Hello folks, here is another review from your friendly neighbourhood Jedireaper. The object of scrutiny today is TimeSplitters 4 for the PS3 home console…

Uhh, oops sorry I mean Far Cry 2, and I have a confession to state out first before we get down to the wilderness of Africa so to speak.

To begin with, my confession: I have not been playing FC2 as much as I should have been, rather I’ve been bashing away at GTA online as it is soo much fun, and during times when I’ve had no internet I’ve been playing Half Life 2 & Portal (The Orange Box). For some strange reason I have been avoiding FC2. Do not ask me why as I can give no reason- unless it was the daunting task of writing this review, then I still can give no true reason… Enough said, and now to get to the reason of a review- namely, the review.

Far Cry 2 is a very good- I hesitate to say amazing -game. It certainly delivers a punch to the gut of other shooters of the First Person shooter, and Sand-box genres, this game delivering 50 kilometers square of lush jungles, hazy savannah, and dry desert, and a few small villages and exactly two full towns or settlements if you feel like being accurate.

The Far Cry 2 engine certainly can pump out some impressive environments, from the highly detailed and beautifully animated plant-life, the perfect environmental lighting, and rather good enemy and friendly AI, though usually you are on your own- I was mostly because I killed one of ‘em by blowing him up with a grenade, and got another captured by the UFLL who were my immediate enemies at the time, since I was doing missions for the APR, not that there is any differance between the factions, but APR sounded cooler -you will be driven through the game being used as a Mercenary, or a ‘gun for hire’, doing the dirty jobs that the factions cannot be seen doing.

One of the few downpoints about this game being free roaming, and on so large a map, is that there is a lot of journeying about this fictional African state, sometimes by boats, cars, jeeps, and trucks, but more ofter you will find yourself walking.

This can be forgiven as Ubisoft Montreal have tried to do the GTA thing with the FPS while throwing in elements of the game Mercenaries and some COD4. This has made for quite a shooter, with the general game mechanics such as the control layout being totally fluid and easily accessable to even newbies to the FPS genre, or the hectic shoot-outs, or the ‘being able to set things on fire’ whitch has been coded nicely to co-inside with the pysics engine- my favorite part -lends itself to ceate a dynamic and unique experiance, both visually and gameplay wise.  Before I move on to what is perhaps the games best feature, a special mention should go to the weapons of FC2, both being varied and meaty. They even get jammed and dirty through continued use, then break apart in your hands which is certainly a unique feature. Make sure to always have fresh weapons, as being caught short with your pants down isn’t going to do anything but get you killed. Fast.

The map-maker is one of the best yet seen in a video game, allowing you to do and create anything and everything, from floating platforms, Normandy Beach-heads, and COD4 level recreations- and why not -to the Eiffel Tower, to huge city sized maps and vast jungle valleys. Everything can be tweaked and to be honest, it is all relatively easy to do however if you are attempting to do the Eiffel- I’ll see you in a few weeks. It will take a while and although it can be done, its ambitious.

The score, is it really worth my pecious money?
Graphics: 8.5

Gameplay:9

Sound: 8

Plot: 8

Replayability: 8.5

Overall: 8.4

This game is not for everyone mind, and may even be daunting to those who own it, like me. But it is a good solid game, with lag free online multiplayer. Well worth owning.

This game also gets the “Jedireaper Innovation Award” for the excellent map-maker.

This is certainly worth the time to play even just for the online experiance- excellent main game aside -as it certainly rivals COD4 though I can’t vouch for World at War yet, but if you need a game to keep you going till Killzone 2 arrives for your PS3, then this is it, especially for the map-maker.

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