By Jim Rossignol on October 10th, 2008 at 7:18 pm.
Far Cry 2 is almost upon us, and I’m seething with anticipation. PC Gamer’s Tim Edwards telling us that it effectively kills off the entire linear shooter genre doesn’t do anything to ease that. His review in the latest PC Gamer UK is worth reading. If he’s right – and I dearly hope he is – that will stand up as one of the best game reviews of 2008. Of one of the best games.
While Far Cry 2 is very definitely just a shooter, Edwards’ review suggests that Stalker’s “wide corridor” model (that I loved so much) is going to be made to look shabby by this seamless 50km world, as executed by a talented, well-funded studio. I can’t wait to get to grips with the kind of freedom in an FPS that has previously only really manifested itself in GTA games. This latest trailer doesn’t make the longing any better, showing off loads of the open world stuff, including character dialogue, gun-play, speeding vehicles, and the ubiquitous fiery explosions. The dynamic story-telling perhaps doesn’t lend itself well to trailers, but trying reading our previous interview with the lead designer to get your head around that a bit better.
It’s out on PC Oct 22nd in North America, and on the 24th on the rest of the world.
10/10/2008 at 19:21 Koopa says:
That trailer did it. Preorder, here I come!
10/10/2008 at 19:27 RichPowers says:
That looks amazing.
After playing GTA non-stop for the last week (thank Steam deals!), I forgot how much I enjoy the open world sandbox stuff.
10/10/2008 at 19:27 Erlam says:
“Edwards’ review suggests that Stalker’s “wide corridor” model (that I loved so much) is going to be made to look shabby by this seamless 50km world, as executed by a talented, well-funded studio.”
Did that just imply the team behind stalker is untalented?
10/10/2008 at 19:29 Jim Rossignol says:
No, it didn’t. It *stated* that Ubisoft Montreal is talented. Would I write this if I thought GSC had no talent?
10/10/2008 at 19:30 Erlam says:
PS. “Corruption here is like sand – it’s everywhere.”
hahahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahaha
10/10/2008 at 19:32 Erlam says:
No I realise it’s saying they’re talenting, but it sounds (to me) like “Stalker, with a huge 50 km area, done by a well-funded (which the stalker team wasn’t) talented team.”
So I’m just reading that as “Stalker, done by a team that is better funded, and better talented.”
I don’t mean to accuse you or anything, I’m just pointing out that’s how it reads to me.
10/10/2008 at 19:37 Jim Rossignol says:
The GSC team was actually pretty well funded, both by THQ and by their previous huge success with the Cossacks series. Ubi Montreal probably had a significantly bigger budget overall, but then Stalker was at least as ambitious as this, with a team that was definitely less experienced, even if they made up for it in raw talent. So what I mean is: I’m really glad that a big studio is tackling this kind of shooter, and taking a direction that the Ukrainians helped define.
Ubi Montreal have managed to get great tech and some competent game designers onto this, and I’m hoping that it’s an improvement on the same kinds of principles that made Stalker so much fun. I didn’t get that out of Clear Sky, so I’m hoping this will fit the bill.
10/10/2008 at 19:48 Fumarole says:
This looks to provide the most fun in a shooter this year, until Left 4 Dead arrives, of course. I’m really looking forward to this.
10/10/2008 at 19:52 Ian says:
I hope it’s more Just Cause than GTA (up to San Andreas at least) and you actually can go ANYWHERE from the start. I tried to just drive around in SA with the hour or so I gave it before my badass ganstah was stopped by a toll booth.
I don’t doubt the core gameplay will deliver, I just hope the storytelling works as they hope it does.
10/10/2008 at 19:57 Nuyan says:
One thing that really bothered me with a previous well-known Ubisoft game called Assasins Creed was the storyline, it was so overly careful and simplistic, while it had so incredibly much potential.
Voice-acting here doesn’t sound amazing, but I still rather like that trailer.
10/10/2008 at 20:25 Deuteronomy says:
Just completed Clear Sky with the 1.5.05 patch (without a single crash mind you). I’m going to give it an 86/100. 5 points off for the damn homing grenades.
Having a giant landscape to roam around in is great, but let’s see how Far Cry 2 handles the RPG-like aspects. Inventory, weapons, npc schedule (faction wars?), and giving the player something to do. Artifact hunting in CS is addictive and something it feels like you need some patience and skill for. Warhead got great reviews but it wasn’t 1/10th the game (literally if you count hours I’ve played) of Clear Sky.
I’m leaning toward getting FC2 over Fallout 3 for next month’s game but somehow I feel like it’s going to be more like a Crysis without boundaries than a Stalker-type game.
10/10/2008 at 20:27 dhex says:
crysis without boundaries sounds awesome.
10/10/2008 at 20:30 A-Scale says:
I haven’t even read this article yet but I would like to thank the RPS guys for an excellent selection of article topics today.
10/10/2008 at 20:37 Colthor says:
If they use limited installs and online activation for this I’ll be a Sad Panda, because then I won’t be able to buy it.
Either way, it’d be nice if they told us.
10/10/2008 at 20:49 garren says:
I bet ten imaginary bucks that one of those your friends is jackal. And it depends on what you do in-game, so anyone can be him.
10/10/2008 at 20:51 Downloads_Plz says:
And I’m sold.
*Throws my wallet at Ubisoft*
10/10/2008 at 20:52 CrashT says:
Well that’s a slightly better idea than the one I feared they were going to use.
10/10/2008 at 20:54 Tim E says:
Thanks for the compliments, Jim. I can’t wait for you, and everyone else, to play this.
10/10/2008 at 20:59 Fire_Storm says:
Tim, after I hugged you you said you were worried that perhaps this game might not justify your review score.
After playing it for most of PC Gamer Showdown I can say that your score is more than fair.
… just for that flamethrower….!
10/10/2008 at 21:11 Vivian says:
I’m sure this has been argued about in abundance, but what exactly does this (fantastic looking, admittedly) game have to do with far cry? Theres not going to be fucking rocketproof mutant wildebeest in the last half is there?
10/10/2008 at 21:20 CrashT says:
@Vivian:
Well it’s got handgliders in it, does that count?
10/10/2008 at 21:26 Leeks! says:
Damn. That’s a helluva trailer.
10/10/2008 at 21:31 soviet_ says:
Already pre-ordered, can’t wait. What’s going to happen when Fallout 3 comes out on the 31st though?!
That wait for Left4Dead might go a little bit quicker now…
10/10/2008 at 21:46 CrashT says:
So Tim, since you appear to be lurking, what’s the performance like for this? Is it upgrade time again?
10/10/2008 at 21:49 Radiant says:
“garren says:
I bet ten imaginary bucks that one of your friends is jackal. And it depends on what you do in-game, so anyone can be him.”
I’ll bet ten bucks that the jackel is a myth and that YOU end up becoming the jackel.
Take that Alistair MacLean.
10/10/2008 at 21:51 Radiant says:
Also a quick google leads me to believe that the article isn’t out in the wild for me to read.
Come on internet let me see these words for free; it’s what I pay you for.
10/10/2008 at 22:04 Eli Just says:
damn, I guess I should pre-order on steam
10/10/2008 at 22:10 Poet says:
It’s on Steam btw, preorder is 5$ off (at least for us Americans).
10/10/2008 at 22:28 Saflo says:
Far Cry 2: Cry Farther
10/10/2008 at 22:29 CrashT says:
How about some cross game contamination… Far Cry 2: Cry Some More.
10/10/2008 at 22:55 Deuteronomy says:
Far Cry 2 is $5.00 off at Direct2drive as well.
10/10/2008 at 23:04 Friday says:
I really hope this game delivers, I trust it too be good but I just can’t read first reviews. I remeber pc gamer had the first for crysis and they gave it a 98, which was atleast a BIG 10 points more then it deserved. But I dont read that shit anymore so it cool.
10/10/2008 at 23:09 Radiant says:
Far Cry 2: Find Carver
Who’s drunk?
10/10/2008 at 23:44 mrrobsa says:
@ Friday:
PC Gamer 98′d Crysis?! Really?! I mean, I only played the demo, but 98?! Someone tell me otherwise.
Oh and Farcry 2 looks grand.
10/10/2008 at 23:58 Konky Dong XXX: The Dong of Konky says:
Crysis got the Doom 3 treatment. It’s an enjoyable enough game, but the flashy whiz-bang visuals pumped up the review scores to something more than what the game actually deserves.
Now we’re in the backlash phase, where the next wave of FPSes comes out and Crysis is regarded as shit for the next year or two (much like Doom 3 was after HL2 hit). After the buzz we get from Far Cry 2, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead and the like wears off, we’ll revisit Crysis and say, “Hey, this game isn’t that bad.” and finally give it an honest assessment again.
11/10/2008 at 00:31 Bhazor says:
Certainly seems a step above the corridors of Crysis where the walls were trees and abject boredom of having nothing to do if you veer off the path.
11/10/2008 at 00:58 ScubaV says:
My fear is that it will be an aimless sandbox game that makes you create your own fun rather than provide fun for you. I’m interested, but definitely taking a wait and see approach.
11/10/2008 at 01:06 Katsumoto says:
@ mrrobsa
It was the US PC gamer that gave Crysis 98, as opposed to regular PCG which did this review. If that helps.
Also, as ever, this is only on Steam in North America. Godfuckingdamnit etc. But nevermind, I’ve recently rediscovered a passion for lovely boxes! :)
11/10/2008 at 01:14 Katsumoto says:
Not to say that US PCG isn’t “regular”. Damn lack of edit function!
11/10/2008 at 01:16 futage says:
“game that makes you create your own fun rather than provide fun for you”
My favourite kind of game, that.
My feeling is that this is going to be Boiling Point done well.
11/10/2008 at 01:17 Aftershock says:
Saw the steam update news, “Far Cry 2 coming to Steam”
OH PRAISE THE VALVE!!
and then the fine print.
“only available in United States, Mexico, and Canada”
GOD DAMMIT.
They’ve finally worked out a semblance of region locking on PC. Sigh.
11/10/2008 at 02:04 Klumhru says:
Regionlocking = not buying.
Ever.
11/10/2008 at 02:13 Bhazor says:
Reply to Klumhru
Awww, that’s so cute.
11/10/2008 at 02:17 Colthor says:
Considering you can get the game a good £10 cheaper from online shops than you would be able to through Steam anyway (if it were sold here) it’s hard to really be upset that it isn’t…
11/10/2008 at 03:20 Charlie says:
@Klumhru
I read that with Comic Book Guy’s voice.
11/10/2008 at 04:48 Deuteronomy says:
Konky,
Honestly I would be hard pressed to say whether HL2 was better than D3. Maybe a hair better. Crysis vs Far Cry 2 is going to be interesting.
11/10/2008 at 06:20 Hernan says:
I’m amazed at how many cliched pearls of wisdom they managed to fit in.
“You don’t find the Jackal, the Jackal… finds YOU”
Watch out Confucious!
11/10/2008 at 06:41 Chris R says:
Yup, I’m in for a pre-order via Steam as well. PLEASE BE GOOD Far Cry 2…
11/10/2008 at 07:33 fanciestofpants says:
Never been particularly impressed with anything Far-cry or crytek related. Not particularly impressed here either. I’ll play it if someone I know buys it, I guess.
This from a guy who friggen’ LOVES sandbox stuff.
11/10/2008 at 08:04 Chris R says:
@ Fanciestofpants: Well then you’re not really a lover of sandboxes sir. What is your definition of “sandbox”?
Here’s mine to name a few (I own all of these, and they are currently installed on my machine):
All the GTA’s and its clones.
Crysis and Crysis Warhead
Stalker 1 and 2
Oblivion
To me the term “sandbox game” = any game in which you create your own entertainment, rather than the game ‘showing’ you the “fun”, as is the case with heavily scripted games (COD4, Bioshock, HL2 and expansions).
So I call BS that you loved all the other sandbox games, and yet are failed to be impressed with Far Cry 2.
I enjoy sandbox games the most, and loath scripted games, and from everything I’ve seen, Far Cry 2 is amazing. If you love sandbox games, how could you not be excited by FC2?
11/10/2008 at 08:14 Jim Rossignol says:
Perhaps more importantly, what’s your definition of “anything Far-cry or crytek related”? Other than the name, I can see no relation between this and Far Cry, or CryTek.
11/10/2008 at 08:16 Jim Rossignol says:
Yeah that’s a great reason to deny yourself an awesome game.
11/10/2008 at 08:31 ngc248 says:
@radiant
“I’ll bet ten bucks that the jackel is a myth and that YOU end up becoming the jackel.”
lol.. I was thinking the same. What with the comparisons with stalker and all, what i thought was the player is amnesiac..”He is Jackal and he is hunting after jackal” and thats why the tag line “Become what you hunt”
11/10/2008 at 11:06 The Apologist says:
24th October. The day I get paid.
Destiny.
11/10/2008 at 11:06 phuzz says:
@ Jim
how about:
Guns
Pretty graphics
Hang gliders
A reason to scrimp and save for a new graphics card…
11/10/2008 at 11:39 Ubernutz says:
om nom nom
11/10/2008 at 13:44 Wayne M says:
Is there going to be a Demo so i can try this baby before i cough up some reddies?
11/10/2008 at 14:21 roryok says:
Awesome. Im sure they’re already working on Cry Far with a Vengeance
11/10/2008 at 14:39 Dominic White says:
Just for anyone wondering, Play.com have got this available (in a shiny collectors-type metal box, even!) for a mere £25, if anyone wants to nab that.
The game looks really good and I’ve got it preordered, but the Far Cry name is totally misused here. It has more in common with Boiling Point or Just Cause than anything Crytek worked on. They’ve taken the name from a completely different game (only thing in common seems to be ‘it’s set outdoors’) and slapped it on it.
11/10/2008 at 14:39 Bhazor says:
The Jackal seems like a pretty nice guy to me. He justs wants you to hold on to a few million dollars for him.
Also if that’s the size of the diamonds one of those glittery bastards could buy half of the country.
11/10/2008 at 14:39 Optimaximal says:
No… and Piracy doesn’t count!
11/10/2008 at 15:38 Simon Jones says:
The title ‘Far Cry 2′ becomes more perplexing and inappropriate with every trailer.
They could have kick-started a hugely powerful new franchise here, but instead they’ve latched it onto a cheesy last-gen series that seemingly has absolutely nothing to do with it.
Very, very odd.
11/10/2008 at 16:01 phuzz says:
I hate to be cynical*, but I’d guess a sequel to a well known and fairly well received game was an easier pitch than a shooter set in a sandbox, and now they’re stuck with the name.
(* lies)
11/10/2008 at 16:04 Dominic White says:
But it’s not a sequel! This is like renaming Battlestar Galactica ‘Star Wars Episode 7′.
11/10/2008 at 16:13 James T says:
Why, the guy in the shirt of course.
There’s a lot more to a game than staging, so I’m not sold on FC2 sight-unseen (well, ‘game unplayed’, I should say), but I hope it’s a goer.
I must ask though, was FC2 coded with PC in mind from the start? Because at this point, I absolutely do not trust Ubisoft regarding console-to-PC ports.
11/10/2008 at 16:52 Saflo says:
Well, it’s sort of a sequel in spirit, isn’t it. The main character in both is a man who points guns at things. In the jungle.
11/10/2008 at 17:00 Deuteronomy says:
Far Cry 1 was more of an open world than Crysis. Crysis emphasizes the action bubble concept far more.
11/10/2008 at 22:00 roryok says:
i read an interview with one of the far cry 2 developers who basically admitted it was piggybacked on the far cry name. He made some interesting points. He reckoned that they managed to sneak onto the pc gaming radar by calling it far cry 2, and that without a name people would have started out complaining that it was too ambitious.
11/10/2008 at 22:17 Orange says:
I’m going to watch this one patiently. I’m not going to preorder in case it’s another Ubi hype job, and there are some worrying signs with the multiplatform release and promising the earth. Hopefully it’s a classic.
11/10/2008 at 22:30 Eli Just says:
@James T
Yeah, it was a PC exclusive until January when they announced the console ports. I wish it was still exclusive to PC just to show the rest of the world how awesome the PC is, but I guess more fun for everybody right? It still looks solid and definitely worth buying. I just hope it’s gonna go the way sandbox games should be (like the way that Crysis did objectives). I only played the Crysis Demo, but one of the things that really stood out was how open it was. There was one objective in the demo to take out a base on a sort of peninsula, and you could take a boat and shoot it up, drive a truck over there, sneak in on foot, or take the Koreans out from a distance. This felt sooooo good in comparison to GTA, where the whole game felt like a tutorial for the real fun that never came. In GTA you had to do everything exactly the way they wanted, going into every red circle and it playing a cut scene. It never said “We’re gonna rob this band, figure it out!”. Instead it walked you through and took away a lot of the fun. Anyways, I just hope Far Cry 2 can make this idea of the truly open world game a reality.
And also, I’m fairly new to RPS, and I have to say I love it! Thanks!
11/10/2008 at 22:57 Muzman says:
Quake 2 had nothing whatsoever to do with Quake 1 neither.
One more game after this and the idea of a series based purely on ‘adventures in exotic locales’ won’t seem so hard to take.
11/10/2008 at 23:06 roryok says:
And while it may have little in common with Far Cry, that should be a good thing. I love Far Cry, right up until the mutants appear. Then it gets really dumb.
11/10/2008 at 23:22 darthpugwash says:
Looks great, I just hope my computer will run it at a reasonable level of smoothness. It’s just about within the minimum requirements, and it runs Clear Sky decentish, so I’m hoping this will be playable for me. But yeah, the game itself looks fantastic.
11/10/2008 at 23:58 Dominic White says:
I’m fairly sure I’m completely alone here, but I’ve always thought that while the quality of Far Cry did drop a bit after the Trigens are first introduced, the best moments and setpieces were all after that point. The James Bond-esque speedboat chase and the entire ‘Rebellion’ level (the gigantic branching three-way firefight) in particular.
It seems that most people just quit the moment they encountered a new enemy type that was tougher to kill than the mercs.
12/10/2008 at 00:20 Bhazor says:
Can you really call Crysis a sandbox game? You never really choose your own path, there’s no factions to join, you aren’t offered conflicting missions and the story won’t change whatever you do.
Really I think its just as linear as Half Life 2 but with bigger rooms.
Also the highlight of Tim’s review is describing how this game coldly executes the whole genre. He says it’s essentially killed all other shootems as they just can’t compete. Also the chick sucking on a gun in Tim’s review actually gave me a quiet moment. A review made me feel melancholic and question the nature of war. A review made me do that. A review. Thats a new one.
I’ve already pre-ordered the collectors edition from game and I was pretty skeptical until I read the review.
12/10/2008 at 04:11 Chris R says:
Bhazor, check out what Eli posted just above:
“I just hope it’s gonna go the way sandbox games should be (like the way that Crysis did objectives). I only played the Crysis Demo, but one of the things that really stood out was how open it was. There was one objective in the demo to take out a base on a sort of peninsula, and you could take a boat and shoot it up, drive a truck over there, sneak in on foot, or take the Koreans out from a distance. This felt sooooo good in comparison to GTA, where the whole game felt like a tutorial for the real fun that never came. In GTA you had to do everything exactly the way they wanted, going into every red circle and it playing a cut scene. It never said “We’re gonna rob this band, figure it out!”. Instead it walked you through and took away a lot of the fun.”
The way you played through a map in Crysis was nothing like HL2. Crysis gave you the primary objective, a few sub-objectives (take out the radar, check out this place for intel), and then left it up to you to get to the end. HL2 was basically a narrow hallway connecting event after event to one another. Play both back to back and you’ll see what I’m talking about. I want FREEDOM to choose how to tackle a mission, exactly in the way the trailers are showing for FC2. I could use a jeep and blast my way in, or snipe everyone from a hill, or set fire to the grass and burn the place down, or use a grenade launcher to blow the place up, etc, etc. It’s up to ME how I want to assault a place, I make my own fun, I choose when and where to fight. Games like HL2, Bioshock, COD4 don’t give me that freedom: In those games, I HAVE to go through this alley to get to the next area, I can’t go over this wall/fence and flank the enemy, etc, etc.
12/10/2008 at 05:36 Justin says:
So, what I’m getting from this is if someone could modify Far Cry 2 very heavily and add in, say, artifacts, a map of Agoroprom, anomalies, and a cranky man named Sidorovich, it would be the best thing ever?
Why do I even bother to posit that as a question? Of course it would be.
12/10/2008 at 14:29 Bhazor says:
Reply to Chris R
But how is that different to choosing whether to use a pistol, or a shotgun. One lets you kill from a far the other being an assault weapon. You still don’t pick what to do, just how to do it. Far Cry 2 on the other hand has an adaptive storyline, the ability to choose missions and picking which filthy mercenary to take with you.
In short I’m saying this looks closer to S.T.A.L.K.E.R which was a true sandbox in my opinion rather than a fat corridor shooter.
12/10/2008 at 16:43 roryok says:
Oh I didn’t quit. I’ve played through it all at least twice, and there are incredible bits after the trigens appear. In particular that level with all the rope bridges, and also the car chase through the swamps I thought was very good.
When I talk about the trigens / mutants ruining it, I’m referring to the story. It started out as a sort of Commando rip off, and I think it would have been so much better if it stayed with that idea. Maybe some sort of a bond villain plot involving private armies and nuclear weapons – something cheesy. I just think the best things about Far Cry were the tropical island setting, and the sneaking around and finding ways to take out groups of mercenaries. Once those mercenaries became gigantic monsters shooting rockets out of their arms and jumping twenty feet into the air, it tore the arse out of the realism, and the sneaking around was pointless.
12/10/2008 at 20:56 Lacobus says:
I’m like two days late for this post but I’ve wanted to pontificate about something to lots of unreal Internet people for a while. 50km of open world, is this actually something to commend?
The game is either gonna flow beautifully from one mission to the next with quality pacing like say Half Life 2 or Halo 3, OR it’s gonna have a stilted, laborious pace where you spend a great deal of your time wandering around aimlessly, checking maps in driving into rivers. Plus I’m sure all those trigger happy NPC’s are gonna make getting lost a barrel of laughs.
The game looks amazing I’d say and apart from the Crysis island I’ve seen nothing that looks as good. I haven’t read the PC gamer review yet either, but does he mention any of the sandbox trappings of hours of wasted time being lost, pointless side-quests and lots of time spent travelling to the fun? My first impressions make me think these these things.
12/10/2008 at 22:06 Grandstone says:
If the hype about this game turns out to be true, it will be so painful that a)I don’t have enough money to upgrade my computer and b)even if I did, I wouldn’t know how.
How painfully boring do you have to be to think that having to make your own fun is a downside?