I’ve played a bit of Far Cry 2 now. Probably 5-10 hours or so. I don’t know if I’m going to be playing again any time soon what with all of the other games out there to try and FC2 not quite making the grade. Here’s why it’s not quite the game they wanted…or least it wasn’t on the regular difficulty level (I hear it plays differently on different difficultly levels?).
The AI
Why knock the AI when I’ve also got them in the good things area? Because they respawn like angry mosquitoes when you leave standing water outside. Literally. See, in FC2 you drive around this huge country side a lot. This huge country side is filled with a bunch of random annoying guys (like the internet) with guns (less like the internet). Ok, well, fine. It’s a warzone, I’m a mercenary, I’ll do what I do. Basically, kill the shit out of things. I do that, take the supplies I need and move on. Pretty straight forward. Except, when I have to drive back by there I find a whole host of new guys there. As if they are cloning them in the back somewhere and as soon as I’m out of sight, the little bastards are popping out of the water, running to the guard post and then nochalantly pretending like they’ve been there the whole time. So, no matter how many times you kill them, you get to do again as soon as you go back. Awesome!
The original design vs. what we got
They, the developers, either originally designed a more hardcore game where saving was only available at safe houses or they altered the difficulty levels post design or something, but a few things just aren’t well done. First, you don’t need save points, so you don’t need safe houses (until later in the game when they have supplies…if you’re a right and true bastard). Second, while some of the game seems based on making it feel more realistic, other things aren’t. Repairing a vehicle for instance…as long as the vehicle hasn’t exploded, you can just get out, open the hood, twist a wrench a few times and it’s back to new! While that might be a better mechanic than having vehicles die and you have to hoof it a lot, there should have been some other way to solve this problem without it feely so gamey. Third, why can I only carry 4 weapons, no matter their size. Great arbitrary way to try to make the game harder…
Story?
Ok, yeah, the game isn’t big on story. Completely understandable since it’s an FPS. They often think deep story lines have cooties. Fair enough. But what about a story line that you’re literally thrown into, and then never hear about again? I’m going to spoil something right now (since it’s in the first 5 minutes of the game)…you’re hunting the Jackal. And you meet him right away. And he doesn’t kill you, even though he knows you’re there to kill him. Ok, fine. But then? You never hear from him or where he is again. And you start doing random jobs for random people for…no reason. Yeah, it’s that esoteric. Then, you make buddies…that aren’t really buddies so much as people that want things from you for very little reward. That are also physic. As soon as you take a job, they know and have a counter or altered job already setup. It’s almost as if this entire country was just waiting for you to appear…
Ok, so, those aren’t great things…but you know what? Far Cry 2 is still pretty fun for awhile, and if modding tools exist, the real Far Cry 2 could appear. If no other game was out right now, I’d probably still be playing it. And I will most definitely go back to it at some point. See, it has these really good things. Stealth works, the AI is fun to play against, when they aren’t spawning constantly, and the graphics are amazing.
Now for some developer comments as seen on Pentadact (right after the author’s comments):
I’m missing something fundamental about the buddy missions. Namely, why? And also, why? Why do they want to hurt the APR/UFLL much more seriously at enormous risk to my health and for no extra reward? And why do they think I will want to? It can’t be that they’re die-hard UFLL or APR supporters, because my next mission will be against that faction and they will again demand that I take enormous, preposterous detours to commit mass murders.
Hmm…I agree completely, but what does the developer say (these are taken from the original blog’s comments)?
Thanks for the (cheeky) comments. I would very much liked to have done a better job of realizing the buddies and making them more present and meangingful in the game. At least you can shoot them and make them go away if you don’t like them. I don’t like Michelle much either and after the third or fourth time I had her as a buddy I secretly painted some sandbags with her brains when no one was looking.
So the best way to deal with your buddies is to kill them…interesting. What about why they ask you create massive destruction for what appears to be (yet again) no real reason?
As for the other ‘why’ why do the buddies want you destroy medicine or defoliate a jungle?… The answer is because they are bad fucking people. They are self-interested, dangerous assholes. Are they really different from the warlords and their goons? It’s completely fine if you don’t want to do that stuff. It’s completely fine that you think they are monsterous. If you don’t want to do that stuff, if you think it’s ‘bad’, you don’t have to. Your reputation will stay low, you’ll have access to medicine for longer, you won’t find the battlefield quite so littered with wounded. But make no mistake - you’re motives here are not to end this conflict. Don’t be so high and mighty, errand boy. You’re a killer. You’ve probably killed and burned and stabbed more people than all of your buddies combined. Why do you think you are the one we hired to kill the Jackal and not one of them :)
So…they ask you to do horribly destructive things with no real logic or reasoning behind them because they are bad people? Are bad people stupid as all get out? Because that might explain things a bit…
I do understand his talk of lack of time and polish. That happens on every single software project known to man. That doesn’t excuse things, but it does give some understanding. Far Cry 2 though…well it could have been an outstanding game instead of just another decent one. If modding exists for it, I think with a bit of work, you could make one of the most amazing single player games to grace our screens.
As it stands, it’s worth a buy from the bargain bin or if you’re out of other games to play.
What Would Matt Do: I’d read the rest of the comments by Clint. They are all insightful and interesting, if not a little bit revisionist and spinnie, but still good. I’d also keep Far Cry 2 and give it another shot when I have more time or when a patch fixes a fair amount of the issues.
2 Comments
Some of your criticisms don’t make a lot of sense. In the paragraph where you discuss safe houses, you say that they’re not necessary unless you want places scattered throughout the map where you can save anytime and where you can eventually stock up on ammo, guns, and health syrettes. I mean…who wouldn’t want that stuff? I think you’re trying to say that the game allows you to save other ways, so the safe houses aren’t the only, or perhaps even the primary means for saving the game. But to say you don’t “need” them doesn’t seem right to me. They’re a great option to mid-mission saving and/or resupplying.
You also state that your buddies ask you to do things for no reason and then simplify and mischaracterize Clint Hocking’s response to Pentadact’s blog post. Hocking didn’t say that your buddies ask you to do things simply because they’re bad. He said they ask you to do bad things because there is profit to be had and they don’t care who else gets hurt. If you talk to your buddy he/she will always explain exactly why he/she wants you to add that extra bit to your base mission and it ALWAYS is because it benefits your buddy, even though it ends up hurting others, including the poor people of that terrible country.
Clint Hocking also didn’t say that the best way to deal with buddies is to kill them. He said that if you don’t like them, you’re free to go ahead and eliminate them, along with the rewards in reputation and the goodies you get at your safe houses for doing their missions. Far Cry 2 has an open world and you’re pretty much never prevented from doing whatever the heck you want, including killing your own buddies or opening fire in a no-fire zone.
MSUSteve…
Umm…. No.
you say that they’re not necessary unless you want places scattered throughout the map where you can save anytime and where you can eventually stock up on ammo, guns, and health syrettes. I mean…who wouldn’t want that stuff?
I used them only as an example of the changing design and how the game isn’t coherent in it’s design. Sure, they are great…except they aren’t really useful and don’t make sense in the context of having save anywhere.
You also state that your buddies ask you to do things for no reason and then simplify and mischaracterize Clint Hocking’s response to Pentadact’s blog post.
Interesting…because if I look at Hocking’s comments, these are his exact words (emphasis mine), “As for the other ‘why’ why do the buddies want you destroy medicine or defoliate a jungle?… The answer is because they are bad fucking people. They are self-interested, dangerous assholes. Are they really different from the warlords and their goons?”
So he said exactly that as a matter of fact. Admit it, the buddies are omnipresent and they don’t have any real motivations beyond destroying more people/things. It’s not a deal breaker, but it doesn’t make a lot of sense in the context of the given world.
Clint Hocking also didn’t say that the best way to deal with buddies is to kill them.
Clint’s comments are, “I would very much liked to have done a better job of realizing the buddies and making them more present and meangingful in the game. At least you can shoot them and make them go away if you don’t like them.”
So, if the buddies aren’t fully realized and are annoying you can shoot them. Which is pretty much what they are at one time or another. Awesome.
Really man, if you want to critique me, read my posts first. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t always get my points across well, but damn me if Hocking himself didn’t make all of my points…