Far Cry 2

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Far Cry 2

Developer(s) Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher(s) Ubisoft
Designer(s) Pierre Rivest
Composer(s) Marc Canham[1]
Series Far Cry
Engine Dunia (Proprietary) with Havok Physics
Native resolution 720p[2]
Version 1.03 (as of June 03, 2009)
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Release date(s) NA October 21, 2008[3]
EU October 24, 2008[3][4]

AUS October 23, 2008[5]
Genre(s) Action, First-person shooter, Sandbox
Mode(s) Single-player, Multiplayer
Rating(s) BBFC: 18
ESRB: M
OFLC: MA15+[6]
PEGI: 16+[7]
USK: 18
Media Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Steam download[8]
System requirements See Development section for requirements matrix
Input methods Keyboard / Mouse, Gamepad

Far Cry 2 is an open-ended first-person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. It was released on October 21, 2008 in North America[3] and on October 23, 2008 in Europe[3] and Australia.[5] Crytek, the developers of the original game, were not involved in the development of Far Cry 2.

Ubisoft has marketed Far Cry 2 as the true sequel to Far Cry, though the sequel has very few noticeable similarities to the original game. Instead, it features completely new characters and setting, as well as a new style of gameplay that allows the player greater freedom to explore different African landscapes such as deserts, jungles, and savannas. The game takes place in a fictional modern-day East African nation in a state of anarchy and civil war. The player takes control of a mercenary on a lengthy journey to locate and assassinate "The Jackal," a notorious arms dealer.

Contents

[edit] Gameplay

African-themed setting and visuals

Far Cry 2 is a sequel to the original Far Cry, but only in name. The game features an open-ended experience, with the player being able to ally with one or multiple factions and mercenaries and to progress through the game world and the missions as they see fit, resulting in a sandbox style of gameplay that allows the story to progress at the speed and in the order the player chooses.[9] The player can choose from a wide range of vehicles, including cars, trucks, boats, and hang gliders to make their way to the target, accommodating play styles ranging from head-on assaults to stealthy infiltrations. Instead of using individual maps, the game takes place in a sprawling African landscape, with terrain ranging from desert to savannah to jungle.[10] The gameplay area is 50 km2 (19.3 sq miles).

The player's actions may also have a lasting effect because the character may interact with the environment: for example, one of the missions shown by the developers had the player sabotage a pipeline owned by one of the factions that is pumping fresh water from the lake to a neighboring country, exchanging it for arms and ammunition. After the player destroys it, part of the surrounding area becomes flooded, including a mine where another mission may take place.[11] However, although the player may accept missions from either of the game's main factions, he operates as a "deniable asset" and so will generally be fired upon by any soldiers of either allegiance that he encounters, except in the ceasefire zones around the main towns.

Driving a car, with sunlight streaming through the foliage.

Various factions and vehicles are featured; enemies include human mercenaries, but sci-fi creatures such as the Trigens from Far Cry are not featured.[12] Furthermore, the player's feral abilities introduced in Far Cry Instincts and its expansions do not return in Far Cry 2. There is also a dynamic weather system that has a day-night cycle and different weather conditions such as storms and strong winds. The time of day also affects the behavior of AI, in terms of enemy alertness and aggressiveness; for example, an enemy might have a slightly heightened awareness at night, but be unable to see the player in hiding, while during the hot part of the day the enemies might be sitting in the shade in groups but easily spot the player from a distance.

The health system is similar to that of Medal of Honor: Airborne and Pariah, where the health status bar is divided into five segments, each of which automatically refills if it is not depleted and the player finds cover for a few seconds. Unlike the previously mentioned games, instead of random health pickups being dropped by enemies or hidden throughout the map, the player is able to carry a limited supply of syrettes (presumably filled with morphine), which can be injected into the character's arm at any time to fully replenish the player's health. The player can obtain more syrettes by searching first aid boxes located throughout the game world. When nearing death (only one health bar remaining), the player's character must perform a brief first aid on himself; for example, the player must dig bullets out of the body when shot and pat himself down when on fire or crack certain bones back into place.

Exploring an African jungle, while holding an RPG launcher.

[edit] Weapons

The player also has access to a large arsenal of real world weapons, including assault rifles, sniper rifles, RPGs, handguns, and light machine guns. The game breaks these weapons down into three types:

In addition to the three selectable types of weapons, a machete that is just as useful for hacking through dense foliage as it is silently cutting down enemies is carried at all times and the player can also carry a number of hand grenades and molotov cocktails. All weapons in game are "mirrored", with ejection ports on left side.

[edit] Degradation

Collecting a rough diamond, used as currency and to purchase brand new weapons and guide books.

A major gameplay feature is that these weapons degrade over time. Weapons become dirty and prone to jamming and will eventually catastrophically fail and become completely unusable. The player can purchase weapons at various gun shops, which provide an unlimited supply of the weapon in brand new condition once it is purchased, along with manuals to upgrade weapon reliability and accuracy. More weapons can be unlocked at the gun shop by completing missions involving the destruction of competitors' arms convoys for the gun shop owner. Weapons can also be picked up off of fallen enemies, but they are always in their most degraded condition and can only be fired a few times before jamming and/or failing.

[edit] Realism

Locating a diamond-briefcase with the help of the handheld GPS proximity sensor (the green LED).

The game has realistic features such as weapon degradation and the dynamic weather system. Also, the player needs to hold a physical map and use a handheld (presumably GPS) navigation system to get around, but they are automatically updated as the player travels through the environment. The player is able to tag certain objects and locations such as cars, sniper towers, ammo pickups and buildings, so that they are able to monitor them on their map. When vehicles are damaged the player must perform a short repair animation, usually consisting of them tightening one of the bolts on the engine with a ratchet. The player also must deal with malaria. Every 30 to 40 minutes in real time, the player must take a pill in order to combat the effects of the illness.

The Dunia Engine allows complex sequences and run-events during gameplay; the game features a day-and-night cycle, as well as tree and vegetation regeneration. A unique fire propagation mechanism, which allows a small fire to spread and eventually cause large bush fires, may be used either to the player's advantage during combat or against the player. The behavior of fire is dependent on factors such as wind speed, wind direction, rain, and vegetation type. For example, a fire may not spread as easily in a lush, moist jungle environment compared to dry, grassy plains and savannahs.

Several species of African wildlife can be encountered in the game, and are able to distract the enemy as well as make them aware of the players' presence.[13] All the large animals in the game are grazing herbivores, such as zebras, wildebeest, gazelle, buffalo, impala, and gemsbok.

"Repairing" a car engine by tightening a radiator bolt.

However, some reviewers noted that the focus on immersion sometimes goes too far (to the point that the game became annoying at times), and was sometimes killed by bad game-design choices and game glitches[14][15][16] (some inconsistent textures and generic character models[17][18], magic map, instant spawning of enemies at check points[19], the diamond caches, the effects of malaria being overused, vehicles and firearms jamming[20]).

[edit] Multiplayer

Multiplayer in Far Cry 2 attempts to include the dynamic elements of the singleplayer game (such as fire propagation) and to provide as accessible gameplay as possible so that it is available to all skill levels and so that players have specific gameplay aspects to keep in mind when designing their own maps in the map editor.[21] It also includes a vast number of vehicles.[22]

Online matches can be held for a maximum of 16 players. Four modes are available with the shipping of the game, consisting of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Diamond (a slight variation of the standard Capture the Flag as the flags are replaced with diamonds), and Uprising. The Uprising mode provides a twist on a node-capture match by including a captain for each team. Only captains can capture the designated points across the map, and a team must assassinate the enemy captain after capturing all the points to win the round.

Multiplayer gameplay is class based, with six classes available. The Commando is the standard grunt class, with an assault rifle; the Sharpshooter specializes in long range with conventional sniper rifles; the Guerrilla excels in close combat and ambush with shotguns; the Rebel uses explosives and fire with flamethrowers and rocket launchers; the Gunner provides heavy firepower with light machine guns and rocket launchers; and the Saboteur uses stealth and silenced weapons . Each class can choose an appropriate primary weapon and a side arm, as well as explosives such as frag grenades or Molotov cocktails. Players are able to unlock more powerful weapons within each class by spending up to three "blood diamonds" on a class; the diamonds are earned through the experience points from killing other players and completing objectives. Potential upgrades for individual weapons within a class include operation manuals, maintenance manuals, and bandoliers.

The Multiplayer has a ranking system which awards points for killing enemy players, reviving friendly players, capturing control points, and capturing diamonds.

[edit] Synopsis

[edit] Setting

Far Cry 2 abandons the science fiction aspects of its predecessor in favor of a more realistic setting. The game takes place in late 2008 in a small, fictional, failed Central African state, currently embroiled in a civil war. The government has recently collapsed, leaving two factions vying for control. At war are the United Front for Liberation and Labour (UFLL, led by Addi Mbantuwe, a former opposition leader) and the Alliance for Popular Resistance (APR, led by Oliver Tambossa, Chief of Staff for the former government). Both factions have claimed to have the people's interests at heart, but both have shown ruthlessness, warmongering, greed, and a general disregard for the well-being of the people. Both sides have hired many foreign mercenaries to bolster their strength over the course of the conflict. The recent exhaustion of the nation's diamond mines has thrown the nation into further turmoil, leaving many foreign mercenaries without payment and no way out.

The goal of the player's character is to find and assassinate the Jackal, an arms-dealer who has been selling weapons to both sides of the conflict. The player must accomplish this goal by whatever means necessary, even if he has to reach the level of immorality employed by the warring factions and the Jackal himself.

[edit] Characters

One of twelve playable characters

The protagonist of previous Far Cry games, Jack Carver, is not featured in this game, though by many he is suspected to be The Jackal. When Ubisoft interviewed players about the original Far Cry in their research for this game, the interviewees did not find the character very memorable or likable. As a result, in the sequel the player chooses from twelve different characters to play, each with a unique look and back story.[23]

[edit] Friends

Left: A 'buddy' who comes to the player character's aid when seriously injured

All of the playable characters are different types of mercenaries. The playable characters the player does not choose to play become non-player characters who are friends of the player's character and who can be found around the in-game nation.[10] These friends are called Buddies and they can serve various roles in the game. All of the buddies offer side missions to the player, completion of which increases that buddy's standing with the player. The player's "Best Buddy" and "Second Best Buddy" can play additional roles.

The player's "Best Buddy" can provide the player alternate, or "subverted" ways to complete most of the main story missions. These subverted missions always require more steps than the standard mission, but they often make the final objective easier. For example, bringing a container of defoliant to one Buddy who has access to a plane, will allow him or her to deprive the enemy of cover when the player assaults a plantation, or bringing a fuse to a buddy that has a bomb will allow him or her to blow up a bridge, simply crushing an enemy barge beneath instead of forcing the player to assault the barge. Completing subverted missions also increases the player's standing with the best buddy and adds "upgrades" to every safe house in the region, such as vehicles parked outside, medical pickups and ammo pickups.

The player's "Second Best Buddy" can come to the player's aid when they fall in battle if they are "rescue ready". The buddy will move them to a safer location, then revive them and help fight off the remaining enemies. The buddy then needs to recuperate and will be ready to save the player again a few days later, after they go visit them in a safe house. And on a side note, after being revived by the buddy the player will lose his secondary weapon and be given a pistol as the player gets up.

Buddies can be wounded or killed in battle during subverted missions, buddy rescues, and other circumstances. When a buddy dies, their death is permanent, and the player has only a limited number of possible buddies in each region. When all of the player's buddies are dead, subverted missions and buddy rescues are no longer available. When buddies are wounded in battle, they will mark their position with a smoke grenade and cry out for help. The player can choose to render aid, or simply leave the buddy to die. If the buddy's wounds are minor enough, the player can inject them with a syrette to fully heal them. However if the buddy's injuries are too severe, the player's only option is to euthanize them by either overdosing them with syrettes or looking away and shooting them in the head.

[edit] Plot

[edit] Act 1

The player's character lands in the northern territory of Leboa-Sako and is introduced to the harsh reality of life in the country. On the way to the town of Pala in a cab, the player character begins to suffer from the effects of malaria and passes out. He awakes inside the hotel and finds the Jackal standing over him. With the player incapacitated by illness, the Jackal briefly offers some insight into his philosophy, quoting from Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil about the will to power. He threatens to kill the player character, but ultimately chooses to spare his life and leaves without his weapons.

Meanwhile, the ceasefire in Pala has collapsed and the UFLL and APR are engaged in open fighting. The player either passes out with malaria after managing to escape or is severely wounded before he can escape. The player is revived in the camp of one of the faction lieutenants in the area. In return for saving the player's life, the lieutenant orders the player to conduct basic errands. The player meets a journalist named Reuben Oluwagembi, who is writing a book about the conflict and the Jackal's part in it. He requests that the player find the tapes of his interview with the Jackal, scattered over the region. Once the player has acquired some malaria medicine from a priest who is helping civilians escape the violence, the player is given the freedom to choose their next mission. In addition to the hunt for the Jackal, the player can provide the Underground with stamped travel documents for refugees in exchange for anti-malarial drugs, ambush convoys of weapon shipments in order to gain access to a greater variety of weapons and equipment from arms dealers, and assassinate targets acquired by intercepting signals from various cell-phone towers in the area.

The player is forced to work with both the UFLL and the APR in Leboa-Sako, each using the player as a deniable agent in order to avoid a full-scale war. When the player is in the faction HQ before he is taking a mission, conversations are heard between the faction leader and the mercenary leader, for example on one occasion they discuss the fact that the Jackal has cancer and only a few months left to live. After many successful missions, a faction captain (either Prosper Kouassi or Leon Gakumba) contracts the player to assassinate the other faction's captain. Once the assassination is complete, however, the player is betrayed and ambushed by the contractor and his troops. The player escapes, but in the chaos, he is forced to choose either to defend the priest and the civilians under his care, or to aid fellow mercenaries. The player's character eventually falls in combat, and awakes in the back of a truck filled with bodies. He falls off of the truck onto the road and seeks shelter in the desert, finally collapsing in the following sandstorm. The Jackal appears and takes the unconscious player to safety, but is then forced to flee when retreating troops of the other faction, now without a captain, arrive. A lieutenant from this faction offers the player a chance to redeem himself by assassinating the faction captain who betrayed the player. The player assassinates the target at a troop rally and escapes south, to the province of Bowa-Seko.

[edit] Act 2

In Bowa-Seko, the player and a Buddy follows the lieutenant's orders to destabilize the area and reignite the conflict by conducting a false flag operation in Port Selao. Following this, the two factions are now at war in the new province, opening up a variety of work from both sides. Eventually, the player is hired by the one of the leaders, either Oliver Tambossa or Addi Mbantuwe, to deliver diamonds to the opposite faction, for a peace settlement between the factions. When the player arrives at the location, however, he finds the area devastated and the faction leader dead. The Jackal appears and explains that he wants the conflict to continue, since the warlords want peace only to conduct their crimes outside the world's attention. He then seizes the diamonds and knocks the player character unconscious.

[edit] Act 3

The player awakes imprisoned in an old slave outpost, and discovers that he has been used as a scapegoat, blamed for murdering a faction leader and disrupting the peace settlement. The player escapes and continues his search for the Jackal. In the process, he performs a series of missions, consisting of assassinating Mr. Greaves and Hector Voorhes, the new warlords of the APR and UFLL respectively. However, the player can choose to kill his contractors instead after meeting with Greaves and Voorhes. Reuben then calls the player for help, fearing that he and some other journalists are either going to get deported or shot at the airfield. The player fights off the militia and rescues the journalists.

With Reuben's help, the player finally tracks down and meets with the Jackal (at this point there is a glitch to kill The Jackal), who reveals his intentions to help the civilian population escape the war-torn country. Although he must eventually kill the Jackal, the player character agrees to help. The Jackal's plan is for the player to assassinate the two remaining faction leaders and take a case of diamonds to bribe the border guards. After finding the diamonds, however, the player must fight his fellow mercenaries and friends, as they want the diamonds for themselves to escape the country.

With both faction leaders dead and the diamonds in hand, the player meets the Jackal at a hut near the border (named 'The Heart of Darkness'). The Jackal plans to dynamite the valley leading to the border, in order to prevent the militia from following the evacuating civilians. However, the detonating cord has malfunctioned, and the explosives must be short-circuited with a car battery at the site, leading to the detonator's certain death. The Jackal offers the player a choice; he can detonate the explosives, or take the diamonds and shoot himself upon leaving the country, either way ensuring the civilians' escape. The game ends with Reuben Oluwagembi witnessing the explosion, then turning to take a picture of the massed crowd of refugees crossing the border. One of the border guards is seen holding the case of diamonds.

[edit] The Aftermath

The APR and UFLL warlords have attempted to end hostilities and establish a government but the violence continues. Reuben's story was ignored by the international press, and he is supposedly publishing it on his personal blog. The civilian population largely escaped, and NGOs credited the low casualty rate to the work of the country's Underground. The Jackal has since disappeared, and world governments insist that he died in the conflict, although no body has ever been found. In addition, the player's exact fate remains unknown - for instance, if the player chose to take the diamond case, it is not shown whether he honored his agreement with the Jackal to shoot himself even though a gunshot is heard with Reuben's picture of the exodus appearing on the screen.

[edit] Development

System Requirements[24]
Minimum Recommended
Microsoft Windows
Operating System Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or Windows Vista
CPU Pentium 4 3.2 GHz, 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 6 GB of free space
Graphics Hardware NVidia 6800 or ATI X1650 or better; must support Pixel Shader 3.0, NVidia 8600 GTS or better, ATI X1900 or better

[edit] History

The unveiling of Far Cry 2 took place on July 19, 2007 in Paris, France,[25] by head company Ubisoft. Ubisoft stated that the game had been in development by the Ubisoft Montreal team, and would be released on October 23, 2008.

The game's producer, Louis-Pierre Pharand, said that the single-player game will "potentially have close to 50 hours of game play."[26][27] Lead designer Clint Hocking stated that at least 100 hours are needed to experience all of the game's content.[28]

A pre-alpha video of the game, showcasing the visuals and 13 minutes of gameplay with developer commentary, was presented in Leipzig in August 2007. The demonstration showed off the gameplay involving gunfights and driving sequences, and unique features such as first aid and physical maps were also shown. It also showcased several graphical features tying in directly with the gameplay, such as procedural breakage of vegetation and its regeneration over time, dynamic propagation of fire, and volumetric wind effects capable of breaking vegetation and spreading fire. Man-made structures were also shown to be highly destructible.[29]

[edit] Research

In July 2007, Ubisoft sent a team of the game's developers to Africa to carry out research for the game. They reportedly spent two weeks traveling around Kenya and camping out on the savannah. The game's producer, Louis-Pierre Pharand said that following the trip they realized they had gotten the design of the game "so wrong" and made several changes to "make the game feel like you were really there".[30] Some African wildlife are featured in the game world, but herbivores only; according to the developers, predators without careful control would have eaten all the herbivores and starved to death.[13]

[edit] Map editor

Far Cry 2's map editor has been designed specifically for ease of use. It includes features such as easily raising/lowering terrain and applying textures. A video was shown showcasing the editor, including an Eiffel Tower made completely from in-game pieces.[31][32]

The map editor features hundreds of objects found in the single player game including vehicles, buildings, bridges and more. However, weapons (with the exception of mounted guns) cannot be placed on maps to support the game's class-based gameplay. The objects in the player made maps, such as buildings and structures are prefabricated from the game, making the map files smaller. This means that uploading and downloading maps is quick and easy. It was announced at the GC 2008 that there will be a memory space limit for each map.

[edit] Engine

Main article: Dunia Engine

Ubisoft has developed a new engine specifically for Far Cry 2, called Dunia, meaning "world", "earth" or "living" in Arabic but also used in many languages with Arabic loanwords including Punjabi, Farsi, Nepali, Bengali, Hindi, Indonesian, Kurdish, Turkish, Malay, Marathi, Urdu, Gujarati, Marvadi and Swahili.[33]

The Dunia engine was built specifically for Far Cry 2 by Ubisoft Montreal development team. It delivers realistic semi-destructible environments, special effects such as dynamic fire propagation [34] and storm effects, real-time night-and-day cycle, dynamic music system and non-scripted enemy A.I actions.

The engine takes advantage of multi-core processors as well as multiple processors and supports DirectX 9 as well as DirectX 10.[35] Only 2 or 3 percent of the original CryEngine code is re-used, according to Michiel Verheijdt, Senior Product Manager for Ubisoft Netherlands. Additionally, the engine is less hardware-demanding than CryEngine 2, the engine used in Crysis.[36]

Far Cry 2 also supports the amBX technology from Philips. With the proper hardware, this adds effects like vibrations, ambient colored lights, and fans that generate wind effects.

[edit] Marketing and release

[edit] Ubidays 2008

During Ubisoft's Ubidays, held in Paris, France on May 28 - 29, 2008, Ubisoft revealed brand new video footage for Far Cry 2.[37] Along with the new footage, Ubisoft displayed in-game screenshots showing off the visuals rendered by Ubisoft's Dunia Engine (see engine). A video of Ubisoft Montreal's developers talking about the upcoming game's features can be seen on G4TV's website.[38]

Additional content is available to those who pre-order it at GameStop. Dubbed the GameStop Exclusive Pre-Order Edition, the package sells at the same price point as the regular SKU, and includes bonus missions, a fold out map and different packaging.[39]

[edit] Retail versions

To celebrate the release of Far Cry 2, Ubisoft also unveiled the Far Cry 2 Collectors’ Edition, available in certain territories outside the US, that will include:[3][40]

  • Exclusive wooden box
  • Original Far Cry 2 Game
  • Limited edition Far Cry 2 t-shirt
  • “The Art of Far Cry 2” Art book
  • Collector 50 km² map
  • Making-of DVD, including video from the development team's trip to Africa
  • 8 Exclusive missions

The United States receives a separate Limited Edition package, available exclusively for those who pre-order it at GameStop. Dubbed the GameStop Exclusive Pre-Order Edition, the package sells at the same price point as the regular SKU, and includes the following:[39]

  • 6 Bonus Missions with about 3 extra hours of gameplay
  • A fold out map of the open world of Far Cry 2
  • Exclusive game packaging

It should be noted that the "bonus missions" mentioned here are not truly exclusive to GameStop pre-orders. The content, a set of missions revealing information about the previous individual sent to assassinate The Jackal, is present on all Xbox 360, PC and PS3 Far Cry 2 game discs, and can be unlocked with one of several non-unique eight-character codes.[41][42] In the UK, a limited edition "steel book" edition of the game is also available with differing art work to the standard release.

[edit] Downloadable content

On November 21, 2008 Ubisoft announced "Fortune's Pack" which includes three new weapons, an Exploding Crossbow, Ceremonial Shotgun, and Silenced Shotgun; vehicles, including a utility truck and ATV; and four new multiplayer maps. The Fortune's Pack is now available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and the Playstation Network although, it has also been released on PC, it can be bought on Steam for $4.99, non-steam game versions can be found at shop.ubi.com. There is also a free map pack for customers in Canada, where the game was developed.[43][44]

On 9 February, 2009 Ubisoft announced "Hardcore" mode would be coming to Far Cry 2. A new damage model will be applied with increased damage for all weapons. According to community developer Atmon,

"All weapons have been rebalanced on normal mode, and on hardcore mode. Enemy names will disappear after the spawning invincibility period is over (A shield is displayed above a player’s head for a few second to show that he is invincible). A new option will allow you to tweak spawning time (but not spawning rate). A new search option will be available in multiplayer to allow you to find games that are playing on hardcore mode."

[edit] Novels

Around the time of the game's release, the second of two Far Cry novels was published in Germany, authored by Michael Bhatty, the former Lead Game Designer of Sacred. The first novel primarily tells the story of the first game, and also features the sequel's Marty Alencar as a character, as well as including a flashback scene taking place in Far Cry 2's African setting. The second novel acts as a prequel of sorts to the game, with the plot focusing on Paula, a war veteran-turned-mercenary, and her struggle in the diamond conflicts and civil war which are the focus of Far Cry 2. Both of these novels feature a character not seen in either game called Zaman, a former Asian-American CIA agent who acts as a trainer and mentor to both Paula and Jack Carver.

[edit] PlayStation Home

Ubisoft has released two spaces for Far Cry 2 for the PlayStation 3's virtual online world, PlayStation Home. These two spaces are the "Train Station" and "Rueben's Office" from the game. In the Train Station, users can play a mini-game called 'Mancala' and there is a 'Newspaper Clipping' that users can read. In Rueben's Office, users can play a mini-game called 'Interactive Map' and view 'Dossiers'. These spaces are only available to users of the European and North American versions of PlayStation Home. These spaces were released during the Closed Beta on October 16, 2008 for the North American version and on January 22, 2009 for the European version which was after the Open Beta launch on December 11, 2008.[45]

On July 2, 2009, Ubisoft released a patch for Far Cry 2 that enables users to now be able to game launch Far Cry 2. Game launching is a feature where users can set up a multi-player game in Home, and launch directly into the game from Home.[46]

[edit] Reception

 Reception
Aggregate scores
Aggregator Score
GameRankings X360: 85% (65 reviews)[50]

PC: 85% (35 reviews)[51]
PS3: 85% (46 reviews)[52]
Metacritic PC:86% (30 reviews)[47]

X360:85% (71 reviews)[48]
PS3:85% (46 reviews)[49]
Review scores
Publication Score
1UP.com B+ [53]
Eurogamer 8/10[54]
Game Informer 8/10
GamePro 5/5[55]
GameSpot 8.5/10[56]
GameSpy 3.5/5 stars[57]
IGN PS3/X360: 8.8/10[58]

PC: 8.9/10[59]
Official Xbox Magazine 8.5/10
PC Gamer UK 94% [60]
PC PowerPlay 10/10 [61]
X-Play 4/5[62]

Far Cry 2 has received positive reviews from game critics, leading to an average Metacritic score of 85%. The graphics and open-world design in the African setting were generally praised. Critics also praised the intelligent enemies who actively hunt for the player, but noted that it was occasionally unresponsive. The main criticisms of the game were the long time it took to travel from one objective to another, constantly respawning enemies, the lack of information within the plot, and the not-so-compelling storyline. The IGN review pointed out another minor issue, with the difference in the save system: the PC version allows players to save at any time, while the console versions only allow players to save at certain points.[58] Game Informer gave praise to the console save system because it gives a sense of realism to the game. While IGN criticised this, GameSpot noted that the console version's save system gave the player more of a sense of urgency as it made death seem more consequential.[56] GamePro praises Far Cry 2, saying: "Its detailed presentation, feature-rich gameplay, and palpable sense of placing players in another world yield a bar-raising effort."[55] On the 28th of October, 2008, out of 87 reviews, the average rating stood at 2 stars from Amazon user ratings, with many complaints over the copyright protection system implemented within the game. User reviews are also less favourable citing repetitive game-play and poor combat. [63]

[edit] Technical issues

Far Cry 2 also suffers from a number of technical problems across all platforms, such as crashes,[64] corrupt save files,[65] freezes,[66][67] and critical mission characters disappearing from the game.[68] In the PC version of the game, several users were able to nullify some of these technical problems (crashes at launch) by disabling audio entirely. One of the biggest issues of the game is a corrupt saves issue where all of a player's saves are corrupted thus making it impossible to finish the game.[69][70]

In May 2009 a patch was released for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 that fixed several issues including the corrupt save game issue.

[edit] Digital rights management

Similar to Spore, a single copy of the PC version of Far Cry 2 can only be installed ('activated') on five separate hardware configurations at any one time, although the uninstaller is able to 'revoke' the installation, thus freeing up one of the hardware configuration activations (while the system is in a usable state).[71]

As of the 1.03 patch, the activation requirement has been removed from the game.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Far Cry 2 Soundtrack Preview by Nimrod Productions Director and Composer Marc Canham" (in English). Music 4 Games. August 13, 2008. http://www.music4games.net/Features_Display.aspx?id=293. Retrieved on 2008-10-05. 
  2. ^ "Far Cry 2: 720p, but no 60 frames a second" (in English). VideoGaming247. October 6, 2008. http://www.videogaming247.com/2008/10/06/far-cry-2-720p-but-no-60-frames-a-second/. Retrieved on 2008-10-07. 
  3. ^ a b c d e Thorsen, Tor (September 5, 2008). "Far Cry 2 howling October 21" (in English). GameSpot. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6197306.html. Retrieved on 2008-09-06. 
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