I love that image so much.

I disagree. Most of what Far Cry 2 did was find things from other good shooters and meld them together, fine tune them to work in the right way and then set it loose, but throughout the entire game, the only time I got immersed was, in the ONE bit I agree it did brilliantly, when my buddy got shot down and was nigh-dead while I was standing next to him, getting shot at by all sides. I got down, tried to heal him and got the Goodnight Sweet Prince achievement. My mouth was wide open. I tried my hardest and all I managed was to ease his death, but felt like it was worth it.

...Anyway, Far Cry 2 wasn't that great in total, but it DID show that you don't need to throw a two hour cutscene in someones face to make them like a character when they die. Hell, I'd argue that the characters in FC2 didn't even HAVE personality, most of them acting like multiple others, but when a guy who has saved you and you saved them multiple times while under fire finally gives way and dies in your arms, no matter how well developed they are, it can still be a good 'holy shit, I just stopped this guy from dieing in pain' moment.

mmmmm, i never played Far Cry 2 when it was released due to some lackluster reviews -- maybe i'll pick it up.

The tag below your header image gave it away!! I watched the video anyway. You made a lot of good points so now I want to check it out. Nice job.

I never even played FC 2... I will have to now that you ranted about it and piqued my interest!

I couldn't agree more. This game did the best job of making you feel like you were actually a part of the game world. No other title has come close.

I think Mr. Sadistic said it best when he said something like: this is the best game everyone only played for 2 hours. I need to get back with it because your points are awesome.

I feel so educated now. And I didn't just order Far Cry 2 because you sold it.

It was an interesting experiment in free form game design. Too bad they decided to include that crap about malaria. I guess the player character knew he was going to Africa but decided he couldn't be bothered to get the vaccine. I wasn't fond of the diamond caches either, but I did enjoy it overall.

6 times fuck, I'm still trying to get through my first playthrough, I probably shouldn't have tried to be such a badass and pick the hardcore difficulty straight away.

The no death thing seems interesting, does stuff like falling off a ledge/cliff count?, good luck with it anyway.

Ok, ok. You win. I'm convinced.

*adding to Gamefly queue*

I want this game now.

Anthony needs to become an advertising firm.

Great rant, greater game. Far Cry 2 is a magestic and hypnotizing piece of software which lets you get out what you put in.

Ok, ok. You win. I'm convinced.

*adding to Gamefly queue*

I completely agree with the rant. Usually I have some sort of issue with something you say in a rant, but FarCry2 was definitely the best game of 2008. I'm on my 3rd replay and I've done it completely differently each time so far. Such a good game... its depressing that so many people have overlooked it as another shooter/openworld game.

The header image is a lie!

There are some great points made, but I disagree with the syringe part. They're so easy to come by that there's really no reason not to save a buddy if they're down unless you hate them I suppose. That and being able to save whenever you want kinda ruins the point of being scared that you may die running back to a safehouse. Although I suppose if you implemented rules such as not saving that could make it a lot more interesting.

@Pyroph:

You can't save anywhere you want. Only at safehouses or gun shops.
That makes having a good buddy to save you worthwhile.

That face.

need moar metroidvania-hater rev.

@Pyroph Did you just complain about the fact that you can save the game anywheres? FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU....

"But what was the most important game of 2008? I guess you'll just have to hit the jump to find out. "

The tag on the header image!

The buddy system was certainly interesting but everything that surrounded it just slightly irritated me to the point in which I couldn't continue playing it.

i agree with scroll. and i didn;t care for any of my buddies. the world was crazy annoying.

I was already considering Far Cry 2, now i'm certain that i want this game.

PS: I liek gaems too.

So a game with crappy driving mechanics, terrible shooting mechanics, terrible A.I, terrible spawning rates AND committed the gaming error of you giving the illusion of choice when in reality you had none is the most important game of 2008.

Note to self: Never read, watch or listen anything involving Anthony ever again.

I did finish the game a few months ago after neglecting it for a while during the holidays. I definitely did enjoy it, maybe not as much as you though. I never felt that "immersed" in the game because I didn't really identify with either faction. Maybe that was supposed to be the point, after all you were essentially a merc for hire the entire game with the over arcing story of find the jackal. The faults it has, while not deal breakers, made me think WTF enough times where I don't think I'd call it the most important game of last year, but I can see why you felt it was.

I fucking called it!!!, but seriously, that gave me the most mixed feelings in a game ever. But yes, I agree maybe not the best game of 2008 but certainly the most important if games want too move on as a form of media.

Kyousuke Nanbu:
You'd be helping both of us out if you followed that advice.

Best commercial for gaming snobs to play FC2 ever.

I hope you don't take this the wrong way but you sound like Matt Cassamasina.

@ Sicknasty

Whoops, my bad. I'm playing too many games atm. :)

also, I completed it

hakim was one of the handful of guys i liked.

What most people don't get about this game is the number of opertunities open to you and they end up playing it like any number of generic shooters subsequently making the experience less enjoyable for themselves

My interest in this game was null until I saw this rant. Anthony single handedly made me want to buy this game. And being the video game masochist that I am, I would probably do the delete my save file when I die thing. Truthfully, I never even thought of that until it was mentioned. I may have to do this in future games until I can get my hands on Demons Soul.

@MCChampaign-Millionaire

set it in a big city with hitman style mechanics

@proph

you can on PC but not on PS3/360

I just don't understand why you picked Farcry over Fallout? I mean to each his own n stuff but i personally find that fallout did almost all of what you touched on but was just better all around. Please leave a comment to help explain what the difference was for you that made you pick Farcry over Fallout. Maybe I missed out on a jem...

i agree fc2 had some good ideas but in the end it was so terrible and frustrating i couldnt play it

To me, Fallout 3 didn't really allow that much legitimate freedom. Sure, it had some awkward branches you can follow ("Do you wanna blow up the president-computer, or talk it into killing itself?"), but very little of the game consisted of decisions and gameplay that felt as if they were completely coming out of my own imagination and strategy. I was either shooting enemies in a way that honestly felt kinda samey and bland (if really, really violent) when compared to other linear FPS games, or I was playing around in linear dialogue trees that only had a few scripted outcomes.

I guess the difference is that in Fallout 3, I chose one particular gameplay path out of many that the developers had specifically set down for me. In Far Cry 2, I made my own gameplay.

I have to say, the experience of watching a rev rant, without a huge face, and moving hands, lacks immersion and feels shallow.

I want your face back!

Interesting rant, but i am not buying into it.

I think I want to play Far Cry 2 now.

I'd definitely be interested in seeing a proper followup to to 2004's Far Cry, using similar gameplay mechanics as Far Cry 2.

Bring on the Trigens!

I think Far Cry 2 has clearly defined itself as art by being more fun to talk about than it is to play.

I'm not sure how this game became the poster child for ludic gameplay, but I'd have to guess that it's largely because of how much Clint Hocking talks about that. It is at it's core another mission based open world game, where your biggest real choice in how to proceed through the game is when to do side missions and how many of them to do, and whether or not do some extra work with one your buddies during each main mission. Sure, you can also set out and start exploring the world, but every open world game has that. You can also approach each fight however you want which is something really cool that entirely linear games completely lack. But really, almost every open world game has this.

Which just leaves its buddy system. And well, even Clint Hocking admits that people mostly don't have any real emotional reaction to the buddies. They ultimately end up being just a resource and when it's time to save or abandon them the question isn't "Did I like this character?" but "How many buddies do I have left and how annoying is it to save this buddy?" It is basically on that front a failure at ludic play.

No, I don't think it's anything the game did. It's just the ease of drawing a mental connection between Hocking's game and Hocking's ideas. They are some cool ideas too, and the fact that they spawned things like the perma death experiment that a few bloggers are undergoing is absolutely wonderful.

Man, I totally disagree. Far Cry 2 was terrible. I couldn't stand driving from one place to another fighting through the same checkpoints over and over again. Also the AI was retarded and if you played it on hard, they could just shoot through cover and see you at night. The missions to earn weapons by destroying trucks were terrible since there was no challenge, the truck just cruises in a circle waiting to destroy it. Africa was devoid of wildlife, every once in a while you would see a creature, but overall it was an empty landscape, even the rivers didn't have much plant life. I hated the game, it seemed to me to be an exercise in futility and terrible design. At least it looked and ran nice.

Yeeeeeeaaaaaahhhhhhhhh........



No.

No sir I don't like it.

You are a very horrible shot with that sniper rifle

I enjoyed this rant. You seemed to investigate underneath the surface of the game and spoon-fed us through what this game was trying to do, and was succeeding. I did feel that Fallout 3 gave you choices but they weren't dramatically impacting on the later events (apart from the end of course) but in Far Cry 2, there seems to be more effects on what you do and how you do it.

I may have to rent Far Cry 2... I've got no money at the moment, but damn you Rev and your ranting rays!



If this doesn't work, I'm sorry. I'm really rusty on bbCode. xD

you honestly think that farcry 2 was more important than LBP?

All the crappy stuff in between you talked about ruined FarCry 2 for me. I can't even beleive you played through it 6 or 7 times? Did I hear that right? The respawning gaurds are terrible, at least as quickly as they do. The fact that the factions never fight one another except in very specific missions is equally as lame. I thought I'd be in the middle of a war from the opening of the game, instead I was the opposing force in the area.

It did some interesting things surely, but I can't even fathom enjoying the game for what it is, unless you remove what it is and cherry pick the good parts.

I just bought this thing a week or two ago. It hasn't grabbed me yet. Definitely still getting used to its quirks and flaws. I find it very confusing and unfun for the most part. I never know what I'm doing or why I'm doing it or who all these people are and why am I shooting them in the face. And I'm supposed to go hunting for beeping briefcases full of diamonds, too? huh?