It's strange, but Far Cry seems to have been one of my favourite games in recent years. The beautiful tropical world was initially a pain in the ass as my PC could never run it properly. But after some upgrades, the game became a firm favourite of mine. The multiplayer component was solid and it still get's whipped out at LAN parties. Now Far Cry 2 is approaching and I'm getting more and more excited. Here's why:

Africa: a while back, Jim Rossignol wrote a really good article on why S.T.A.L.K.E.R. was such a unique game. He argued that it was partly due to it's Eastern European setting, an area of the world under-represented in games. How many times do we play games set in the United States (or more specifically New York)? There's nothing wrong with that, (GTA IV wouldn't have worked as well anywhere else) but let's have a change. I'm not saying gamers would like to play everything in a generic, "everywhere" country, but hey; travel broadens the mind. The African savanah looks incredible and the wildlife and fauna are stunning. Again, like a lot of game settings, no matter how bad it get's, part of you wants to be there.

Open World: let's get this straight; I fucking love open world games. But open world games can become un-wieldy and complex. Far Cry is a game with a simple goal: kill the warlord The Jackal. That's simple enough for me, but how you do it is up to you. It's great to see a game that actually makes the difference between night and day significant. There's already been a vid that shows that you can sleep during the day to take on a mission at night.

Multiplayer: no word on what the multiplayer modes are going to be like, but the map editor look sumpteous. A map-editor that's easy to use, yet offers you a lot of variation is a must I think for a game that's looking to have a lot of re-playability. Can't wait to make up some maps and challenge my friends on that:



A Message: could it be that after the racist/not-racist argument aimed at Resident Evil 5, that a game may actually have a comment to make about a political situation taking place right now in the world? Today I'm reading that Sudanese troops have opened fire upon refugees in a camp in Darfur. The violence in some of Africa's countries shows no sign of abating. Could Far Cry 2 point the finger at gun-runners, like the fictional Jackal (thankfully not Bruce Willis in that crappy 90's remake, shitty wig and all)? Maybe, maybe not. Games are to be enjoyed and frankly no one enjoys being lectured to, but there could be a greater emotional resonance if you really see what kind of brutality happens in Africa (look up Joseph Kony, a Ugandan military commander if you want to see what kind of sadism a human can do to another person). Instead of being a faceless bad guy, who is evil for the sake of giving your character purpose, make the Jackal a truly wicked man, one who see's no regard for human life:



Did you notice the URL at the end of the trailer?



Ubisoft have set up a blog created by (possibly) and in-game character, a journalist who is covering the conflict in the un-named African country. It's quite an interesting read, and it's very well done. There's even photos with graffitti that mention in-game factions and characters.

In short, Far Cry 2 doesn't really seem to have any kind of massive innovation but it seems to be taking elements from other games and weaving them into something greater. This is another reason why I'm building a new PC (yes, I know it's a multi-format game).Roll on October (which is going to be Fallout 3 month too).