I don't attempt to review games, but I am interested in game design and why things don't quite work.
Far Cry 2 is one such example. I know how they could have programmed it so that the guard posts didn't instantly respawn so unrealistically, but I think it would be more helpful to focus on improving the controls.
Africa is a big place with few landmarks and the signposts you encounter aren't all that much help. I still find myself toggling the map on/off an awful lot and have come to the conclusion that this should have been a "hold the Left Trigger in" to raise the map into view by degrees, thereby avoiding an explicit modal state in the control interface. This would then mean that the Left Bumper would have to be Aim, just as it had been in Goldeneye. In the Long Run control mapping Sprint would have to go on the Right Bumper just as it does in Frontlines: Fuel of War. This then presents a problem: Grenades.
However, these can be first equipped by holding down the Back button the pin pulled with the Right Bumper, optionally "cooked", then thrown with Right Trigger - as neither of these controls do their default actions whilst the Back button is held. This is what is called a Quasimode and is equivalent to you typing on a keyboard whilst holding down Shift or Alt.
I had also thought that you could peruse the open map with the Right Thumbstick and then click this stick to toggle a series of enumerated waypoints which would then appear on the GPS.
The next issue is the enemies, which can spot you through thick grass as if it isn't there, and storm out of nowhere in a noisy jeep which you really ought to have been able to hear in the distance and avoid. You can crouch, but not go prone. You can shoot enemies, but they take as much damage as if they were wearing full body armor even when they are bare chested. Yes, everyone is attacking you all the time and it gets old. Surely if you only work for the UFLL they would leave you alone and you could scope settlements and chart a course through the map. Yes, it is very open world, but it is as if the designers panicked that there wouldn't be enough happening, but in adding action around every corner they hampered your freedom. Ironically, it is hard to appreciate the astounding graphics because you are in a constant state of paranoia.
Finally, at some point in the future the issue of Saving will have to be addressed in these massively open-world games. It just takes too long to reattempt a failed mission from a Safehouse, even when you've unlocked all of them. I'd like to be able to push the Xbox Guide button and Shutdown the console and resume from that point the next time I power up if all I had done was Pause. This isn't Quicksave as you only get one slot. Reattempting missions could be done with a single separate save slot (user-defined checkpoint) which is activated by using the phone prior to the mission proper. This would mean that the player could collect multiple mission contacts and then seek more work "in the field". Also you wouldn't be rung up by a buddy in the middle of a Stealth mission! You would call them. In fact, the GPS could be combined with the phone (after all, it already finds diamond briefcases and Jackal tapes).
Anyway, I would rather make constructive suggestions than condemn Far Cry 2 as boring.
Thanks for proving my point over and over in your successive posts. It is YOU, my friend, who contributes nothing to this thread by using far cry 2 as a vehicle with which to drive through your unreasonable and ignorant angst towards anything that's not played with a mouse.
Furthermore, I don't have to play the game to comment on your ignorance, stupidity, and baseless rage. Nor do I need to have played the game to comment on the features of it which I am well aware of through media coverage. I don't need to play a game to know that driving around an open world shooting things isn't revolutionary.
As for your "fuck you console tard" statement: The list of games I have played is quite long and spreads across a variety of platforms from the intellivsion to the PC to the 360. In fact, some of my favorite gaming moments of all time (Fallout, Fallout 2, Half-Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, Age of Empires, Warcraft 2) were all had on the PC. Yet again you are proving yourself to be quite ignorant by throwing baseless personal attacks against people without all the facts.
Wait a minute, why am I trying to reason with you? Let me speak to you in a language you'll understand... FUCK YOU, you ignorant, stupid, elitist asshole.
ANYwho, I was thinking about picking up this game, but was really conflicted about it due to some of the stuff I read. On the one hand, hang-gliding and driving through the savanah sounds amazing, on the other hand getting attacked by insane suicidal jeep drivers doesn't. Also, in open world games a lot of times, i just want to drive to a mission and get started, it sounds irritating having to drive through scores of checkpoints full of instantly-respawning enemies. One question I have: can't you just keep of the roads and drive avoiding those checkpoints?
Uncompetative: I don't attempt to review games, but I am interested in game design and why things don't quite work.
Far Cry 2 is one such example. I know how they could have programmed it so that the guard posts didn't instantly respawn so unrealistically, but I think it would be more helpful to focus on improving the controls.
Africa is a big place with few landmarks and the signposts you encounter aren't all that much help. I still find myself toggling the map on/off an awful lot and have come to the conclusion that this should have been a "hold the Left Trigger in" to raise the map into view by degrees, thereby avoiding an explicit modal state in the control interface. This would then mean that the Left Bumper would have to be Aim, just as it had been in Goldeneye. In the Long Run control mapping Sprint would have to go on the Right Bumper just as it does in Frontlines: Fuel of War. This then presents a problem: Grenades.
However, these can be first equipped by holding down the Back button the pin pulled with the Right Bumper, optionally "cooked", then thrown with Right Trigger - as neither of these controls do their default actions whilst the Back button is held. This is what is called a Quasimode and is equivalent to you typing on a keyboard whilst holding down Shift or Alt.
I had also thought that you could peruse the open map with the Right Thumbstick and then click this stick to toggle a series of enumerated waypoints which would then appear on the GPS.
The next issue is the enemies, which can spot you through thick grass as if it isn't there, and storm out of nowhere in a noisy jeep which you really ought to have been able to hear in the distance and avoid. You can crouch, but not go prone. You can shoot enemies, but they take as much damage as if they were wearing full body armor even when they are bare chested. Yes, everyone is attacking you all the time and it gets old. Surely if you only work for the UFLL they would leave you alone and you could scope settlements and chart a course through the map. Yes, it is very open world, but it is as if the designers panicked that there wouldn't be enough happening, but in adding action around every corner they hampered your freedom. Ironically, it is hard to appreciate the astounding graphics because you are in a constant state of paranoia.
Finally, at some point in the future the issue of Saving will have to be addressed in these massively open-world games. It just takes too long to reattempt a failed mission from a Safehouse, even when you've unlocked all of them. I'd like to be able to push the Xbox Guide button and Shutdown the console and resume from that point the next time I power up if all I had done was Pause. This isn't Quicksave as you only get one slot. Reattempting missions could be done with a single separate save slot (user-defined checkpoint) which is activated by using the phone prior to the mission proper. This would mean that the player could collect multiple mission contacts and then seek more work "in the field". Also you wouldn't be rung up by a buddy in the middle of a Stealth mission! You would call them. In fact, the GPS could be combined with the phone (after all, it already finds diamond briefcases and Jackal tapes).
Anyway, I would rather make constructive suggestions than condemn Far Cry 2 as boring.
Thank you for bringing some insightful comments to this thread that has quickly become a flamewar.
On topic: I found the article to be well written and whilst it did beat around the bush, made a few good points of the better side of the game.
However, I believe that Ubisoft tried to focus on making a really big 'open world' game and severely neglected the actual gameplay elements of the game. It's like they didn't actually play test the whole game, just focused on the main points. I do think that this is a vast improvement on the rather dire first game and is certainly a great spring board on which to build another improved Far Cry game.
Your post is nothing but defamatory drivel, ad hominem attacks against me and Ubisoft-directed anti-console angst so thick you couldn't cut it with a Linkin Park CD. You even admit that you didn't even read half of my post, yet still feel you can make a reply that approaches even a modicum of relevance to what I have said? Get the fuck out of my face, you disgusting, pathetic child. I won't tolerate a discussion with sniveling dipshits who don't even read half of what I say and then attack me for imagined statements.
You started the attacks useless fuck nut you are. I couldn't read most of your post as whenever I looked at it all I could hear was the slurping sounds from your bobbing head between the legs of Ubisoft execs. Everything I stated is a direct response to cranial diarrhea emanating from your mostly empty head. I guess this is the response I should expect when a weak mind faces the reality that his argument is limp and useless, likely not the only thing about you that is limp and useless. Oh well, still no facts that your precious Far Cry 2 is innovative and cutting edge, I guess I will wait a bit more, at least till you stop crying.
Thanks for proving my point over and over in your successive posts. It is YOU, my friend, who contributes nothing to this thread by using far cry 2 as a vehicle with which to drive through your unreasonable and ignorant angst towards anything that's not played with a mouse.
Really? I put forward an opinion and was faced with gibbering, ravenous fan spouting "fuck you" at everyone for not likeing his precious shit storm of a game. Then an ignorant dumb ass (this is you stupid), butts in claiming I have the problem, and shouldn't retaliate. You still contribute nothing to this thread and your still a useless console tard. Remind me again, did your interruption even have a point?
Furthermore, I don't have to play the game to comment on your ignorance, stupidity, and baseless rage. Nor do I need to have played the game to comment on the features of it which I am well aware of through media coverage. I don't need to play a game to know that driving around an open world shooting things isn't revolutionary.
I imagine that is just the start of the list of things you don't know. As a side not it's not baseless rage remember I paid the inflated console price for this utter piece of shit to infect my computer. I think I have every right, that and defend myself from two feces chucking mentally handicapped baboons like you and your boyfriend.
As for your "fuck you console tard" statement: The list of games I have played is quite long and spreads across a variety of platforms from the intellivsion to the PC to the 360. In fact, some of my favorite gaming moments of all time (Fallout, Fallout 2, Half-Life, Counter Strike, Team Fortress, Age of Empires, Warcraft 2) were all had on the PC. Yet again you are proving yourself to be quite ignorant by throwing baseless personal attacks against people without all the facts.
Oh wow was that supposed to impress me princess? I started with Atari, Coleco, Vic-20 and Commodore 64, then I grew up, fucking useless button masher.
Wait a minute, why am I trying to reason with you? Let me speak to you in a language you'll understand... FUCK YOU, you ignorant, stupid, elitist asshole.
Reason would have had you reading the entire thread before sticking your Grey matter deficient pin head into the situation.
ANYwho, I was thinking about picking up this game, but was really conflicted about it due to some of the stuff I read. On the one hand, hang-gliding and driving through the savanah sounds amazing, on the other hand getting attacked by insane suicidal jeep drivers doesn't. Also, in open world games a lot of times, i just want to drive to a mission and get started, it sounds irritating having to drive through scores of checkpoints full of instantly-respawning enemies. One question I have: can't you just keep of the roads and drive avoiding those checkpoints?
Well at least you listen, I give you bonus marks for that fuck-tard.
I rented it, tok it back the next day, I just couldnt get into it. When I took it back I bought Call of Duty 4 and I am LOVING it. I beat it once already and now I'm trying on Veteran....emphasis on 'trying'.
ANYwho, I was thinking about picking up this game, but was really conflicted about it due to some of the stuff I read. On the one hand, hang-gliding and driving through the savanah sounds amazing, on the other hand getting attacked by insane suicidal jeep drivers doesn't. Also, in open world games a lot of times, i just want to drive to a mission and get started, it sounds irritating having to drive through scores of checkpoints full of instantly-respawning enemies. One question I have: can't you just keep of the roads and drive avoiding those checkpoints?
Are you sure you haven't played the game? Because you just hit the nail right on the head... I say rent it, for me it wasn't really my cup of tea mostly because of the aforementioned suicidal Jeep drivers, instantly respawning enemies, and countless checkpoints killed the experience for me. Although you may be a more patient person than I am and you may well enjoy it.
And to answer your question, No you can't just drive around. Trees, rocks, and ditches/creeks/whatever make offroad travel all but impossible. You can however try to just drive past the checkpoints really fast and pray a Jeep with a minigun mounted to the top isnt going to chase you...but it will....they always do.
EDIT: Sorry for the double post, but I didnt realize I could actually respond to this before I made my first post.
For the record: In my OP I never said "F you" nor did I ever say you can't like Far Cry 2. In fact, I actually agree with most of the points that you had. All I ever said is that maybe your point would have come across better if you didn't go around calling everyone who plays games on consoles (of which there are many) a retard. U know I was going to go through all of your silly little comments and reply to each one, but most were so rambling, incoherent, and contradictory that I really couldn't make you sound any more ridiculous than you do yourself. Just one more thing:
Oh wow was that supposed to impress me princess? I started with Atari, Coleco, Vic-20 and Commodore 64, then I grew up, fucking useless button masher.
You clearly missed the point there, notice that most of the games I listed are PC which means I play alot of games on PC which means I'm not a console button masher because I play games on the P-fuckin'-C. Can't you read? Or do you only see what you want to in order to justify your hate? Yea, the latter I suspect.
Tijuanatim: Thanks for the info, that may very well be a deal breaker for me. I think I might take the game off my goozex request list and just give it the old college try via rental. Then again, I've got a stack of about 8 games I have to get through right now anyway I can seem to be able to put Command and Conquer: Red Alert 3 down. I <3 my RTS's :P
For the record: In my OP I never said "F you" nor did I ever say you can't like Far Cry 2. In fact, I actually agree with most of the points that you had. All I ever said is that maybe your point would have come across better if you didn't go around calling everyone who plays games on consoles (of which there are many) a retard. U know I was going to go through all of your silly little comments and reply to each one, but most were so rambling, incoherent, and contradictory that I really couldn't make you sound any more ridiculous than you do yourself. Just one more thing:
You and your boyfriend are easily confused, without reading the entire thread you popped your arrogant over inflated head in and told me how to address a hostile retarded fanboy. Please give me an example of any where where what I said was incoherent. Fuck, poke your nose in somewhere else ignorant half wit, I grow weary of your defending your pointless blather in a matter that you knew nothing of nor had any part in.
this is an incredible peice of writing that highlights the game, is poetic, yet informative, has a tremendous sense of style, and reminds me about the reason i frequent this site for my gaming media. thanks guys!
Uncompetative: I don't attempt to review games, but I am interested in game design and why things don't quite work.
Far Cry 2 is one such example. I know how they could have programmed it so that the guard posts didn't instantly respawn so unrealistically, but I think it would be more helpful to focus on improving the controls.
Africa is a big place with few landmarks and the signposts you encounter aren't all that much help. I still find myself toggling the map on/off an awful lot and have come to the conclusion that this should have been a "hold the Left Trigger in" to raise the map into view by degrees, thereby avoiding an explicit modal state in the control interface. This would then mean that the Left Bumper would have to be Aim, just as it had been in Goldeneye. In the Long Run control mapping Sprint would have to go on the Right Bumper just as it does in Frontlines: Fuel of War. This then presents a problem: Grenades.
However, these can be first equipped by holding down the Back button the pin pulled with the Right Bumper, optionally "cooked", then thrown with Right Trigger - as neither of these controls do their default actions whilst the Back button is held. This is what is called a Quasimode and is equivalent to you typing on a keyboard whilst holding down Shift or Alt.
I had also thought that you could peruse the open map with the Right Thumbstick and then click this stick to toggle a series of enumerated waypoints which would then appear on the GPS.
The next issue is the enemies, which can spot you through thick grass as if it isn't there, and storm out of nowhere in a noisy jeep which you really ought to have been able to hear in the distance and avoid. You can crouch, but not go prone. You can shoot enemies, but they take as much damage as if they were wearing full body armor even when they are bare chested. Yes, everyone is attacking you all the time and it gets old. Surely if you only work for the UFLL they would leave you alone and you could scope settlements and chart a course through the map. Yes, it is very open world, but it is as if the designers panicked that there wouldn't be enough happening, but in adding action around every corner they hampered your freedom. Ironically, it is hard to appreciate the astounding graphics because you are in a constant state of paranoia.
Finally, at some point in the future the issue of Saving will have to be addressed in these massively open-world games. It just takes too long to reattempt a failed mission from a Safehouse, even when you've unlocked all of them. I'd like to be able to push the Xbox Guide button and Shutdown the console and resume from that point the next time I power up if all I had done was Pause. This isn't Quicksave as you only get one slot. Reattempting missions could be done with a single separate save slot (user-defined checkpoint) which is activated by using the phone prior to the mission proper. This would mean that the player could collect multiple mission contacts and then seek more work "in the field". Also you wouldn't be rung up by a buddy in the middle of a Stealth mission! You would call them. In fact, the GPS could be combined with the phone (after all, it already finds diamond briefcases and Jackal tapes).
Anyway, I would rather make constructive suggestions than condemn Far Cry 2 as boring.
Thank you for bringing some insightful comments to this thread that has quickly become a flamewar.
On topic: I found the article to be well written and whilst it did beat around the bush, made a few good points of the better side of the game.
However, I believe that Ubisoft tried to focus on making a really big 'open world' game and severely neglected the actual gameplay elements of the game. It's like they didn't actually play test the whole game, just focused on the main points. I do think that this is a vast improvement on the rather dire first game and is certainly a great spring board on which to build another improved Far Cry game.
I'd pay for a sequel in the not too distant future - and I haven't even finished the Campaign yet. Finally, a game that is value for money.
I've already got the DLC, which was worthwhile. You get a crossbow that fires explosive bolts among other things...
It would be nice if you could store weapons in your vehicle, at the cost of carrying only two. Although you would have to replace them if the vehicle was destroyed.
This was really very-nicely written. The flamewar was less nicely written, but fairly amusing, until it devolved into "NO FUCK YOU," but that's just life, I guess.
i think it was Average (other NPC people talk fast,very fast though) the flames where the best I have PROBABLY NOT CERTAINLY (Cod5 is quite good 2) ever saw.
Well, I'm happy with it. Of course it did come free with my graphics card, so that takes away any not worth $50-ness. The guard post respawns could use some work. If Ubisoft would release a damn SDK, the problem would be fixed within a day. In my mind, the perfect setup would be that checkpoints nearest bus stops and the central city would respawn fastest, and the further you got away from one of those, the longer a respawn would take. That would add some realism. But again, that's not going to happen unless Ubisoft releases an SDK or a fan puts in a metric ton of work to make one.
Could those in the flamewar just, I dunno, get a room or something? It's getting tiresome, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be more interested in the sort of constructive analysis that Uncompetative provided...
In my view, Far Cry 2 had a number of key failings:
- The enemies; bulletproof string vests, close combat with M2HB machine guns, and utterly unrealistic detection and accuracy stats. Not to mention the respawning checkpoints and the lazy, clumsy way of dodging the need for factional AI; "Oh, it's a secret mission, yeah, that'll be it."
- The vehicles; utterly homogenous in behaviour and feel, except that the Land Rover clone is much better than the others at handbrake turns. (Incidentally, the handbrake on a Defender acts on the centre diff, so trying a handbrake turn would be quite expensive...)
- Over-hyped. The story *isn't* adaptive, and really doesn't try to be. There are no major choices involved, just illusions of choice. The graphics are pretty, but with noticeable shortcuts here and there. And the much-vaunted fire propagation? It's not realistic, it's not accurate, and it doesn't even look realistic up close.
There were a few things that would have been unequivocally good had they been handled better; the wound system works well, but its claims of realism force reviewers to measure it with a different yardstick, by which it fails miserably. The ambush missions would have been interesting had they not been on small, infinite loops.
I could go on - in fact, I have done quite frequently - but the basic result is that Far Cry 2 is full of unattained potential. It could have been good, if they'd just *thought* about it a bit. But they didn't, so it wasn't.
I don't attempt to review games, but I am interested in game design and why things don't quite work.
Far Cry 2 is one such example. I know how they could have programmed it so that the guard posts didn't instantly respawn so unrealistically, but I think it would be more helpful to focus on improving the controls.
Africa is a big place with few landmarks and the signposts you encounter aren't all that much help. I still find myself toggling the map on/off an awful lot and have come to the conclusion that this should have been a "hold the Left Trigger in" to raise the map into view by degrees, thereby avoiding an explicit modal state in the control interface. This would then mean that the Left Bumper would have to be Aim, just as it had been in Goldeneye. In the Long Run control mapping Sprint would have to go on the Right Bumper just as it does in Frontlines: Fuel of War. This then presents a problem: Grenades.
However, these can be first equipped by holding down the Back button the pin pulled with the Right Bumper, optionally "cooked", then thrown with Right Trigger - as neither of these controls do their default actions whilst the Back button is held. This is what is called a Quasimode and is equivalent to you typing on a keyboard whilst holding down Shift or Alt.
I had also thought that you could peruse the open map with the Right Thumbstick and then click this stick to toggle a series of enumerated waypoints which would then appear on the GPS.
The next issue is the enemies, which can spot you through thick grass as if it isn't there, and storm out of nowhere in a noisy jeep which you really ought to have been able to hear in the distance and avoid. You can crouch, but not go prone. You can shoot enemies, but they take as much damage as if they were wearing full body armor even when they are bare chested. Yes, everyone is attacking you all the time and it gets old. Surely if you only work for the UFLL they would leave you alone and you could scope settlements and chart a course through the map. Yes, it is very open world, but it is as if the designers panicked that there wouldn't be enough happening, but in adding action around every corner they hampered your freedom. Ironically, it is hard to appreciate the astounding graphics because you are in a constant state of paranoia.
Finally, at some point in the future the issue of Saving will have to be addressed in these massively open-world games. It just takes too long to reattempt a failed mission from a Safehouse, even when you've unlocked all of them. I'd like to be able to push the Xbox Guide button and Shutdown the console and resume from that point the next time I power up if all I had done was Pause. This isn't Quicksave as you only get one slot. Reattempting missions could be done with a single separate save slot (user-defined checkpoint) which is activated by using the phone prior to the mission proper. This would mean that the player could collect multiple mission contacts and then seek more work "in the field". Also you wouldn't be rung up by a buddy in the middle of a Stealth mission! You would call them. In fact, the GPS could be combined with the phone (after all, it already finds diamond briefcases and Jackal tapes).
Anyway, I would rather make constructive suggestions than condemn Far Cry 2 as boring.