Yeah I know this game came out a while ago but I recently bought it on Steam for $5.00 and I've put in about 5 hours of game time so far. I have to say that I like the ambiance and the game world of East Africa and the free roaming aspect is quite nice. What I don't like about the game so far is the repetitive nature of clearing out the checkpoints and some of the missions like destroying convoys so you can unlock new weapons to buy. I'm having a bit of fun so far with the game but I'm sure glad I didn't pay full price on release.

Anyway, just my 2 cents.

I got it on release and it was disappointing. The best bit I remember enjoying was trying to do as many mission as I could just using the 'fire' mechanic, i.e. lighting the grass and sneaking around.

The maps (two decent sized ones, in two parts) are great but I agree the stupid respawn of enemies and the rather artificial 'you can't go up there that way' really annoyed me after a bit. Not sure the 'malaria' timeout thing worked that well either.

I know I'm not very far into the game so far but I don't get the whole malaria infection thing. It just seems to serve the purpose of being an occasional annoyance that forces you to stop and take pills. Another thing I like about the game though are the graphics and how I am running all of the options maxed out and it runs great!

As far as free-roaming first person shooters go, my favorite remains Stalker.

Beautiful game, I got it again on pc not long ago too. I bought it on 360 at release and didn't feel ripped off at all, but co-op and good MP game types would've been incredible. Waste of an excellent map editor--on console no less. How many dev's have said that's just not possible in games? Free download system and community sharing to boot. Looks even better and I think the controls are smoother on pc, even using the same 360 controller. The malaria thing gets old, but it's just to keep you doing the missions for the resistance or whatever they're called.
I love the health system, nothing like digging out bullets on the run. LOL Nice weapons. If you could clean your guns at the safe houses to restore them, that would be a nice addition. Incredible environment, they really pulled it off. The "buddies" are a nice addition as well.
That Unimog helps with the checkpoints, that wasn't in the original game. It can take hits well enough to just run some checkpoints instead of the standard run, stop, shoot, repair and move on recipe.
Pretty close to my idea of the perfect shooter with the persistent first person perspective, huge map, time of day lighting, weather...really comes together well. I'd give a lot for co-op in this thing.
I'm worried that FC3 won't be as good an effort, seems like it might be a more traditional shooter, unfortunately.

This seems to be the case, at least from what I have seen. I do not like the theme of FC3, nor the excessive swearing.

I agree with the OP. My exact thoughts on the game. I enjoyed it a lot, but some things annoyed me. I wish FC3 would stick with the same theme and improve upon the game as well as add proper mod support.

Considering all of FC3 that exists now is a single video, I find it hard to judge it one way or another. While I doubt a demo will be forthcoming, I expect to see a lot more before release that would allow an informed decision. At this point it's like deciding whether or not to see Alien 3 based on the "On Earth, everyone can hear you scream" teaser.



The Jedi Master

A Coop mode could have been very do-able. Heck, the game already has several different characters you can choose to play the story-driven camapaign so one human player can choose one character and the other human player can choose another guy. A Coop mode would have been utterly great.

Oh well.

I'm surprised no one was ever able to mod Far Cary 2... and fixed the annoying issues like respawning checkpoints, guns falling about within bullets, and the malaria thing... remove or tune those three things and I'll play it again.

I would imagine that those gamers who complained about the sci-fi "monster" parts of the original Far Cry probably liked Far Cry 2 a lot since it was based on a completely plausible and realistic setting and scenario.

And I am sure there would have been some nice weapon and equipment mods. Perhaps even new quests set on a new map. The map editor, while it does not allow for advanced map making, is suitable for making quick maps. It was easy enough for me to make a basic one.