Let me start off by saying, yes I know Farcry 2 is not a MMO and yes I realize I’m reviewing a FPS on a MMO blog. However I do play games other than MMO’s and while normally I would refrain from posting about them here, I just could not resist considering how hyped up Farcry 2 was and how horrible the game acutally is.
Here’s a quick introduction to what the game is like. Drive 5 mins to a mission point, spend 5 mins getting your mission, spend 5-10 mins driving to your mission, spend 5-15 mins completing the mission and finally spend 5-10 mins driving to the next area to get another mission. Rinse and repeat for the rest of the game. Think of it as GTA except driving around is not fun at all, it’s the worst part of the game and you’ll spend about 50% of your time doing it. Then think of having to do basically the same mission over and over, with almost zero variation. What fun!
To make things ever better, you need to buy all your own weapons, which are mostly pointless. Here’s a great example. I used a “silenced” pistol to shoot a guard, before anyone saw or heard me, I ran behind a mountain and made my way to the back of the base. Without so much as a peep from me I had about 10 guards running to my exact location. WTF Ubisoft? Is there no AI at all? Does buying a silienced gun even matter if the comp knows exactly where I am regardless of how stealthly I’ve been? But what I like even better is when I’m outside a building with no windows and the guys on the inside shoot me through the wall even though they should have no clue that I’m there. No it’s ok, I doing mind playing a game with AI from 1995.
Moving on to the game map. This is a map you’ll use a lot and the best part is that it covers about 45-55% of the screen depending if you’re driving (45%) or walking(55%). No mini map at all unless you’re driving. However the minimap in cars is pretty much useless as it only shows about 200 yards around you, so you’ll have the main map open anyway and have about 1/3 the road blocked by the map.
Next up are diamonds, the currency that you’ll need to use to buy shit. You can either get diamonds by completing missions or by finding breifcases randomly thrown about the map. To finds a breifcase you need to use a radar that will beep green when you’re near a case. Best part here is you only have the radar if your map is open. WoooHooo! Why there is no radar on the UI is beyond me. I think developers goal here is to frustrate the gamer to a point that they take their mouse and shove it into their eye. So as a fun mini-game you’ll be opening and closing the main map about ever 10 seconds you’re walking to see if there are any diamonds near by.
Gun shops are by far the best mission givers in the game. There’s a handfull of these places around the map and guess what? Every mission is EXACTLY the same which you have to do in order to open up new weapons. Seriously it’s the same exact mission over and over again! I did 4 or 5 of them before deciding I would just use the weapons that are currently available. I couldn’t stand doing the mission again, it was that boring.
Jeeze, this list is getting long. Next we have the game animations. There’s basically an animation for everything, which you HAVE to watch. Off the top of my head there’s knocking on a door, opening a door, sitting down, standing up, getting padded down, healing yourself, fixing a vehicle, even a dying animation which is about 30-40 seconds long that cannot be skipped! The fact that you’re constantly doing all these things and have to watch a 1-2 second animation every single time takes some getting used to. While I love games that are realistic, please cut the crap that makes gamers bored as F@#K. I don’t mind the animations that are 1-2 secs, I can live with that. But when I die and have to sit there for 30-40 seconds as I watch my character fall to the ground, black out, get rescued, watch as they stand back up and get ready to fight again, it makes be want to quit playing the game. At least put in a skip button.
Finally you have everyone in the entire country trying to kill you regardless of what you’re doing. You start the game in a taxi who magically is able to drive around without being fired upon, however as soon as you try it everyone shoots first and asks questions later. It doesn’t matter what time of day, where you are or what you’re doing. You could be on a cliff viewing the wildlife and randomly a jeep will pull up and open fire. This is the most ridiculous attempt at trying to break up the boring and tediousness of driving around. Good job Ubisoft. Also thank you for making quick saves not actual save files. I very much enjoyed it the first time when I exited the game and came back the next day only to find out the last hr and half was not saved. ..|..
Being a huge fan of Farcry this game was the biggest disappointment in 2008. An absolute pile of shit, I only wish I could get my money back. On another note I see PC Gamer gave this game a 94%. Having been subscriber for 8 yrs going, I can only assume a huge pile of money was dropped on the table to get that score. To be very very kind, I would give the game a 60% tops.
I was reading Amazon reviews today to try and decide whether to buy this game or not. Your review definately seals the deal as a not gonna happen. Such a great concept for a shooter too! Thanks for the honest review.
fyi IGN rated it highly too
Nice headline.
This review is so dead on. I wish I would have read it before shelling out 50 bucks for this piece of crap game. AI seems to know where you are at all times. Stealth is pointless, there’s always some sniper picking you off from miles away. Oh, and lets not forget about having to shoot the AI in the chest 10 times before they die. Come on. I guess this was to be expected after playing Armed Assault for weeks non stop and then stepping into FC2. This game and the AI is a joke.
I was thinking about purchasing fallout3. Any tips on that before I waste my money? Oh yeah, and PC gamer must have gotten paid because I didn’t blindly buy this game, I actually saw a few high scores first. This is ridiculous.
Thanks guys. I was looking forward to this one, planning on buying it, but I guess I’ll pass. :(
@Joe:
I’ve heard excellent things about Fallout 3, and they’re from tasteful, unpaid sources, so you should feel free to give it a try. At the very least, there’s the modding potential that the game will have for the PC, which if it goes as well as Oblivion, should add hundreds of hours of additional gameplay.
I will vouch for Fallout 3, that game is amazing. Right after I beat the game I started it right back up again to start a new game playing my character completely different.
Dear Writer!
You couldnt be more right on this one. What a waste of my money. Id be upset aswel that you get a limit of 5 installs per copy but i doubt i will install it a second time.
Thank the lord theres people out there who play the game more than 5 minutes and really put up a descent review.
Its a sad mix of boiling point and call of duty 4 where it stacks the worst out of both games.
Not sure what it is as I do find the concept of an open world fps good but the game just dosn’t feel right…
Wow, sounds like I got lucky on this one. I got Fallout 3 and was going to buy Farcry 2 later.
Fallout 3 uses the Engine thats behind Oblivion. But you don’t level like oblivion, with the idiotic major and minor skills. Its beautiful (the range of sight is breathtaking), but i do have a mid-high range machine. Right now my biggest problem, is my char has low strength, and i can’t carry much. But excessive use of the quick travel (just like Oblivion) relieves most of that pain. I also bought the PC version purely for the modding potential. If Modders do as they did for Oblivion (even higher-res textures, better graphics, more weapons, charchter, quests, etc) then I will be playing this game for a long time.
The game is already breathtaking, but even with the machine I have, I will be sorely tempted to upgrade if the modders bring out better graphics…
All the other reviews, even the paid ones, didn’t give this game a glowing review so I”m going to wait for a patch to see where the game stands.
Totally agree. This game is balls. Great graphics etc etc but absolutely crap boring repetitive gameplay. Rent overnight or something but then disgard. Utterly disappointed.
I agree wholeheartedly with the post about all of this game as flaws. I was very disappointed to wait 5 years for this, pay $50.00, and have the game be so poorly realized. I have a high-end gaming system that plays this game @ 1900×1200 on a 28″ Viewsonic widescreen lcd with no performance issues. ALL of the issues are related to the gameplay itself. I could go on for hours, but here’s one small tidbit:
How come my character can fall 40 feet and not be injured, but can’t seem to jump a four foot gap across to a shack roof to get a diamond briefcase? Other inconsistencies too numerous to mention abound in this game. I’m sorry I didn’t spend the money on a different game.
ya,i agree,just left a message on gamespot,titled,farcry 2,do not buy this game it soooooooooooo sucks,just got so bored,playing dead space now,way better and scary too,try it,you will see.
A buddy of mine bought the game first day it came out. It is a rehash of GTA 2 with better graphics…YES TWO…except your in Africa and you only get Pintos and Jeeps to drive around in. The story sucks…the nuances suck and get old really fast….the combat and quests are so repetitive I quit playing the game after I completed..um…only about 7 of them. If you’re an action junkie, you might like using the guns but after they break on you you’ll probably quit too.
Nail on the head man, nail on the head
Game does sound like crap. But please don’t patronise journalists by assuming every review that doesn’t accord with yours must be the result of bribery or corruption.
As a journalist myself – and the recipient of more than one accusation of bias when I’ve told my honest opinion of something – I can tell you every journalist I know (bar a couple of exceptions, who are inevitably exposed rapidly anyway) are honest and principled folk.
They’re not all smart or insightful. Particularly games journos. But they don’t take bribes. And accusing them of such just serves to undermine the profession.
ugh, get off your high horse Tim. He wasn’t “undermining the profession”, he was simply stating that the reviews were bullshit, as per usual from game journalism which only jumps on the bandwagon.
More to the point, i totally agree about this game. Unfortunately i don’t have piles of money to invest in a decent high end machine so imagine all that crap with added lag and low FPS. The fact that my old yo-yo distracted me more than the action in this game says it all. Most of the weapons you get in this game are pretty useless. Stealth doesn’t work, so there goes your silenced weapons. The explosives are very limited and thus you’ll tend to just run in with an automatic rifle or SMG for the majority of the game, thus loosing 90% of the supposed flexibility of the game. Not to mention trying to get to higher ground by getting on top of a tiny boulder is IMPOSSIBLE since the character can’t actually jump for shit. In fact, the best way i can describe this game is to imagine Crysis with less impressive graphics, weapons, playability, AI, flexibility and freedom. Thank god i didn’t pay the large amount of money this game is going for.
This review is SPOT ON! I bought this game and it is truely a CHORE to play. For a while I felt like I had to play it to get my money’s worth, but every time I thought about playing it I got that sick. feeling that you get when you realize the weekend is over, or you’ve got a paper due in the morning. I decided it’s best for me to end my sufferring by investing another $50 for Dead Space.
I have the Game pass at block buster and rent most games when they come out to see if they are worth buying or not. I have been addicted to Fallout 3 but decided to take a break and swapped it for Far cry 2. I played Far Cry 2 for about 1 hour and turned it off. This review is dead on the money….I cannot believe how poor this game is compared to the first one. I am playing 2 on the Xbox 360 where I played one on my now 8 year old computer. The graphics on 1 with the 2001 computer were far better then those on the Xbox. And the game play is just downright lame. This copy goes back tomorrow for something else.
Indeed the game is very bad, if you put it mildly..
Played 45 minutes and then uninstalled it. I was looking foreword to this game for years. Luckily I could return it to the store. Within 3 hours after purchase…
For the first hour I was loving it. I was excited at the prospect of having no mission arrows, highlighted enemies etc that adorns most FPS HUDs.
However its all just hot air. this game is cack for all the points listed and others too numerous to list.
UBISOFT – a pox on you sirs. a POX!
Warning this game SUCKS!!!
People who like Far Cry 2 are noobs.
The graphics and level design is quite good compared to sub par PS3 and 360 games.
Was excited for this game as well. Loved the first Far Cry.
This is just a shit game, lame missions, bland environments, AI can only flank, you can stand right in front of them sometimes and they wont shoot but they flank…
The machine gun on the cars and boats seem to be completely useless. I try to take out the enemy with my cross hairs on them and buck a good burst thinking I will hit them or see some blood splatters….
Nope, I have to jump out of the truck and use my AK on single shot bursts about 10 times to get each one down.
I see what they were trying to do but this is probably one of the biggest hyped and worste delivered games I’ve seen in a long time. Putting it on Ebay next week before the whole world knows this game is shit
Hey your article is strong and makes some very good points. However, overall I just personally have a blast with this game. Although the animations are annoying at times, and a lot of times ill agree, the texture and details are AMAZING. So much oopen world and every object from trees to buildings act in a completely realistic manor. Also, when it comes to RPGs, minimaps are completely useless anyways, just extra space on ur hud that wouldnt do shit….. I would also like to say how hard you are going down on this game, when it makes you feel like you ARE your character, more than any other game does in a while.
Thenks fore the heads up writher,but i alredy both the stupid game.By the way i’m not frome the US so my speeling sucks.If i ever get my hands on thos stupid jack asses who made Far Cry 2 i wold make them pay me back and “prosvaed them” to make Far Cry 3 like the original!!!
Yeah it sucks big time & online game is crappy
Nothing more to say
Dead on, but you missed one thing. When sniping, the target is allways inside a bloody building. If he happens to be outside, there is no sniper spot. But dont worry, you do have a sniper replacement called a missile launcher! This works by shooting a rocket at the spot the map says the target is. Then run away like a crazy person from the big ass grass fire you just made.
It disappoints like crazy, how stupid can game designers really be?
i hate this game!
Played it for a while its gone .
Waste of my valuble Life time.
i want my money back. the controls suck, navigation sucks, driving sucks, AI sucks, gimmicky malaria-BS sucks (great idea, poorly executed), “buddies” suck, thus, i suck at this game. Ubisoft, fuck you.
I think the singleplayer is OK. I usually buy games for multiplayer, and FC2 SUcks balls in that area! I’ve been waiting for a game to launch for abou 40 minutes now as I type. Thats why i stopped playing gta. I almost bought mercenary 2 instead, but it doesnt have true MP.IM sooo regretting it!
Just completed the game and WHAT A WAIST OF TIME AND MONEY!!!!! The original one is by far superior. First few missions will keep you interested until you realize that every mission is the exact same. No imagination at all. I feel completely ripped off after spending $60 on this game. Its companies like this that produce JUNK to make a buck that piss me off. I hope everyone downloads this game and fucs over UBISOFT like they have their customers on this game.
Hey its Dane again,writher you were wrong abaut one thing,dude you sead the whole contry wants to kill Ubisoft.DUDE THE WHOLE WORLD WANTS TO KILL THEM!!!!!!!!!!.Well 99% of the world the other 1% didint like the original,stupid asshols.What do you think of Devil May Cry?
I stand wiv a mounted Machine gun ona jeep, shoot at a guy wearing a bludy T-shirt 1000 times, and yet he does not fall.
I DRIVE AROUND AND GET ATTACKED 20times B4 i reach a “MISSION” only to find the same fing AGAIn!!!
ABSOLUTE WASTE OF TIME, PEICE OF SHIT, FUK YOU UBISOFT—I PLAY GAMES FOR ENTERTAINMENT NOT FOR HEADACHES!!
Thanks for sharing the truth about the game…its all hype. I will not be buying it.
I am finding you cannot trust PC gamer or many other gaming websites…they hype the game and do not give accurate ratings…
That is why I am here…because I am sick of PC Gamer giving me shit and not the real deal..
So PC gamer and alike can all piss off..FarCry2 review was the last straw…no more your reading ratings hype shit anymore. Your all dumped from this point on. Time to go find unbiased truth somewhere else from gamers who are not paid off.
This isn’t the first steaming pile of crap that ubisoft has released. I remember when wolves of the pacific first came out , I was so excited about it, only to find that it was a buggy mess that was obviously rushed to the stores just like this. Damn you Ubisoft, you hornswoggled me again.
Hey gais, playing the x360 version of Far Cry, have to largely agree with you all, however the game has numerous other problems – such as bugs – the game is chock full of them!
Bugs I’ve experienced: Loading the last save after dying will sometimes load another save instead: for example I had just started Act 2 and died, reloaded and next thing I know I’m back at the beggining of the game in my earliest f#@king save!
I’ve had freezings when walking out of the southern APR headquarters, amongst other freezings.
I’ve had save game files corrupted and have had to revert back to an earlier save
On more than one occasion I’ve found myself weaponless for no apparent reason
Enemies don’t face me sometimes and still manage to shoot at me and hit me.
the AI sucks……Hard
All this on the Xbawks 360 version
I’m so glad I only rented this game and bought Fallout instead.
The graphics really aren’t that great, FC2 just follows in the footsteps of other games in giving us drab, brownish
scenery. I never feel like I’m in the Jungle when im in it.
Granted Fallout has frozen on me quite a bit, but at least Fallout is engaging, Fun, well-told,etc.
This game is garbage, fuck Ubi-soft, Fuck PC-gamer, fuck anyone who gave this game over 4/10
I have to fully agree with you, writer.
I had to cry myself into sleep after I tried the multiplayer (the only feature why I actually bought this game), since it sucked monkey tits.
A couple of questions:
1. Why no server browser? What the fuck is it with the people today, nobody likes that AUTO-FUCKINGEASY-SEARCH thing, since half the time it doesn’t work, and usually it sends you to a laggy piece-of-a-shit server, but still the Auto-Search feature is usually preferred in newer games instead of the good ol’ server browser! (Hail Steam games!)
2. What. The. Hell. is up with the weapon damage? 3 headshots with the worst assault rifle won’t kill a guy? Why? I would propably die with just one hit. This is where the game fails hard: the weapons are way unbalanced and do way too low damage. Altough it isn’t really hard to get level ups and better weapons, it is still an assload of shit having to use the worst weapons since they don’t really even kill anybody.
3. Why can’t we join games in progress? This is the reason why half the time the auto-search-thingy won’t find anything: because there are no games that are still in the waiting lobby! Man, I just hope this had been a Steam game..
The game would propably be more entertaining if they released a major patch, which they really should, since the game has already sold over 1 million copies (which platform I don’t know).
But on the other hand: Ubisoft already got the money from the game, so why bother?
I liked the singleplayer first, but after I noticed that the missions were really fucking repetitive it got really boring.
AndwhydoeseveryNPCinsingleplayertalklikethis? The sound acting is fine, but really, why does everyone talk so fucking fast and why won’t anyone pause between sentences?
I would rate this game 5/10. It has some hope, but unless it gets patched I won’t play it again, at least not the multiplayer. GOD how I hate the multiplayer!
I’ll be damned. This review is totally spot on. There’s more shit load of crap in this game that he didn’t mention.
After playing Fallout 3 for days and fully enjoying it. I couldn’t even play FarCry 2 for 15 minutes. (Even before reading this review) The difference is HUGE.
BTW, your review is accurate even if I lost the will to play this “game” ever again.
Thanks for the review.
About the map, I know I hate it to but the main goal in this game was not to be convenient, But to be realistic and I know if i was in the wood’s I don’t keep my ‘mini map eye contact’ do you? The game is not really a bad game, It’s a bit repetitive I guess.
I’m glad i downloaded this game for free (i’ll do the same with future Ubishite games, too)
While playing i often think “well somebody will probably make some decent mods for it” and then boot up Fallout 3.
101% accurate review but i wish i had read it before wasting my bandwidth and my hard drive space on this 3gb pile of wank.
I can’t believe I bought this shit. I was very excited by the videos i had seen, an then i saw they gave it a 94% review and just bought it. I played it for about two hours and now I CAN’T STAND IT. You can’t even explore the scenery, enemies spawn on every crossroad, all the time. I went exploring behind the big falls, hoping to find a cave or something interesting and there was… A FUCKING SUITCASE with 1 DIAMOND. It’s fucking horrible.
This was a waste of time and money. It is really irritating that Ubisoft just took a great title from Crytek and slapped it on their own piece of garbage game. It has nothing to do with the previous game. The graphics are worse. The AI is worse. The vehicles are worse. The missions are worse. The story is worse. It is not fun. No sense of progress aside from a percentage attached to the saved file. It freezes when loading and you have to start a new game. Has no Quick Save. Really, it seems like the retarded cousin of the first Stalker game and that had a lot of problems.
Yow Ryan dude I now its non of my buisnes but realy dude, THE GAME SUCKS BORDATS HEARY BALLS!!!!
ITS true i played the stinkin weapon missions i snipe someone therers 20-30 gaurds behind me iv died like 100-200 times i have every wep i use the sniper a jeep pulls up behind me and i die thanks ubisoft im really happy that happened i flew my hangglider to the desert and i flt off it OMG i fly a plane all of a stupid sudden im standing on itTHANKS UBISOFT.
AT promotinal content type in THIS 56712 @!$* THIS JUNK OF A GAME SUCKS %6&9886
Another DITTO!!
It really is a Far Cry from the first game. Usually a game that carries the same name has something in common. This doesn’t!!!!!!!!!!! It is awful.
It is so bad that I feel ripped off.
I bought this game after seeing the AWESOME reviews on gamespot, etc…..well yes. The first few missions are a blast until it turns into the same thing 50X over. And I am lucky to find up to 4 multiplayer games going at once. On top of that, the multiplayer is horrible. Does anybody know if I can sell this PC game, or does it TIE the CD key to your login….
I had to google “Far Cry 2 Sucks” to find this review. Unfortunately, I already bought the game. Beware of positive reviews on the major game sites. They are lying. If Ubisoft ever wants me to buy another game, they’re going to need to give me my $50 back. I actually think this game could destroy Ubisoft’s reputation. The most amazingly awful game I’ve ever played. If Ubisoft has any loyalty to its customers — which I doubt — it will pull this game from shelves immediately.
ok i bought this game instead of fallout 3 and gears of war 2 and this game is good not a a piece of crap like everyone is saying i have no problem sneaking or having the enemy know were i am and if u guy actually have shot guns before go on youtube look up silenced guns they still make enough to be hear and if u just got done killing a whole bunch of enemy’s and are hiding in a shed in the open were would u shoot in real life the house y don’t u actual think of a good hiding spot like way off then all you have to do is snipe them off one by one this game is actually pretty real and complaining about sightseeing animals just like saying how do they know your a tourist is real life the don’t and in Africa if your stupid enough to sight see and a place thats war torn like in the game they will shoot you on sight god i wish people would get it out of there heads that not every out of the united states was some polite people and in the begging of that game he had passed through there before also the cars you drive aroung are the fractions vehicles so if you drive and apr car through a ufll base there going to shoot u and since u cant tell who’s who by there cloths in this game do listen to this dumbass this game is cool not some perfect holy game that glows when u walk out of the store and gods light shines on you when u walk out side so u know what this guy can go shove a hot curling iron up his ass