When everything goes well, you feel godlike. The interactions of a few simple elements - flammable flora, stealth, a health system requiring DIY first aid in the field ( gruesomely resetting broken fingers, cauterising wounds, and wrenching inexplicable lengths of rebar out of arms), disorienting malaria flare-ups, AI patrols, large landscapes, and our dear friend physics - lead to all sorts of mishaps.Ī plan to sneakily mortarbomb a target from afar might see you narrowly miss and spark a wildfire blowing back towards you, leap into a jeep to chase them down, crash, swap your pristine long-range weapons for some short-range crud an enemy drops, hidebehind a shack to heal yourself, have your swiped shotgun jam (the animations are splendid) and eventually blow up, then finally nail your target by detonating an IED in their path.

That doesn't go to plan, and nor will most other things you intend to do. 'Far Cry 3 is for babies,' I'd probably declare, because I'm like that.įar Cry 2 is an open-world FPS set in a nondescript African country mid-civil war, where you're out to kill a notorious and elusive arms dealer. Far Cry 2 is a game about plans and contingency plans, then desperate makeshift plans when those both go wrong, then finally, after a crucial grenade rolls back down a hill towards you, hoping that your buddy will come pull you out the fire - and that you can cover them. If they say they prefer Far Cry 3, I know they - as a person - are wrong. I don't have a single favourite FPS and find such conversation boring but if someone asks and I want to test their mettle, I'll tell them it's Far Cry 2.

One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time. Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations.

Far cry 2 mortar