By Jim Rossignol on December 9th, 2008 at 8:45 am.
You can download a bunch of new free missions for Far Cry 2 over at Intel Game On. The download apparently adds the new sequence of missions to the open world shooter, where playing through the first six missions unlocks a seventh final scenario. All that adds at least three hours of game. And it’s free.
In other FC2 news check out Tom Chick’s discussion of in-game advertising.
This is rather good of them, but to be honest I don’t know if I actually want another three hours of FC2.
report
This is all smoke and lies – basically, this ‘download’ simply adds a registry key which enables the first two of the ‘Predecessor’ missions already unlocked by various pre-order codes. You know, the ones where you find an envelope leading you too a tape.
Save yourselves five minutes by opening Regedit, browsing to ‘HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\UBISOFT\Far Cry 2′ and adding DWORD keys (right click -> new -> DWORD Value) for ‘PartnerKey1′ & ‘PartnerKey2′ with values of 1.
Whilst there, add a DWORD key for ‘MachetesKey’ (again with a value of 1) to unlock the different machete options.
Source
report
And still no fix for the widespread Audigy crash bug. For shame, Ubi. For shame.
report
And still no fix for the general suckiness of this game…
report
Is it cool to hate the game now? I must have missed the memo. Either way, it’s quite high on my list of favourites for the year, now that they’ve fixed my showstopper glitch, so I’m happy with this at least. I feel bad for anyone still stuck, though.
Mind you, Optimaxal is pretty much right. When you look at it that way, it’s a bit of a dick move, but for anyone who hasn’t found it yet free content is free content. Even if you’ve kind of… you know, paid for it.
report
@Optimaximal – Because googling for “far cry pre-order code” is SO much harder…
>_>
<_<
report
There’s quite a few of those ‘promotional codes’, aren’t there? And they’ve been pasted just about everywhere games-related on the net since the game came out, I believe.
report
I really liked it too; unfortunately, L4D and Fallout 3 intervened. It’s a bit like being on a date with Cheryl Cole, and suddenly Angelina Jolie and Scarlet Johannsen arrive and offer you a threesome.
Did I say that aloud?
P.
report
@Paul: You meant foursome. Unless in your fantasies you don’t get any.
report
I found it quicker to log into regedit and add the machete key than it was to log into Ubi.com, create an account then connect in the game. In addition, you have to jump through 3-4 menus, each with a page flicking animation, to get to the code entry section.
report
Maybe he just likes watching!
report
I think Paul was inferring that Cheryl would then leave his fantasy date and he would be in the company of just the two other ladies. Can we get some clarification please Paul?
report
Clearly the public needs answers.
report
Just to be clear, Cheryl is upset by my interest in said ladies and storms off; having first Ashley and now me play an away game is too much.
Thank you for your detailed interest in my analogy; I will shortly be publishing it as a violet-coloured Harlequin romance novel.
P.
report
I’m so gossip-column-blogging this.
report
I knew it!
report
We’re talking about Cheryl from Neighbours, right?
I tried a bunch of keys and only one behaved, so thanks Opti, now I have -all- the extra mission stuff available, as it should be.
Oh don’t go with that ‘cool to hate’ garbage; if there’s a problem in fan circles, it’s the people who shout down criticism, not the skeptics who are first dismissed as ‘whiners’ should they dare peep up around release time, and then dismissed as ‘backlashers’ once they get a word in a few months down the line.
Dismissing the game outright seems a bit much to me, though. Although my reservations are severe, there’s a fair bit to enjoy in there. It seems to have been a bit half-arsed in the planning stages, but I’ve had genuine good times with it. Snag it when it’s going cheap, heh.
(Now, if someone make a better game in the future with that engine, the dev time will have been worthwhile!)
report
i can understand MrBritish comment about “want” to play more FarCry2.
the first 5 hours of the game were just awesome, great graphics, cool environment, much to explore …
but after that you realize that you are doing the same thing all over again, drive from A to B on your way kill guard post X & Y. At B kill target Z then return to A but on you way to A you have to fight the same guards at guard post X & Y cause they already “respawned” although you just killed them all 5 minutes ago. After that the game gets so damn repetitive. If they just put some more effort into mission and game design and less into “awesome graphics” it would be a much better game.
report
I agree with MisterBritish. Far Cry 2 was well and good for about 3 hours, but then I started falling asleep at the wheel.
I’m hilarious, really.
report
‘I’m hilarious, really.’
I don’t get it.
OMFGIMHO, Far Cry 2 was great if you didn’t play it so much like a typical FPS. I really enjoyed the setting and the atmosphere and just exploring the world. I tried to find paths around guard posts and go on foot or boat through creeks to stay hidden. Someone on RPS mentioned Apocalypse Now and it feels completely like that. For me, the serene, uneventful moments are the finest of the game… but you need time patience. And not to have an Audigy sound card.
report
The bizarre thing I noticed about FC2 is that it genuinely was a darling with reviewers. Slightly flawed, but the general message repeated was that it was excellent in spite of them.
When the game is released, those flaws are pretty much what half the people latched onto. I’ve seen people giving multi-page rants about how it’s the worst game released this year.
I honestly feel like I’m one of a handfull of people who don’t care that it’s not Stalker TIMES A MILLION and am rather content with it being a really good FPS. I don’t think I’ll get bored of getting into spectacular, unpredictable firefights anytime soon at least.
report
Apologies, James T, that wasn’t what I was trying to say. I have zero problem with anyone having a person having a different outlook to mine, especially on something like a game (Obviously a pretty expensive investment in both time and money), and I’m certainly not going to shout it down, though reading it again it looked that way.
It’s just my tastes have flipped entirely opposite to the internet at large, it seems. Games I’ve liked this year – Assassin’s Creed and GTA IV being the bigger ones – seem to be the some of the more roundly criticized ones by the larger community (For reasons I can certainly understand, mind), and I’m just interested to see if that happens here. I probably should have phrased it that way first, I was just typing before I thought. Sorry to look like a condescending fanboy, it wasn’t my intention.
report
Dominic White sort of wrote my opinion on the game as I was writing the above post, interestingly.
report
Much like Mr Moloney I too have been off having a whale of a time with Angelina and Scarlett and even spent some quality time with Jessica Biel (GTA IV), however I do intend to resume my affair with Cheryl once I’m done with the latter, even if as has rightly been pointed out, she’s a bit shallow, she’ll be fun to spend time with in the long winter nights ahead.
report
I really like FC2, I’m having tons of fun with it. It’s also crashing regularly and freezing temporarily every 5-10 minutes, but I’m still playing in spite of that because I’m enjoying it that much.
I also liked Assassin’s Creed a lot. But then I’m fairly easy to please when it comes to games.
report
Oh, I know the feeling, don’t get me started on Fallout 3…
As for FC2, I think the flaws look small on paper, but… ahh, never mind, I linked to the last thread earlier. :P
report
Oh god, emoticons! And it’s the “pervert” version of the tongue face! COME ON!
(BEES, Michael!)
report
Oh, I don’t hate this game because I think that’s the cool thing to do. I hate it because it disappointed me in every possible way it could.
Believe me, I wanted it NOT to be another run’n'gun game. To bad it is though. With a bit of traveling. And a completely dead and noninteractive world. And an inability lean or go prone, further promoting the run’n'gun aspect.
And a lot more, unfortunately. Technically though, I found it really stable and quite pretty. Shame ’bout the game…
report
James T is a nevernude, evidently.
Just wanted to add to the chorus of those expressing their appreciation of Far Cry 2. While I sympathise with those that don’t like it, I also find more than enough that’s good and great about the game to ‘get over it’ and carry on playing it anyway. I just finished my second go through (on hardcore now – I’ll beat you eventually, Infamous difficulty!) and can see myself picking it up again every few months and having a another bash through deepest darkest Africa.
report
Falling asleep at the wheel. Because you drive so much. HAHAHAHAHAHA, oh man. I’m so funny.
report
I think it’s good. But then, yep, another game did come along and turn my head.
Specifically, King’s Bounty let me marry a zombie. I’m only human…
report
Try only using silenced mp5 and pistol, do missions only at night, and you might find it a much more enjoyable game, even the repetitive guards etc.
report
I’ve stopped playing FC2 as the constantly respawning checkpoint guards have pissed me off to the extent that I now hate the game. Hopefully someone will bring a mod out to fix this.
report
“I’ve stopped playing FC2 as the constantly respawning checkpoint guards have pissed me off to the extent that I now hate the game. Hopefully someone will bring a mod out to fix this.”
Drive around them. Or over them. Works for me (90% of the time).
P.
report
“Drive around them. Or over them. Works for me (90% of the time).”
I agree. I found the secret to Far Cry 2 was being creative. If you stick with one or two different sets of weapons and handle every checkpoint the same way, it’s a repetitive game. But the game gives you a lot of tools to handle the frustratingly frequent enemy encounters. So spend some time sniping above the enemy base before jumping down to shotgun them. Or set fires with the molotovs and flamethrower to herd your targets into one big area where you can pick them off with the machine gun. I remember equipping myself with nothing but grenade launchers in every slot, driving to the main city, then blowing the heck out of it. I holed myself up behind a wall and didn’t stop shooting until I ran out of ammo. It was great fun.
That’s not to say it doesn’t have other problems–the enemy AI is dumb as a rock, but they can take 20 shots to the chest without falling over, the environment is pretty but mostly devoid of non-shooting things to do, the voice actors all speak their lines absurdly quickly and with no inflection whatsoever–but I never found Far Cry 2 repetitive. The flamethrower itself is enough fun to last you many a checkpoint.
report
I’ve been enjoying the game for two basic reasons:
1. Not only can you wander wherever the hell you want, the game doesn’t nag you to accept missions, or even to complete the ones you have accepted. The only real reason to do anything you’re asked to do is to get money or pills. Just like in real life.
2. There are tons of ways to kill people. Tons. A while back, I drove three different vehicles into a guard post one at a time, hoofing it back out to grab another one. After the last vehicle was parked – all of them near a big ass propane tank – I shot the tank … and everybody died. I never saw the dune buggy that landed on me. It was awesome.
Ohnoabear hit the proverbial nail on the head: if you’re getting bored blazing through one guard post after the another … don’t. Grab all the explosive ordinance you can find, wait for a patrol to roll in, and make every excessive and tactically unsound maneuver you can think of. That’s where FC2 shines over the suffocating scripting of a game like CoD5. There’s nothing in the guts of the game shouting: “That’s not how you’re supposed to do it! You’re messing up our grand cinematic vision, you pr*ck!”
report