Far Cry 2

I'm surprised this game hasn't had a thread on TNL yet. Far Cry 2 has been known since that asset leak in September 2006. There have been plenty of previews and unofficial videos (like this two-parter showing 25 minutes of gameplay) and several interviews confirming it specifically for PC. However, Ubisoft has just announced that Far Cry 2 will also be coming to Xbox 360 and PS3. Not really a surprise, considering Ubisoft's penchant for multiplatform releases, but nice to know anyway.

Far Cry 2 is set in the African savannah and appears to have an open-ended S.T.A.L.K.E.R.-like approach: you select a character from one of a dozen or so, do missions for various factions, and interact with all the characters that you didn't choose to become. Apparently your actions will have rippling effects on the game world. Kill a warlord (or one of his underlings) and people will move up in rank and take over the now vacant spots. If they can pull this sort of thing off, Ubisoft might just realize the promise of absolute freedom in a way that no other open-world game has managed before.

A couple screenshots stolen from IGN (who watermarked them right over the original www.farcrygame.com watermark)
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Yeah, I really don't like supporting game series that are taken from their original creators, and even less when the do a lot of focus group testing to determine their "new direction" but this does look pretty good, so I might make an exception.

It seems like they're really trying hard to make a Crysis killer, but there's also a good amount of STALKER in there. They said that the world is going to be like 1.5 times the size of Oblvion. It'll be hard to justify all that space, but if they can do it and maintain some sense of level design, this could be really cool.

I didn't like the original Far Cry, but enjoyed Instincts. Ubisoft seems to be really good at turning good concepts into great games.

I used to play the original over Live quite a bit. And even though I enjoyed the multiplayer a lot more than I did the main game...I'm pretty excited about this.

A new trailer for a trailer. Does that make it a meta-trailer?

March is turning into a packed month. Far Cry 2, MLB 2k8, Battlefield: Bad Company, Dark Sector, Army of Two, Condemned 2, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 are all due out with Civilization Revolution a week later. It'll be interesting to see what comes out on top. If FC2 is really like S.T.A.L.K.E.R., I know I'll be there. Those videos certainly look amazing...

I just noticed some interesting information in an old interview:

Quote:

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Players can choose from a variety of different characters at the start of the game. How have you managed to keep a tight story going for so many possible characters without making them bland and overly similar?

Clint Hocking, Creative Director: Much like Gordon Freeman, the character you play in FC2 becomes a sort of 'blank slate' once you choose him. There is no dialogue from the player character, because we want the player to be the character and to be completely immersed in that experience.

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So I guess the idea is to choose the least interesting character to play as, in order to meet the others. This really makes me wonder why they bothered including character selection in the first place. Why not just have a completely anonymous character for the players to control and populate the world with all of the mercenaries, instead of all but one?

So this game is finally out. I picked up the PC version. It's really good so far. Sort of a more polished and more mainstream-friendly Stalker mixed with a few aspect of the original Far Cry. The stealth and vehicle elements are still present, and the combat does still feel like Far Cry. That isn't a bad thing. The graphics are fairly nice. It doesn't look quite as good as Crysis, though.

One aspect I really do like is the sense of immersion. Doors don't just swing open; you see your arm reach out and turn the doorknob. You see yourself inject syrettes into your arm, pop malaria pills, and reset dislocated joints.

Did anyone else pick Far Cry 2 up? Anyone try the console versions?

Picked it up but with all the other games I'm getting soon I might not get to play it for a while.

I really hope they release a Demo to the marketplace for the 360 version. I'd like to see how it handles on that system before I plop down any dough (And with all the games coming out, it'll be hard for this to stick out of the crowd).

I'm still really optimistic about the level editor though, that could kick ass for multiplayer.