Far Cry® 2

First Gameplay: https://youtu.be/l_GiARdFJzs

Now this one may have it's own flaws that I will get into later, but this was one great inclusive technological advancement of a game that one can experience. Especially for something that is only 3 GB, they went all out in delivering an epic experience of actually feeling like you're stuck in a far off country and have to fend for yourself. Now as a South African, although I have not learned any Zulu, it features in most of our entertainment media to be familiar with, which one may say can break our experience a little with what the game is supposed to be. But even when you are familiar with the accents and mannerisms, the game still manages to make you feel like you're far away from home through the mechanics and gameplay. I find it inclusive to set a game in Africa and use African languages such as Zulu and Afrikaans to give the gamers a unique experience. The mechanics that I speak of is how the game creates the need for malaria pills in order to survive the wilderness, which also comes with dilemmas in securing the pills through the story that your morality is heavily tested. Unfortunately, this unique mechanic has been replaced by the repetitive towers, skinning animals and make-shift weapons in the latest Far Cry games. Which I am not really complaining about, but their repetitiveness does not add any new experience in order to separate the games from each other based on gameplay and not only animals and plants. Another great mechanic is how guns can jam, as we know if guns are somewhere illegal, then their maintenance can be quite tricky. So guns jamming create a sense of urgency and risk during a shootout, keeping you on your toes and forcing you to think about strategies instead of going out blasting. There is a buddy system too where you have a friend like in the later games, that can come and help you during shootouts and helps revive you whenever you die. I find it crazy that it was not implemented in Far Cry 3 and 4. Although I am not quite sure if they can die for good or only when it is scripted, I do not remember quite well, but I know that they help with shooting and do not let you do everything on your own, they give you a sense of community that has their own motivations to surivive in the wilderness. This is the game that is praised for how dynamic and realistic the fire is, it spreads with the wind burning all vegetation that you have to mind using bombs and molotovs cocktails in your strategy to take enemies out, or else you will be the one surrounded by fiames. I enjoy the use of a physical phone and map, and how you have to use the map even while driving in order to get where you're going until you learn the landmarks, which are beautifully designed for that reason. Now speaking of the map, the issue transversing, especially between missions, they created their missions to always have to do something on one side of the map, then follow up on the other side of the map. Which makes the game frustrating with long unnecessary travels as it seems it's only for getting gamers to play longer hours and make the map/ game seem bigger, not to mention everytime you travel there's always enemy outposts you have to clear out in order to move through, that will always respawn back when you have to pass there again, which I guess is a point to the newer games. Overall, this is a great game.

Rating:
★★★✮☆ (3.5/5 Stars)

Review:
This game draws you in brings a strong sense of immersion, yet leaves you disappointed.
Far Cry 2's world in Africa is simply amazing even to this day, the immersion, weapons and driving jeep sim are splendid but any games biggest aspect also needs to be good: the story. Far Cry 2's story is repetitive, uninteresting, oddly paced, and overall seemingly rushed in development. It isn't terrible but it absolutely leaves you wondering if they could have expanded, done more or made missions more unique.

The biggest issue with this game is the port and bugs. Absolutely needs a mod to play well on pc and even then basic npc spawns and AI behavior are broken.

This is a good not great game with a bad port.
At least this game takes itself very seriously unlike modern gaming.

There is a game breaking bug involving NPCs bouncing. You can only play this game using a Mod called "Multi Fixer" by FoxAhead. Otherwise it's pretty fun, if very dated. Wait until a big sale and give it a try.

This game was WAY ahead of it's time. People are replaying this game again because the new Far Cry games don't even come close to matching this game. The only thing I hate about this game is the malaria pills. But otherwise this game is a all time classic.

This is legitimately one of the most immersive games I've ever played. The problem is that the role it immerses us in is utterly miserable by design. This game requires commitment and patience like no other. You are a tired, shameless dying mercenary, and Far Cry 2 will not rest until you suffer through every soul-sucking aspect of this gоdforsaken job. There is no humanity here, no levity—no one will ever make a single joke or say something endearing or charismatic in general. There is no drive, no exciting action set pieces, no wild drug trips, no Skrillex grass burning.

You go to one of two absolutely interchangeable faction leaders, who half-heartedly feed you some justification for today’s inhumane atrocity. You routinely visit the gun shop for new weapons, routinely shoot about a million outposts on your way to the job, routinely shoot up the place, routinely suffer malaria attacks, and then repeat the cycle all over again. It makes committing war crimes feel like a grueling dead-end office job without any sense of catharsis whatsoever, and that is kind of the point. I can't stress it enough; none of it is lazy.

Yeah, I know how “the game is annoying and boring on purpose, you guys” sounds, but I swear I’m not crazy here. There are a lot of high-effort details meticulously put in to amplify the dead-end job feeling—from deliciously unpleasant gun-jamming animations to the fact that the guys you’re shooting at will steal your car and one-hit-kill you by running you over if you don’t pay attention. This game from 2008 is still kind of an unbeaten technical marvel in a lot of ways (Jesus Christ, that fire!). I know what lazy, low-effort boring looks like (I just beat The Division), and Far Cry 2 is not it.

I very much respect the hell out of this game; I will sing its praises for how effectively it hammers its point across.

But I will never, EVER play it again. It was enough misery and exhaustion for a lifetime.

Far Cry 2 is a game that allows you to truly feel the rush of sprinting at someone with a machete. I was pleasantly surprised by this one! It learns every single lesson from the first game, and is much better as a result. This is clearly where the formula really started to come together for Far Cry in general. I love the way the maps and GPs work. I appreciate having a quicksave. Starting a game with an RPG is always a treat. A bit janky, but in the fun ways. The animals are fun, but there's no hunting mechanics, so they kind of just run around and sometimes die, which ends up being kinda goofy sometimes. I think this has made me want to go back and try to hit credits on 3 again. I had a lot of fun!

I know this game for a very long time i would say 2019 and played it in an internet cafe somewhere in 2020 or 2021.
I decided to buy it and see for myself.
I enjoyed playing the game. At the beginning I was really fascinated especially by the open world system and the combat, even though this game is quite old and I played other Far Cry games. The setting and plot are interesting and make sense.

I am going to sum it up without any spoilors. You are in a fictitious African country that is trapped in a civil war between two rival militias. Besides the local warlords it is filled with foreign mercenaries, arms traders. Your mission is to kill the jackal, an abstract person that supplied both sides with arms. You get malaria soon after u come to the country.
What follows is basically ur survival. You have to complete missions for both sides, as well as civilian doctors to get medicine. You can also complete some side quests for arms traffickers which allows you to access new weapons. Well you are basically trapped in a hostile environment and need to survive. You eventually become that what u wanted to destroy, you become some sort of jackal, because your involvment plays a significant role in the game. You end up backing and playing off against the each other the various factions. This is how i see the game's message.

What I do not like is this task based gameplay. You basically drive across the map from location to location and fulfill missions, which are essentially the same. You have to clear an outpost or smth like that. Occasionally you encounter some interesting missions, make decisions, get new equipment etc. But basically it is the same the whole game. Even though the game is not linear it still offers limited opportunites. You move across the map to marked locations, switch vehicles and return to the same places. Additionally the game shows u how much per cent of the game you fulfilled.

In the end I want to add that the game has some good animations, especially the fire and combat animations, some of which back then were ahead of it's time.

All in all it was a nice experience, but some things disappointed me and it was enough for one playthrough so i probably won't make a second walkthough anytime soon i guess.
Decide for yourself, but for me it was worth it.

Душная африка.
проходил всё, кроме 2 части и не зря. настолько кривой и душной она оказалась, лучше бы забыл и не вспоминал

if you have a modern pc and nvidia DONT PLAY THIS GAME WITHOUT PROPER FIXES this game destroyed my driver idk fucking how but it did and just for that alone i wont touch this game ever again even with a 6 ft stick please heed my warning fellow friends if you will play please do the proper research and fix the buggy game files before you do this

One of the best FPS games of the time. Its nothing like Far Cry 3 so dont go into it expecting that kind of experience. its honestly more closely related to dark souls and MGS5. Saves can only be done at safe houses which are dotted across the map. exploration is rewarded with money to buy weapons. combat is fun and challenging, enemies are dangerous and stealth is highly rewarded.

another thing of note is the games vibe. they really nailed the theme, the environment is beautiful, the theme is consistent, music is great and the world feels very immersive, gritty and hostile.

This game would be good but its impossible to play cause everything is glitchy also the animations are horrible

I enjoyed this game quite a bit. It's setting is interesting, it can feel very immersive, almost like a simulation in some ways, and it has a very good core gameplay loop. The graphics on high/ultra settings can make this game look very nice, especially considering it was released in 2008.

I'd say that the game design does have limitations that become obvious early on. The mission design is typically just drive to a location and kill everyone there, sometimes having to save an ally (or being saved due to this game's unique death mechanics). There's rarely any cutscenes, and very few major set pieces. The travelling can get boring and repetitive, and a lot of the side content lacks any depth. The story isn't all that great, and there's maybe one or two characters that stand out as interesting. The protagonist's dialogue is told through text in the pause menu that you have to check during and between missions. That all being said, I still played for 121 hours over the course of a month, so the core gameplay loop definitely carries this game well.

There are significant bugs that require tools like the multifix thing, and constant quick saving is necessary just to make sure that you can rewind in case something breaks. I have about 7GB of save files (1400 in total) after one playthrough lol. I installed the Realism + Redux mod, which came with a lot of bug fixes and restoration of missing content, and I'd have to recommend using that.

The best Far Cry game, and the best imitation of guerilla warfare. The series definitely took a massive tone shift after this one, and although most games after I don't consider to be bad, I wonder what the games would be look if Ubisoft kept improving upon the incredibly immersive, tech demo esque feel this game has.

There are definitely annoying elements to the game, like long drives, annoying enemy checkpoints that respawn quickly on roads, and a malaria mechanic that feels a little tacked on (and buddies do too, the rescues and animations are super cool but I don't really care about any of these people) but is one of many things that can add variety to combat along with gun jams and your weapons LITERALLY EXPLODING if you use them too much XD

The game also is seamless besides saving and loading.

If you decide to play FC2, I'd definitely recommend the Realism+Redux mod. It's easy to install and improves your experience in every way. I only crashed 3 times throughout my entire playthrough, so I'd say it's quite stable. It also removes the brown filter that a lot of games from this era had, making the game more vibrant, it fixes a lot of bugs, and makes the game more fun to play with weapon buffs across the board, along with decreasing enemy health, but also increasing the amount of damage you take. If you like experimentation, do not play on the highest difficulty like I did. Unless you're alright with saving every 5 seconds to try things. Navigation will also be tricky at first due to the mod removing your marker on your map and only having it on your GPS tracker for increased realism, but you will get used to it, I promise. And it made me think a lot and plan out routes more which is really nice, and figuring out where you are and where you need to go using the two tools can be satisfying.

https://www.nexusmods.com/farcry2/mods/326?tab=description

I could go on and on about how the incredibly dense foliage, fire effects, and enemy AI are so ahead of its time and I wish it was expanded upon, but I won't. Go play it, have fun c:

P.S: I don't know if the mod fixes it, but above 60 FPS a lot of things usually break in this game. So use the tool that you have to go through to boot the game with the mod to limit the framerate.

Also I think it was for stylistic and balance purposes but something that annoyed me a little bit about this game was the fact that the charging handle/ejection port on a lot of weapons are on the left side instead of the right like in real life, and your character pulls the charging handle/slide every reload instead of just on empty reloads. It's not a big deal, but this game is trying to be realistic...

All in all, a great game but not without its flaws and a very enjoyable experience, and a nostalgic one for me because I played it first on the Xbox 360 and again on Xbox One and now here. 8.5/10

a little too long, the map is a pain to travel through but the immersion oooo the immersion ooo the futility of it ooo

It's good if you want a far cry game, but don't believe the hype so much: It's just a far cry game

I had fun with it but its not for the casual gamer. it gets tedious a lot as you have to travel around often for annoying reasons like picking up medicine for your malaria. but if you enjoy more niche games the rest of the game is very fun and has a lot of details and little features that make its simple gameplay a lot more fun. and its cheap so not much lost if you buy it especially if you buy it at a discount.

While this is not Ubisoft's first foray into open world gaming, it is certainly one of their best. Far Cry 2 takes place in a fictional African country on the brink of a power struggle between 2 factions that are being armed by The Jackal. Your mission is to seek out The Jackal and kill him.

Far cry 2 feels like a mash of stalker and heart of darkness, except it dosent have anomalies, mutants, and Is set In a african country rather than chernobyl, Its still janky and Immersive though, and also VERY different from the first and also later far cry games, the only thing I would consider frustrating is how every enemy keeps chasing you down with their cars, making you get out of your vehicle each time, malaria system... Im fine with that one though

good game but unplayable on modern hardware without workarounds. if you have an old computer you're fine.

My favourite Far Cry game, and one of my favourite games of all time in general.

I don't have much hours put in on the Steam version because it can be a pretty bothersome game to try running on modern hardware, but I've put tons of hours into the Xbox 360 version.

I think this game is quite deserving of a modern release (I know the New Dunia mod is a thing, but again, I ran into a lot of issues trying to run this), and I hope someday we might see one.

•The Jackal is a well written self aware villain that only strengthens the games "everyone in this conflict is evil, including you" message.

•The world design and destructive environments strengthen the games message, as nothing will give you the "am I the baddie?" realization quite like hopping out of the car for a quick skirmish, only for you to be surrounded by corpses, burning vegetation and blood in the sand.

•The attention to detail makes the game so much more thrilling, whether you shoot a rocket at an enemy vehicle only for the backfire to set the grass behind your cover ablaze, or going in for a killshot on a final enemy and your gun jams leaving you to frantically dive back to cover.

This game is a masterpiece.

This shit is awesome. I killed a Central African monarch and his kid gave me a gold plated Jeep Liberty, which I promptly used to flatten a zebra

it's the best far cry game, hands down. the gritty, oppressive atmosphere is addictive and the story is enthralling. the core gameplay loop isn't too dissimilar from other far cry games but the desperation in combat due to how quick you go down makes it so delightfully tense. it's just a good game, very unique in atmosphere & tone.

Piece of trash company no longer allows this game to be played. No support, no recourse. I'll never pay for an Ubishiite game again.

The game is good but there are some things that make this game unplayable:

- washed colors however this can be fixed with SweetFX

- you spend a lot of time to travel between missions because the map is just hard to travel, there is no fast travel and the game is mostly you travelling around in a vehicle

- there are checkpoints on every road which are full of enemies even if you killed them before so you spend a lot of time to kill the same enemies just to travel through different points on the map

- enemies can spot you from far away and they shoot you with accuracy regarding the distance

- enemies can spot you through walls and guns can hit you through wood walls

- if you hide behind a rock/something solid they shoot you the second you become visible to them

I've spend 8h to make 12% progression in the game so I had to give up

A milestone among FPS. Some details still surpass the new Far Cry games today.
I recommend adding a "Realism Plus (Tom's Mod)" mode to the game.

No other Far Cry game (maybe excluding FC1) is worth playing. The newer ones are cringe zoomer slop. The real ones only play this, on Infamous difficulty.

kind of a buggy mess, every time I reinstalled it fixed one issue only for a different one to crop up

the movie "blood diamond" is as much an inspiration for this game as "heart of darkness". i enjoy this setting and subject, and it is a solid open world shooter with emphasis on realism. i have an old laptop that isn't even for gaming and it plays well. so for anybody like me this game is a very good choice. 10/10.

A great game for Jeep™ owners, fans and the general public alike. Only in Far Cry® 2 can you drive classic Jeep™ automobiles such as the Jeep™ Wrangler, a staple of many an african safari. Jeep™, drive fresh.

Amazing! Playing this as a part of my series playthrough was a ton of fun, being a huge fan primarily of Far Cry 3 back on release on PS3, I definitely didnt give this one the love it deserved! Sure its a little rough around the edges but I found it really fun and challenging to play through especially with all its unique gameplay opportunities that arent in any of the others! Like almost every Far Cry however, FC2 has a deep, meaningful, and engaging story that is more than meets the eye, as you uncover new things and the meaning behind the story, its truly interesting and engaging! I HIGHLY recommend!

Review: Positive

Far Cry 2 is a bold and gritty departure from the first game, offering a unique experience that stands apart even within the series. Set in the heart of Africa, this entry delivers an unforgiving, immersive journey through a war-torn open world. It’s raw, realistic, and relentlessly challenging—a true survival simulator wrapped in a first-person shooter.

Pros:
✅ Immersive World: The African savanna is breathtaking, with dynamic weather, day-night cycles, and wildlife that make the environment feel alive.
✅ Realism and Tension: Weapon jams, fire propagation, and the need to treat malaria add a level of immersion and challenge few games attempt.
✅ Freedom of Choice: Approach missions however you like—gun-blazing, stealthy, or with explosives, all while navigating an open-ended world.
✅ Atmosphere and Ambience: The gritty tone, subtle storytelling, and excellent sound design make you feel like a mercenary stuck in a morally gray conflict.

Cons:
❌ Repetitive Gameplay: Checkpoints respawn quickly, and many missions can feel similar, leading to a grindy experience over time.
❌ Realism Over Fun?: Some mechanics, like weapon degradation and frequent malaria attacks, can be divisive—immersive for some, tedious for others.
❌ Sparse Narrative: The story is minimalistic and leaves much to interpretation, which may not appeal to players seeking a strong plot.

Final Thoughts:
Far Cry 2 isn’t for everyone, but for those who can appreciate its unflinching realism and uncompromising design, it’s a gem. It’s not just a game; it’s an experience—a journey into a brutal and unforgiving world that tests your wits, patience, and adaptability.

Score: 8.5/10
"Far Cry 2 doesn’t hold your hand—it hands you a broken gun, a map, and a reason to survive. Good luck."

F*** Ubisoft. They shut down the game servers for Splinter Cell: Blacklist, one among a huge list of other games. No longer have access to all coop & multiplayer content. Boycotting

"Get Comfortable With Not Owning Games" - Ubisoft

Actually great, but not as fun as Far Cry 3, its amazing and awesome on its own. Realism is one of the big points for this game, where you actually have to prepare, replace guns and choose the right moment attack. I'm already having a hard time at normal and being frustrated at some game mechanics despite i can do Hard on Far Cry 3 with Ease. Definitely a "Far Cry" from the recent iterations, as it feels more of an a Survival shooter than an FPS honestly. Would recommend for those who seeks that is something challenging and a bit realistic. Good game, wouldn't recommend playing for hours.

Buggy, but i remember at the time being so blown away with the whole fire system where it would spread fire based on wind, etc. also the damage system where you would pull bullets out of your arm while healing up, guns would literally explode in your hands when they were in bad condition. Far Cry 2 just did so much for immersion. I hated the whole virus/infection/antidote thing though.

a ton of bugs npcs are bouncing everywhere the first part the npcs/the game told me to grab ammo meds and save the game i did that but then the game wouldnt load and the npcs would glitch, i tried a couple times to retry but still didnt work and so i couldnt even get to see the map or any mission or anything atall the game had to offer and everyone is saying its hard and annoying so i dont recomend getting it. i already have every other farcry game except 6 and thats good for me

Great game, although it suffers with compatibility issues.

For it's time, it was an immersive first person shooter with an interesting story. However, the game design of this title is very dated. The gun fights are still very intense, but it's an empty sandbox map with little story.

Game is glitched to hell. NPC's are bouncing meters into the air. The game soft-locks me after I manually save for the first time in the beginning. I delete the game, and it just launches the game. It took a lot of effort to completely erase this game off of my PC, lol.

Best Far Cry game. Period. The gritty realism elements mixed with an incredibly eye-catching and underutilized setting makes for an authentically unique game, not just for the franchise, but over the entire industry. Still not many games like it, closest thing I can think of being S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Not to mention Marc Canham's epic ethnic music really sets the tone and mood.

despite being antiquated in terms of features, this is by far the most atmospheric in the series, also the weapon jam/breaking is fun as well as wildfire spread mechanics unlike any other game.

I enjoy the old piss/doodoo filter that was needlessly added, tells me this game's hella dated.
The little collectible tapes are pretty fuckin rad too.

FC 1, 2 and 3 remain the best. Especially the gritty atmosphere in FC 2 is very enjoyable.

Fast travel killed Far Cry immersion imo.
In this game (especially at max difficulty) you always scramble for your life, for next little bit of ammo, for a way to avoid road blocks and road patrols you need to plan your route ahead, radar wont show you enemies so you need to listen to footsteps and their conversations if you want to sneak effectively (even tho sometimes its bugged and they know exactly where you are) also your aim need to be on point while sneaking, at night you can hide easier but at day there is almost no chance to not be spotted it feels very realistic, only thing missing for sneak is melee takedowns, you can kill enemies with melee, sneak behind them, but more often then not you agro everyone else.
It feels much more of a survival game and the fact that it doesnt handheld you, you need to prepare before every mission even choose right time of a day and collectibles isnt just showing on the map is very immersive also. Everytime I found some locations I felt much more accomplished than any other FC game.
I admit that respawning road blocks are little bit annoying, but it is immersive because it makes sense that militia would replace those men guarding the road block and also you can avoid every single road block with carefully planing your route as I said before. I used boats and rivers much more often than other FC games. Only thing about those road block that need a little bit of polish is that they need some kind of cooldown because it happened to me that I parked my car too far away to avoid detections killed everyone silently and then as I reclaimed my car those patrolmen were already respawned like few seconds later.
Story and characters feel weaker than other FC games.

I used to play this game on PS3. Re-spawning checkpoints, No quick-saves, and long travel distances to fast travel points made it very frustrating. Probably completed less than 10% of the game. 15 or so years later FC2 came up for sale on Steam and I thought I'd give it another go. I'm glad I did. Graphics are better, you can save at any point, and the game just seems somewhat easier (possibly from hours of S.T.A.L.K.E.R). Still play with a controller using Steam input, which works well. This game still holds up, and I would recommend this PC version, on sale or not.

OH BOY how do you sum up far cry 2 other than an absolute bleak,disease riddled.rust covered roller coaster.

Best in the franchise hands down back when game devs took pride in their work.

It is goddamn embarassing when a game needs a bunch of fan-made auxiliary programs to even launch, only to run at 5 frames per second.

even tho its years...its such a wonderful game! give it a try, the graphics are nice, the story is interesting, i loved it!

One of the most immersive singleplayer FPS shooters of all time. For being made in 2008 the level of detail was way ahead of its time; just watch any YouTube video on it and you'll see why. Ubisoft sent some of their devs to Kenya for ambience & art references and it shows. Fantastic story & gameplay, especially challenging with the Realism+ Redux mod with shaders & difficulty tweaks. You can play like Rambo or like Agent 47 it's so good

No other game has the soul of this one. It sears moments into your memory. Your grenade will roll down a hill.

There are no good guys or main quest. You're a merc working for the highest bidder, buying military hardware with blood diamonds to burn down the rainforest.

Still the best far cry. The perfect formula of collecting diamonds through assassination gigs to buy better guns. No handholding, you're dropped in the desert to survive. We need a remaster with modern graphics! Here's the ratings: Far cry 2>3>4>5>6>1

I adore this game but heavily dislike UBISOFT. Bring Malaria back! Bring intelligent but vulnerable rescue buddies back! Bring raging forest fires back! Bring fun back! Make the company private or sell the IP UBISOFT!