Far Cry 3 Preview

By Oli Welsh Published 16 June, 2011

No man’s an island.

Actual new game announcements were thin on the ground at E3 this year. These days it's only Nintendo that routinely shows up with substantial headlines to make - and Ubisoft. Thank heavens for the French publisher's theatrical side, which ensures that its dependably daft press conference is always a highlight of the week. Whilst 2011's showing was noticeably less barmy than last year's, it did include the genuine debut of a long-anticipated blockbuster shooter: Far Cry 3.

Unfortunately for writers in search of a story, however, the impressive seven-minute demonstration at that press conference was the exact same one repeated, without elaboration, in a dark and noisy demo room at Ubisoft's sprawling booth on the show floor. It's also the exact same one you can watch on this page, which is the exact same one you have been able to watch on the internet since last week. Ubisoft will not be drawn on anything beyond the confines of this video.

It's lucky, then, that outside the demo room I am introduced to someone willing to chat just a little more loosely about where Far Cry 3 is headed. Whiskered and long-haired, accessorised with cowboy hat and cane, narrative director Jason Vandenberghe comes to Ubisoft Montreal's shooter from his work on Red Steel 2 - not that surprising, since he looks like he's stepped right out of the Wii samurai Western himself.

The demo dumps the player on a tropical island setting similar to the first Far Cry's, dense with sparkling emerald undergrowth and scattered with primitive, shanty-town pirate bases. We're not in Far Cry 2's Central Africa any more, yet neither has Ubisoft Montreal quite plumped for pastures new. It wasn't, Vandenberghe claims, a deliberate backward step, although he acknowledges that "it has that resonance with fans".

"Far Cry as a brand, as an idea, to me is about being in a place where if you see something bad happening, you can't pick up the phone and call 911... The tropical desert island is the perfect place for that," he argues.

We use a camera with a zoom lens to spy on a brutal armed gang as they abuse and execute their pitiful captives. The camera, Vandenberghe suggests, is a clue to our hero Jason Brody's background - but not all of it. Officially, we know nothing about him other than his boat has been destroyed and his girlfriend is missing, but as Vandenberghe says:

The Far Cry 3 E3 demo in full.

"You're a dude who is looking for himself, basically. There's only so much I can tell you. The camera's part of it. When you pick up an AK47, he's gonna go k-chhk and be ready to do. That needs to make sense. He can't go, oh, I was a photojournalist and suddenly I'm murdering 500 people, right? It won't be that."

But the camera will also be a gameplay tool used to inspire and reward curiosity and exploration, which the team sees as central to the Far Cry series. Far Cry 3 will, in the series tradition, be a relatively open game as shooters go; while Ubisoft Montreal is keen to repeat the "if you see it, you can go there" mantra of the free-roaming game, Vandenbderghe - very much a story man - prefers to introduce freedom gradually.

"So, there's a right way and a wrong way to do open world, right? You can say, 'Hey look, there's this big gigantic space, good luck!' That leads to confusion and frustration, we're not going to do that.

"The right way to do it is kind of layers of an onion, where you start in a guided experience and then you gradually open it up in chunks... You're going to have a staged experience where you get used to the mechanics, so that by the time we open the whole thing up and it stays open to the end of the game, you're ready and you know where to go."

As with Crytek's original game, the island harbours a dark secret. But this time it's no sci-fi menace. In Far Cry 3, everyone on the island is insane.

Captured in the demo, we are lectured on the nature of madness by an intense and frighteningly eloquent young Latino called Vaas. Amid all E3's violent bombast, this scene stood out for the quality of its writing and performance; direct, not too showy, arrestingly human. "Developers have a tendency when they talk about characters to think in terms of archetypes," says Vandenberghe. "He's the villain, this is the helper... What we did is we said, we don't want archetypes, we want people. We want real people."

Vaas is the head of a group of "modern-day pirates" and your primary antagonist in the first half of the game. His persona is a result of close collaboration with the actor who plays him - and naturalistic, credible characters are central to what Ubisoft Montreal wants to achieve with Far Cry 3. If Far Cry 2 was political, Vandenberghe says, Far Cry 3's themes are psychological; it's promised we'll meet several characters like Vaas, each with their own distinct brand of craziness.

"[Far Cry 2] was about factions and it was about political consequences, and life and systems. I think Far Cry 2 was making some pretty broad statements about war and revolution, or insurrection, the eternal strife that comes from factions going against each other and how that's unsolvable," he says.

"We're taking it down a level, to a human level. We're taking that idea and saying, yes, man is an animal - let's talk about it on an individual level. Let's talk about this person right here... When we talk about insanity, what we mean is, how would you behave if you weren't constrained by civilisation?"

You'd tie people to rocks and drown them, apparently. In the demo, Vaas heaves our hero into a deep underwater crevasse; after a panicky escape scene we emerge behind a waterfall, using its roaring sound and curtain of water as cover for a stealthy ambush on a patrolling gunman. Use of the island's natural environment will be a key strategy in Far Cry 3, especially water; later in the demo, we swim underwater in a stream to shake off enemy fire and resume attack from a new angle.

The second half of the demo is taken up with this assault on the pirates' ramshackle compound. It's an attempt to hijack a helicopter and escape, but between you and the chopper, there's a sprawling network of buildings, streams and alleys that present cover and vantage points and opportunities for sneaking, sniping or frontal assault.

This is classic Far Cry gameplay, and Ubisoft Montreal seems to have a good handle on what its players want: options for tactical improvisation combined with a survivalists' sense of cobbling your attack together from whatever comes to hand. You'll enter many situations without much equipment; what you need will be there, but you'll have to find it, and the more inquisitive you are, the more you might uncover.

"The core to this fantasy is that I don't have any resources, I'm on my own, it's the 'man alone' fantasy, right? I need to survive through my own wit, talent, skills - my actions will determine if I live or die. That feeling is core to why this context is so fun," Vandenberghe says.

"Because it asks you this question: what if your boat got blown up and you were cast away on this island, how would you do? Would you make it? We want to know, we want to test ourselves in that way."

We might want to, but we're not that used to it, after a few years in which the scripted fairground-ride shooter has reigned. How will Ubisoft Montreal encourage players to enjoy the freedom Far Cry 3 offers?

"It turns out that there's this weird psychological trick," Vandenberghe says. "You take away their communication. If you put a guidepost out there and say, here's where you should go first, everyone will go there. But if you have no marker, then it puts the player in a mindset where they are looking for the information that they will use to derive their own decision.

"The best way to do it is to create randomness in front of the player - and a clear objective. You do need to say, 'You need to get to the helicopter.' But between here and there, there's not a path. What happens in players' minds is that they look at it, they don't see a clear path, and then their style of play takes over."

Beyond confirmation that the game will have vehicles, that's about as nitty-gritty as Vandenberghe is prepared to get. But there's one critical question he hasn't answered yet. Far Cry 2 is regarded as a flawed classic, a game with great potential that was hobbled by a number of frustrating design oversights. What about Far Cry 2 would the team most like to fix?

10

Far Cry 3's currently shooting for a 2012 release.

"Actually, this is an easy question to answer. All you have to do is go online and search Far Cry 2 and examine the discussions, and four or five key points pop out as areas for improvement. It's unanimous.

"I had the same response. I would really like... to have some kind of fast travel, that would be great. It would be great if when I destroy a checkpoint, it doesn't come back. It would be nice if the checkpointing system was more friendly. I think it would be cool if I could hide and not be seen from a distance, if the enemy detection felt fair.

"Now, I'm really not supposed to use that language when I talk about it, but honestly, it's the elephant in the room, right? The list you have in your head for Far Cry 2 is the same list that every other journalist has. We all are carrying it. It was a great game, it was a fantastic game. Where we want to improve is the stuff that you want to improve.

"If we take away the pieces that were frustrating I think it's going to be great."

We'll cautiously agree, although we only have those seven minutes to go on. But for now, at the very least, it's new - and for that, we and E3 are eternally grateful.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (74) Latest comment 11 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • dun0790 #1 11 months ago

    farcry 2 was underated not perfect but if you put the time in there was agreat game there glad to see they havent forgot what made it so compelling looking like a day 1 for me havent said that about an ubisoft game in a long time

  • M4RV #2 11 months ago

    @dun0790:

    Agreed. Glad to see I'm not alone on this one... Personally, it was my GOTY for 2008 and I got like 60 to 70 hours invested on it over the years, both on the PC and the 360.

    Either way, love the vibe I'm getting from this one. The Jackal on FC2 was pretty much great from the get a go and I'm getting a similar vibe from this Vaas.

    In other words, good to see they're mixing the good and the old, from both FC and FC2.

  • Trigga_Tybalt #3 11 months ago

    Post deleted at 15:43:01 23-02-2012

  • PixelPirate #4 11 months ago

    Ive always preferred Farcry over Crysis.

    So I am looking forward to this, unsure about the "+10" everytime you shoot someone though, makes it feel a bit too much like an on rails shooter.

  • spekkeh #5 11 months ago

    I wasn't interested in Far Cry, Crysis or Far Cry 2 (although reading back the comments, FC2 may have been an error in judgment) to be frank, but that seven minutes trailer of sorts completely sold me on this game. The thing that annoys me the most about FPSes is that you're always this kind of superhuman and the enemies are all interchangeable cyphers. Suddenly we have a protagonist that's vulnerable and an enemy that looks genuinely human. That's awesome. I'm sure it will degrade into shoot lots of faceless baddies, but I do hope they can maintain the relatively plodding nature of the movie they showed.

  • BBIAJ #6 11 months ago

    Same, I bought the Collector's Edition, just never really got into it.

  • Stoatboy #7 11 months ago

    "No man's an island"

    The Isle of Man is.

  • bratmandu #8 11 months ago

    Good to hear they listened to the three main problems with fc2 - stealth, respawning enemies at 'completed' checkpoints, and getting from A to B. Fix those and you have a winner.

    FC2 has some great ideas - the fire propogation, the day/night cycle. But it became a bit of a slog when you just wanted to go and save, and random death cars start coming out of nowhere.

    *also the graphics in FC2 were top notch.
    Edited by bratmandu at 16/06/11 @ 16:25

  • Gambit1977 #9 11 months ago

    I've been playing FC2 in bursts for the last two years and still haven't finished. Always enjoy a quick blast, but due to the AI, jamming and checkpoints as well as a lack of direction, I don't stick at it. Still, this has GoTY written all over it. Can't wait!

  • Scofield2411 #10 11 months ago

    Lookin' pretty interesting!

    @M4RV: Same M4RV from Zwame? x)

  • Dave52 #11 11 months ago

    " These days it's only Nintendo that routinely shows up with substantial headlines to make"

    That was annoying.


    Far Cry looks good though.

  • cianchristopher #12 11 months ago

    Far Cry as a brand, as an idea, to me is about being in a place where if you see something bad happening, you can't pick up the phone and call 911

    That's what Far Cry is to you? Seriously?

  • God_Octo #13 11 months ago

    It sounds like they're dealing with everything that made me sell FC2. The game had so much potential, but I soon got bored with my discount weapons and the constantly psychotically angry checkpoint guards. IF they do everything they say they will, I'm definitely gonna be there buying a copy come day one.

  • darkphoenix #14 11 months ago

    Far Cry 2 is my favourite FPS.
    I enjoyed every bit of it, finished it twice, once in Hard difficulty.
    What many see as flaws, I see them as challenges.

    I think this Vaas vilain looks as generic as anyone could come up with...
    Pretty far from Jackall.

    I really want to believe in FC3, but it feels like a backwards step.

  • towser #15 11 months ago

    had to do a quick double take - the picture on the front page looked suspiciously like Golem.

  • Yossarian #16 11 months ago

    "It's unanimous."

    No, it isn't.

  • Haloboy #17 11 months ago

    FarCry 2. Amazing yet so misunderstood. Flawed yet utterly amazing. I've played it three times now and each time I enjoy it more than the last.

    FarCry 3 looks like it's bringing back the tropical islands of the first mixed with elements from the second. Sounds like fps gaming heaven to me as funny as it sounds I've not played an island shooter in a while. Kinda miss them now.

  • Miths #18 11 months ago

    Far Cry 2 was flawed (constantly respawning check points being the biggest annoyance), but it still remains one of my favourite open world games - and certainly one of the most beautiful - and though I never finished it, I did end up spending a good 30 hours enjoying it.

  • fletch273 #19 11 months ago

    I really enjoyed Far Cry 2. I never played the first one and I'm sure I'll rent this eventually. In fact, I'll stick it on my list now.

  • darkphoenix #20 11 months ago

    People who never finished FC2 do not understand half of what it was all about...
    The last hours are PURE genious.

    So far ahead of its time, FC2 was just too good, too complex, too demanding, too smart for the casual generic FPS player to handle.

    Guess it will go down as a misunsertood masterpiece.
    I can live with that....

  • Haloboy #21 11 months ago

    Constantly respawning check points is still the ongoing debate concerning this game. Personally I'm of the camp that if they didn't respawn the game world would become almost entirely stagnant. And simply give people reason to complain the game was too sterile once you crossed off the many checkpoint areas. Seems to me the devs were in a no win situation but I agree they made the right decision in the end.

  • FogHeart #22 11 months ago

    So, they knew all along about the issues everyone had with FC2. They felt like issues that could have been patched with very little effort. Wish they had. Even better, I wish they'd have released an SDK like Oblivion has, so the game could have been modded in all kinds of ways.

    It's good to hear that we will still have a big open world to explore, hopefully one as evocative and gorgeous as FC2. I just hope to be able to do more than the usual FPS activities in it. Shoot/blow up/melee/drive a bit. I'm not looking to fish, or pick up chickens and throw them into a barn, but something that uses the environment in a better way than just as a backdrop to bangbangbang.

  • Zerobob #23 11 months ago

    All the bitching I did about Far Cry 2 wasn't in vain! They listened!

  • CaptainQuint #24 11 months ago

    The loose, laggy controls of Far Cry 2 (on Xbox 360) where a problem for me, enough to put me off playing. If they can polish them up and make them much tighter for the next game then I'm there. Day one.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #25 11 months ago

    Far Cry 2 has a wonderful world, and story. It was refreshing to play such a game that dealt with the theme of how War and the politics of war-torn African failed states is hell. Depressing, perhaps, but definitely different. I liked how it brought the themes of Heart of Darkness back to Africa from Vietnam.

    It's just a shame some of their gameplay mechanics were a bit irritating. I hope this sequel can sort those whilst maintaining a heavyweight message. All this talk of an island where everyone's mad sounds like it could be played for screwball comedy, and I'm not sure I like the notion of a Red Steel influence.

  • CloisterBlack #26 11 months ago

    That voice!...

  • ubergine #27 11 months ago

    Far Cry 2 was terrific. The respawning check points were never a problem for me - I rarely plotted the same course twice and never got sick of killing bastids anyway. I don't understand people who couldn't sneak in it. I kept to the shadows, and didn't mind that the enemies weren't the short-sighted duplo-enemies from other games. You CAN see a human being from a fair distance away you know.
    The only thing I didn't gel with was the ending. Given the game was so much about choice of approach, it annoyed me that the final Jackal scenes were on rails and I had to choose between two of HIS plans. How about MY plan to simply put a shell in his eye? Deus Ex had three choices, why not Far Cry 2? I think it would have been cool to have his death, in the end, be a non-event, rather than a boss battle, but the endings offered would have been cooler as second and third options.

  • M4RV #28 11 months ago

    @ubergine:

    If you take things into account, there's a light possibility that the storyline for FC2 is not exactly what it seems to be IMO. By the end of the whole ordeal...

    I was actually under the impression that the by player HIMSELF was the Jackal, suffering from PTSD and coupled with his impending death from cancer, he developed some kind of split personality... There are several moments in the game that support such theory IMO, ranging from only YOU see the Jackal to some of his dialogue and / or confessions.
    Edited by M4RV at 16/06/11 @ 17:18

  • coldfoot #29 11 months ago

    I'm surprised to see one big question isn't answered. Is it using CryEngine 3?

  • M4RV #30 11 months ago

    @coldfoot:

    Probably the same engine used on FC2, namely Dunia, with noticeable improvements here and there hopefully.

  • Darren #31 11 months ago

    E3 walkthrough looks pretty good overall apart from the uninspired and pointless QTE stabbing of A bit at the start (where if you fail you're dead anyway so why even make that interactive?). Far Cry 2 was pretty boring IMO (not to mention too orangey!) but this new game looks more like the first visually with bits of PC Crysis thrown in which makes it a whole lot more interesting.

    Was that footage from the PC version by any chance as it looked very slick, just the odd bit of pop up, and I didn't see any screen tearing which leads to me to think it isn't the 360 or PS3 build being demoed?

  • RedSparrows #32 11 months ago

    Far Cry 2 boring? You're clinically insane, Darren. Knew it all along.

    I adore FC2, warts and all, as I have said so many times before.

    I really hope FC3 improves on the formula whilst keeping the same level of brutality and oppressiveness - FC2 thrived on feeling so dark in such a gorgeous world.

  • The-Jack-Burton #33 11 months ago

    I just started playing through Far Cry 2 again, and it is a damn good game, albeit frustrating to navigate. It's more enjoyable going back now and playing it because I am aware of it's shortcomings and know what to expect. I am really, really looking forward to Far Cry 3.

  • rayscoota #34 11 months ago

    No Monsters? no sale then FC2 was just a pure generic shooter so no thanks, bring back the fantastic mutants from farcry 1

  • RedSparrows #35 11 months ago

    I loved the navigation in FC2. Literally getting out the map and reading it as you looked about the landscape. It felt much more real than GPS maps et al.

    Always remember sitting in the rocks above the train depot on the northern map, cheap, rusty sniper rifle in hand. Binoculars out, ranging over the scene. Pick up my crappy RPG, aim at the fuel tank... whooossshhhhh BOOM!

    And you vanish into the hills.

  • GooseUK #36 11 months ago

    I hope there is an option to take the '+10' that pops up when you kill an enemy

  • Necanthrope #37 11 months ago

    FC2 was a great game imo. The main complaints about it where overstated. There was a limited fast travel system via the buses. They would get you into the general area of your next target and thus avoid alot of checkpoints. If you where wise you then got a buggy and drove off road or went in by boat. Both options again bypassed most checkpoints. I do concede though that the checkpoints repopulated far to fast. I don't think you should ever clear them permanently but they certainly should stay clear long enough for you to conduct your mission and get back out again.

    The stealth system definately worked as I spent most of the game in the camo jacket using silenced weapons. Unsurprisingly you had to move slowly, make minimal noise and stay in thick foilage for it to work. You also needed to use silenced weapons and drop enemies out of sight of others. This always seemed perfectly reasonable but possibly too realistic for some.

    If they improve on these areas then FC3 could be awesome. Personally though I just need the respawn time toned down to be happy.

  • bodhi85uk #38 11 months ago

    This looks interesting. I gave up on Far Cry 2 as much as i liked much of it because the frame rate was iffy at times and i got fed up of the respawning check points.

  • guernican #39 11 months ago

    "being in a place where if you see something bad happening, you can't pick up the phone and call 911"

    Like London?

    Sorry, I'll get me coat.

  • flaming.carrot #40 11 months ago

    Whilst I enjoyed FC2 I felt it needed a couple of good set-pieces near the end to reward your progression to that point. It kind of just fizzled out really - although I guess you could argue that it made the ending(s) at bit more thoughtful. The futility of war and all that.

    Anyway, this looks good so far. Impressed with the believable quality of the acting.
    Edited by flaming.carrot at 16/06/11 @ 18:20

  • kupocake #41 11 months ago

    Huh? They're having 'modern day pirates' but ditching the African setting of the second? Not to seem insensitive, but they could've made one hell of an interesting, politically relevant game with that. As it is, they've already gone down the 'heart of darkness' route with the antagonist. Why not go the whole hog and create gaming's truer to the source material answer to Apocalypse Now?

    Nice work on teasing some more info on this interesting game out of the devs Oli. You may need to proof those first two paragraphs though.

  • Nephirion #42 11 months ago

    Your trapped on an Island and everyone around you is totally insane ... sounds like the UK
    Edited by Nephirion at 16/06/11 @ 18:36

  • AdamAsunder #43 11 months ago

    Onion?

    Why not cake? Everyone likes cake.

  • Pumpatron #44 11 months ago

    I'm excited by this. Looks like they're addressing many of the issues with FC2, and tropical setting looks gorgeous. This could turn out to be something truly special.

    I'm currently replaying FC2, which as others have said is flawed yet great. I'm using the flare gun this time, didn't bother with it on previous play-throughs, It's ace. My main problem with FC2 is the clunky awkward gun-play, it's hard to tell from the FC3 video but it looks like they've addressed that to.

  • Vortex808 #45 11 months ago

    Far Cry 2 was great fun, but badly flawed. Hope this improves on it, as the atmosphere and world was fantastic, but eagle-eyed enemies and respawning checkpoints made stealth quite difficult.

    The world looks lovely on pc, i wonder how it is on console as that's the version i'll have to buy.

  • MrE26 #46 11 months ago

    Looks a lot like a mix of FarCry 1 & 2, & it could well end up being a big pile of awesome.

    FC2 reminded me a lot of another Ubi game, Assassins Creed. They both had a completely stunning gameworld & great concepts, & both suffered from being far too repetitive. Once you'd played for a couple of hours you'd pretty much seen all the game had to offer. It was as though they'd spent so much time building the engine & world that they ran out of time to build a game that really lived up to it.

    AC2 & Brotherhood fixed all that, & hopefully this will do the same.

  • Graveland #47 11 months ago

    @darkphoenix

    "So far ahead of its time, FC2 was just too good, too complex, too demanding, too smart for the casual generic FPS player to handle.

    Guess it will go down as a misunsertood masterpiece.
    I can live with that.... "

    You're sounding like Garth Marenghi with that comment.

  • dirtysteve #48 11 months ago

    @rascoota 'No Monsters? no sale then FC2 was just a pure generic shooter so no thanks, bring back the fantastic mutants from farcry 1 '

    The mutants were the weakest feature of FC1, the human enemies were much more interesting.

  • darc #49 11 months ago

    Does anyone anywhere think the voiceover lent any value to the demo? "Alright, Jason's got a weapon..." Yes, em, per the machine gun center screen, I gathered. Just cheesy.

  • tankboi #50 11 months ago

    Stuff you should have done in 2:

    - Make sure there is dangerous wildlife this time (apparently you already made this for 2 but just never patched it in...wtf!?)
    - More wildlife in general...monkeys, lemurs, wild boar...whatever life an island like that would actually sustain.
    - Should be able to change your gun's rate of fire! Not everyone wants to trounce about spraying in full-auto!
    - Get rid of the Malaria! and sack the designer that made that call in FC2.
    - Allow the player to go prone!!!
    - Don't repopulate an enemy post within 10 seconds of leaving the area.
    - Don't screw up the key binding and options for PC (actually test the game before release this time).
    - Make sure the enemy doesn't have eyes like Bravestar this time, so stealth actually works.
    - No DRM for PC please.
    - Give the option to rid the screen of the HUD for a more realistic experience.

    Do all this all, then announce it, and ye shall have my coin in pre-order form.
    Edited by tankboi at 16/06/11 @ 20:25

  • darkphoenix #51 11 months ago

    ...there is no HUD on FC2.
    At least on X360 ( when not in combat, of course )

  • Ka-blamo #52 11 months ago

    It's not really a Far cry from the other ones.

  • king26 #53 11 months ago

    FC2 was a game with a poor story, bad AI and issues with travelling around the large map but I'm still somehow drawn to it!

  • irrational-gaz #54 11 months ago

    "Onion?

    Why not cake? Everyone likes cake."

    Because everyone knows that cake is a lie.
    Edited by irrational-gaz at 16/06/11 @ 23:31

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #55 11 months ago

    Get rid of the Malaria! and sack the designer that made that call in FC2

    I liked the malaria. It added to the massive downer atmosphere.

  • linksdad #56 11 months ago

    FC2 was one of the most atmospheric games I have played. I have never been to Africa, but the games representation of it felt spot on.
    The checkpoints got old pretty quickly, but I remember just rushing through and hoping I wouldnt cop for a RPG. I doubt this tactic would work on hard.

  • alimokrane #57 11 months ago

    "Have I ever told you the definition of insanity!" - that line, I will remember for years to come. This is shaping up nicely :D

  • NegativeZero #58 11 months ago

    I never finished FC2 because I felt like I never made any impact on the world and couldn't ever make any actual progress, and it was almost entirely because of the constantly respawning enemies. Go into an area, kill ten guys and clear it out, come back ten minutes later and they've respawned again. It was constant annoying drudgery that stopped you from actually playing the meat of the game. Enjoyed the first one so much more, at least until the mutants appeared.

  • DrStrangelove #59 11 months ago

    I... hate... jungles...

    But I already like that guy.

  • sachashoes #60 11 months ago

    Some posters have talked about FC2's bad AI. Really? I'm no FPS guru but I've played most of the major ones and few better it. OK, FC2's mercs are no geniuses, but they get all the basics right - cover, flanking etc.

    I agree that malaria added to the atmosphere, but - like the checkpoints - it was poorly implemented. Think the checkpoints were necessary, though, just needed a bigger delay

  • sachashoes #61 11 months ago

    ...oh, and the dart rifle was way overpowered in relation to the other guns.

  • Snufkin #62 11 months ago

    I really enjoyed FC2, but I didn't realise that once you enter the end-game, you wouldn't have the chance to go back and finish looking for diamonds, completing side missions etc. I did try to engineer my saves so I could go back, but I messed up and got really annoyed. So I traded it in. All this talk about it, and the sheer freedom to do approach a situation how you saw fit has made me go on eBay and buy another copy! Maybe this time I'll try a different tactic, though my sniper/grenade launcher combo worked an absolute treat the first time around.

  • Liquidoodle #63 11 months ago

    Wonder if you will be able to complete this one without it corrupting your save games after getting half way through the game?

  • Talk_Show_Host #64 11 months ago

    If you don't fix the saving system then no money from me...

  • essgee #65 11 months ago

    enjoyed far cry.

    Thought fc2 was a bag of balls.

  • VibratingDonkey #66 11 months ago

    People tend to complain about the traveling being dull, but there was fast travel in Far Cry 2 actually. You still had to go to the bus station, and then from the arriving bus station to your objective, but I think that was a decent solution. I suppose they could make more of those fast travel stations, make them and their purpose more evident. And produce entertaining vehicle physics as opposed to the boxes on wheels of FC2.

    Checkpoints respawning too quickly was irritating, but my biggest problem with Far Cry 2 was the god damn attack jeeps that honed in on you and hunted your ass down at random intervals as you were minding your own business, forcing you into these unwanted, annoying, repetitive firefights that absolutely would not stop.

  • Haloboy #67 11 months ago

    Vrrrn vrrrn vrnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!!! When you hear that noise in FC2, be prepared to fight your way the fuck outta dodge. Sorry but I actually really liked them. You'd hear the familiar ominous revving noise but are never always sure which direction it's coming from, then out of nowhere a jeep fucking spraying bullets at you jumps over your head like a maniac torpedo projectile. Only it's actually a jeep with insane AI that just went straight into a nearby tree. One quick grenade later and the thing is doing cartwheels in flames and two enemies are screaming "arrrrrrghhhhh".

    Man, I really want to replay it again now. Oh wai, I am. Result!

  • RedSparrows #68 11 months ago

    Aye, the jeeps were annoying - but the way they flipped and KABOOMED! was very rewarding.

    I frequently liked to smash other jeeps into trees and then hop into the gunner seat, finish them off, and then slide back - it did the traversing of different positions very nicely.

  • Haloboy #69 11 months ago

    Indeed. But nobody ever mentions things like that when dicussing the game. Nobody ever goes "yeah the way you could navigate into a jeep, then onto the gunner and then back again was great". It was a simple yet fluid mechanic that really worked well and much like the map kept the player immersed when playing rather than popping from place to place like most shooters do.

    That's why I loved using boats as there was a true physicality to them whilst being the player sat in the boat steering with one hand while looking at your map for navigation purposes with the other. They also moved extremely gracefully which when coupled with a sunset on the water just helped capture you in the moment.

    It's not often you tend to play an fps game and actually feel as though you/the character you play is setting off on a real journey. But that's how I felt when driving or boating my way around the world. Sights and sounds would greet my eyes and ears and I would just soak it all up whereas in my shooters I'm more concerned about the next enemy hidden behind scripted position wall number 345.

    FarCry 2 was dumped on by so many who never sank enough time into it to really get what the game was all about. Let us hope they don't make the same mistake with FarCry 3 as I predict it will take FarCry 2 which is already fantastic into the realms of true fully recognised gaming classic. Not just underrated gem like FC2 turned out to be.

  • robbiejc85 #70 11 months ago

    It's hard to see this becoming anything other than a fun, gorgeous open world shooter, but I'm a bit disappointed with the narrative turn. The original Far Cry had that Sci-fi mutant hook going on, while Far Cry 2 had one of the best 'morality' systems (for want of a better word) going.

    It wasn't just black or white, and at times, doing just the 'good' thing, you wondered, 'is it worth it?' 'What will it really change?'. When you're diamond smuggling for one faction, is it really 'good' to stay loyal to them when you could quite easily make more cash for another equally shady outfit?

    It also had a nice, if limited, tale - hugely ripping off 'A Heart of Darkness', and showing a violent Africa, where bad men African, and Caucasian made the lives of others miserable, just to keep the conflicts going that kept them rich.

    Going down the 'everyone is mental' and the banal 'what is sanity?' route is just code for, 'feel less awful when you hunt down a goon with a sniper rifle under a beautiful waterfall.'

  • sachashoes #71 11 months ago

    Did the jeeps randomly home in on you? Thought they took assigned patrol routes - problem was you couldn't hear them until they were right on you. On the morality system: was there one? Wasn't it just a choice of being a bastard or being a sick bastard?

    FC2 was a great game and a brilliant examination of an amoral world

  • Lemming81 #72 11 months ago

    FC2 may have been a great game, but it totally screwed the pooch for me. I had it on PS3, and the after-sales customer service for it was abysmal. What they really should have noticed on the FC2 forums is PS3 users telling the developers about major problems with the broken multiplayer and getting completely ignored. (it won't remember experience points, if you have a psn username over eight characters long you can't even play downloaded maps, the list goes on).

    That's what worries me about this and Ubisoft in general. Once they've shipped, they couldn't care less.

  • TheGuvernor #73 11 months ago

    Great to see all the positive comments on FC2.
    I believe it to be a truly revolutionary title in the fps genre.

    The mature story, high level of difficulty & commitment needed to fully get the most out of it clearly didn't work for many.
    So much detail - no HUD, injury animations, incredible graphics, physics & AI, weather cycles, emergent game play, cool slide mechanic, almost bug free, buddy rescue when shit went tits up, I could go on....
    Malaria, well I got malaria in Africa, everyone does. Fact of life.

    Stoked for FC3 - just ditch the XP points floating around every time I cap someone. Immersion killer & wrong app for this style of game.
    P.S. - Only newbs complain about re spawning checkpoints ;)

  • Shagsmith #74 11 months ago

    Alot of these comments making me think I was a bit too hasty in getting rid of FC2, only a fiver nowadays as well, worth another pop?