose not to go save his ass, you can kiss him goodbye for the rest of the game. More intriguing, however, is the fact that if you’re in need of a weapon (and incredibly stupid) you can actually choose to kill Wesley and use his armaments. This irrationally blissful amount of freedom is a welcomed feature, though the potential to screw one’s self over with deviant behavior is something to take into consideration.

If there’s anything sporadically underwhelming with the game, it would have to be the accessibility inherent to all first person shooters. They can be a brutally tough genre, and, noting the developer’s admission that this build was “really really hard,” seemed to indicate Far Cry 2 would stick to these lines. While I’m sure that will be fine tuned in the months ahead, I can see it being discouraging for those who may not be all that into the first person genre. For everyone else, aka the millions upon millions who enjoyed CoD4, Bioshock, and Half Life 2, Far Cry looks to build upon those stellar titles as it tries to advance the genre in ways previously untested.