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About Me
Iam a gammer from the harsh uruguayan jungle (we dont even have a jungle down here, too cold, go and do some wikipedia of Uruguay). I used to do a podcast in spanish about videogames at Radio LevelUp but I dont do it anymore... anyway those guys are there still making it so you can give it a try if you understand spanish
And i can say "�aca �aca �aca" and i know how to pronoaunce it well since im a spanish speaker, so Im a superior race.
A couple of idiots may find funny that I dont have good english grammar, but again, they are probably idiots since they only speak/write one language...

Most of my time in the internet is because of games. I love videogames so much that i sleep with my girlfriend and my ds, at the same time... i call that a "threesome" and my humor doesnt get anything better than that.
Mostly im a PC gamer, i was going to buy a 360 but faulty crappy hardware told me not to since if it goes RRoD here I would have lost my money, and as a man Im entitled to the sweat of my brow. I want to fuck the Wii and I believe the PS3 is going to be the first console in space.

In the "real" life (come on, internet now is part of our lives anyway...), I study medicine (takes a lot of time and I cant spend enough of my time playing videogames). Is not what you would call a marriage made in heaven, if I wanted to game more I should have sutdy something related to pc�s, but I grown surrounded by computers and stuff so I chose the bio stuff instead. Anyway, little time to play video games if you dont want my biographical shit.

And the main reasson I play games for the story behind them. I love well written stories like Half Life series, of course Portal (kind of a Valve fan). Other great games include World Of Warcraft (not currently playing, actually I was never hardcore, but I enjoyed the experience a lot), and of course the classics like System Shock 2. Other great titles had stuck with me over the years, classics adventure games like Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and Grim Fandango.

So, best game experiences:
Half Life 2 (and the original Half Life of course).
System Shock 2
Grim Fandango
Indiana Jones and the Fate Of Atlantis
Monkey Island

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Riding Africa on FarCry 2, the final review and thoughts
Velt | 1:09 PM on 12.26.2008 9 comments


(I know that this review doesn’t have any nice pics of the game, you can get those anywhere else, also I’m not talking about multiplayer since I didn’t play the MP).

I was very harsh in my last pre-review of the game, I’m playing it on the PC.
So what is this FarCry 2 thing anyway? Is a game, duh… and its set on Africa, for more info please read my last post about it since I’m going to explain some things that remain the same after playing the game a little bit more and another things that have changed. Mixing everything was a lot of work and right now Im on holidays.

Ok, the mission system could be better, but we will ride along with it, you can tell that it seems that they thought about a dumb console system, but maybe it’s what it is because they wanted you to go one thing at the time. It’s not the best solution in such a big environment, but maybe it was the only solution.

Weapons. Dude I feel so bad about this, it could be so much fun that I’m going to complain all over again… I would love to have a rocket launcher, some explosives, a silenced handgun, a Uzi machinegun, a sniper rifle and then an assault rifle at the same time… but no, I can only have three weapons at the time, and the places to switch between weapons are not only far apart (and it’s a big map, have I told you that?), but you have to purchase “crates” to switch weapons… not good Ubisoft, not good enough because is not fun.
At least now I have a jeep that carries grenades launchers and .50 caliber weapons and not only the standard machine gun, is a blast to take out enemies with those yelling: HERE COMES THE MILK MAN!!!

The A.I. remains as stupid as ever. And that is not cool in a game with so much openness. I lost one of my “buddies” (a girl with big bewbs), thanks to that because the AI failed to recognize that we had completed the mission, I saved her from nothing once and then walk away in frustration, she gave me a call and say that she was surrounded and dead. Once your buddies are dead that’s it, you loose insight on some missions that they can give you a better deal, of course if you accept the deal you will increase your story about those buddies... but in this game I would be suprised if you care about the story so is the same.

So story… Sorry but I don’t get it, I’m trying to but is sort like: I don’t care / bad storytelling. A good story or a solid story telling is a big part of any game, and this game has the story, but not the storytelling, so it fails. Maybe it’s because is Africa and everything is supposed to be twisted, but if that’s the case then is bad storytelling. Maybe its because it just doesn’t make sense to be looking for an arms dealer while making deals with arms dealers yourself and killing half of the population of Africa while working on assassination missions… is ironic and stupid, they present you like the good guy but still you have to kill everything in sight and the main goal is hardly even there.

As I have said the game is a superior graphic engine, it looks great, the better your graphic card the better the experience gets, that has to count because fire looks amazing. But gameplay overall is repetitive and you will be on a jeep with a mounted weapon and a map with a GPS driving more and using navigation than enjoying the view. There is not such thing as “different approaches to the same situation”, you won’t find that you can play this game like the silent guy and get more rewarded than playing it Rambo style. Just blow everything, is the same and without all the waste of time. Maybe you want to try to approach from a hill and attack from the back: the map is big but you can’t climb on small hills, is just a stupid gameplay decision that amounts to the limitations in gameplay.

If you ask me one thing that could make the gameplay of this game look less mutilated, then they should have let you carry more guns so you could experiment more in the same situation.
Fixing the story would be more difficult since everything is a mess.
Still is a rather large game with lots to do in it, I have been playing a lot and not even close to finish it, so I cant say nothing about how it ends.

So should you but this? Depends on your hardware if you have a PC and a solid one... for console and pc owners maybe if you are bored this is a good rental to try it out. For 25 bucks on STEAM I think is a good deal, but right now and until January 2 is on a discount that leaves it on 37 USD, and for this game is sort of expensive.

So this is my take on the game, is not bad, but it could be so much better that it gets irritating even to talk about it. Is an 8 out of 10 if you want a number, if you get frustrated then it’s between 7.5 and 8. I want to be fair, at least I’m playing it, that why I gave it the 8 in the first place.



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7 comments | showing # 1 to 7
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B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/26/2008 14:44
B-Radicate
I'm roughly 30% through the console version (360) and I have to admit, that for all its quirks, I think it is by far one of the best FPS games I've ever played.

I think the map is enormous, but somehow always enjoyable to traverse (I like shooting people every so often anyway to break up the monotony of driving).

The weapon upgrading/degradation is awesome and really makes me strategize as to how I will approach a fight, especially given the few weapon options at a time. Just like most modern shooters, the game does in fact limit you to your choices, but I've come to expect that from shooters. It just doesn't make sense logically to be able to carry every weapon on one's back while sprinting through a forest or something, especially given the game's focus on being so quasi-realistic (such as the healing).

I think it's a fantastic game that deserves to be played. I've recommended it to all my gamer friends, as I know it flew under a lot of people's radar (including my own, I'm renting it and wish I had bought it earlier).

For me, a solid 9/10. I respectfully disagree. but to each his own.
Yayoo's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/26/2008 14:46
Yayoo
It sucked, the only thing good about the game was the fire everything else was bland and boring.Doing 100 variations of the same 3 mission, what a pile of shit.8 out of 10 is being extremely generous I was tired of it after the first 3 hours of play.
Iron Dragon's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/26/2008 15:02
Iron Dragon
Far Cry 2 really had an impressive engine but the game itself sucks so horribly. I mean it's decent to play but like you said there were poor design decisions everywhere.

It's supposed to be an open world game so let me go where I want! Why do I have to drive 3 miles around something? Why force me to drive through a checkpoint with enemies? Yeah there's a mountain there... LET ME CLIMB IT. Don't block my access to it. More than half the map can't be accessed at all.

Repetitive structure. The area just feels so grid like. You have 4 weapon shops, 4 bus stops, 4 *insert thing here* in every corner of map in almost the same positions. Then you have the central towns where you get pretty much every mission. The missions themselves are all the same damn thing. Go here and shoot people then collect an item or blow something up.

The story leaves much to be desired. I really didn't understand or give a shit about the reasons behind my actions. What side is this guy I'm about to kill even on? Did the game even give me a reason to care? They just introduced a bunch of characters that in the end add nothing to the story. It's like a 1 hour story with the 2 factions fighting each other just to add 10 hours of filler.

I was also promised stealth gameplay. I got guards who could see me 3 miles away behind a bush. I mean at best you're likely to get 2-3 stealth kills then be spotted only to be in a terrible position inside their base. You're better off just sniping the bastards during the day.

It's a shame really. The engine was great and the game is beautiful.
Timmeh's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/26/2008 16:08
Timmeh
I had fun with Fary Cry 2 for a few hours. Then for an hour or two. After a bit of a break I popped it on for half an hour. Now I doubt I'll ever play it again.

too many bad design choices and sacrificing fun at the altar of realism does not a good game make. I don't want to spend 20 minutes driving to an objective that takes 2 minutes to complete, then another 20 to get another mission that gets cancelled on the way because you need malaria pills from that black family you've delivered 300 passports to.
B-Radicate's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/26/2008 16:53
B-Radicate
@Yayoo: I got kind of bored too during the early portions, but as I continued to play and unlock more weapon options the way I approached missions really opened up. While I admit the missions can become repetitive, so too did the missions in GTAIV and that game had tons of praise heaped on it.

The only shooter I've played in recent memory where the missions never got boring for me was in Saint's Row 2 and that's saying a lot, considering those missions were also similar. The whole game was just too fun to care, I guess.

@Iron Dragon: You likely have to drive around a mountain because your car can't drive straight up a vertical face. Most every mountain pinnacle can be reached, you just have to search for paths, like any mountain.

Also, which is more realistic, a guard that can see the same distance as you can or one that will sit idle as his comrades are sniped by you from said bushes? I think that while the AI is somewhat annoying, it's more realistic than most games where enemies don't react to their fellow soldiers being picked off one by one just so you can have "fun" stealth gameplay. Truth is, you can't be stealthy ALL the time (which is arguably a good or bad thing), but you can get a few good shots off and then rush in during the chaos to wipe everyone else out. I do it every time and it works like a charm.

@Timmeh: If there is one thing I dislike it's how there is no fast tracking to objectives. I wish the game had a system like Oblivion where you could warp almost anywhere (maybe between safe houses at the very least, if not directly to objective areas) just like the bus system. If my weapons magically travel, so too should my character.
Corak's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/26/2008 19:33
Corak
I picked it up a while ago and got about 1/2 way through, but then other games came out that I wanted to play more and its been sitting for a while. I fully intend to go back and finish it though. The thing that made me mad the most was how much lead you have to pump into a guy to drop him. I guess every enemy there has body armor under his skin because I don't see any on them. Sure I would have liked to take more weapons with me, but I agree with b-radicate, it gives it a more "realistic" feel. I would love to take a sniper rifle and an assault rifle with me though. That doesn't seem to unrealistic.
Velt's Avatar - Comment posted on 12/26/2008 20:40
Velt
@Corak
that wouldnt be unrealistic at all.

And the map design is flawed, I cant get into mountains, Im not saying I should be able to walk into every one of them, but at least climb something...
The AI is so bad that it makes me feel stupid myself, I have guys standing ten feet from were Iam, ducked, and they dont see me or do nothing even when Im blowing shit up... and then Im behind a bush and I get shot. I see no way in playing this game in "stealth mode".
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