The Far Cry series to date has been intriguing and known for its most notorious, borderline-impossible difficulty levels. This time around, Ubisoft is pulling out all the stops and presenting a very exciting and new innovative look and realistic gameplay for the next installment in the series, Far Cry 2.
The initial look on Far Cry 2 looks incredibly promising, but apart from the breathtaking visuals and realistic environments with help from the new Dunia engine, what new does Far Cry 2 have to offer. Well firstly, the story and setting takes place in Africa as opposed to the tropical islands in previous excursions. The gameplay will be comprised of non-linear and open-ended environments emphasizing the idea of “liberty” as Clint Hocking, creative director of Far Cry 2, put it. The Hawaiian shirt wielding Jack Carver will also not reprise the roll in the Far Cry 2 as the player will now choose a desired character from a bunch of ‘gun for hire’ mercenaries. Highly destructible environments and a new weapon ‘degeneration’ system are included, in which guns and melee weapons will deteriorate with over usage throughout the game, this will result in countless hours spent shooting at random shrubbery and knifing rocks.
The story differs vastly from the previous games as the player progresses through the story as they desire and must learn to survive and interact with the citizens, as each action and interaction results in different consequences which could swing the locals against you or even affect the weather, as a dynamic weather system had been integrated to change the weather to represent your ability within the game, so bad play results in bad weather and good play, good weather. Oh, and if your wondering about the AI in the game, Ubisoft claim the new AI is “characteristically aggressive”, so grab your raincoats boys and girls.
Being set in Africa, there is an obviously emphasis on wildlife and boy, do they do it well. The animals are highly detailed and represent how the actual animal interacts, walks and lives within the environment. One can just stare in awe, as the motions and look of each animal is spot on and one can only feel as if they’re on a real game drive…with weapons and baddies of course.
This is only one of the aspects that have been focused on in Far Cry 2, as realism takes a new leap forward with this outing, as factors such as health and maps have been completely overhauled. Wounds are now taken care of by removing bullets with pliers or a knife, while sicknesses such as malaria are healed by medicine received from villagers.
Elements and factors within Far Cry 2 are visually outstanding and lifelike, but these jungle landscapes seem common in many of today’s titles. Don’t get me wrong, as the game looks beautiful in spots where light shimmers off the blade of a knife or a zebra gently flicks its fluid tail as it walks. Trees also move with the wind and break fluidly at points where they are shot; the jungle looks thick and lush; light is beautifully shaped and angled through the leaves and trees, but Far Cry 2 will have to up the ante in this ever growing genre of ‘destructible-jungle-shooters’ to knock out giants such as last years Crysis, and it’s looking to do so. Time will tell if this savage beast can topple the expectations of gamers around the world in September.
