I’ve heard many, many different takes on Far Cry 2. From best in the series to hot garbage and it’s really hard to know who to trust. So, as with anything, I thought it was best to just give it a go myself to see if it could go the distance. I have a little bit of history with the Far Cry franchise, both good and bad. I had my issues with the original Far Cry, but I really enjoyed Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. Love me some Rex “Power” Colt. I even owned Far Cry 2 on PlayStation 3 back in the day, but I don’t remember it whatsoever and never made it very far. I went in with pretty low expectations, not wanting to get my hopes up just in case it turned out to be another rough grind-fest like the original. I went for the easy difficultly for that same reason. I did this playthrough using the GOG release with the Chill+ mod and the same modder’s enhanced textures for a bit of a visual upgrade. Before anyone says anything, I’m well aware it’s not the original experience. But I’ll more than happily take the quality of life enhancements and removal of bullet sponges. Really I just wanted to know if this game that everyone seems to argue about was actually worth revisiting, or if it truly earned the label of hot garbage.
Far Cry 2 features one of the stories of all time and it kicks off by picking the protagonist. You can choose one mercenary out of a possible nine, the mercenary you pick has literally no bearing on the game and is purely cosmetic. It’ll slightly change which NPCs or buddies you work with as whoever you choose you’ll… uh, not work with. Anyway, you’re sent to a nameless, war-torn African country to assassinate a rogue arms dealer known as The Jackal. This arms dealer is single-handedly fueling a brutal civil war between two rival factions, The APR and the UFLL. On arrival, you contract severe malaria and end up unconscious. When you come to, The Jackal himself stands over you and more or less lectures you about the nature of war and how you’ve already failed in your mission, leaving you to die from malaria. Of course, you survive and begin your chase working with questionable people doing questionable things in a violent loop of double-crosses, factional warfare and an endless supply of respawning militia checkpoints. It sounds intentionally bleak, and it is, but how the story integrates with the rest of the game is where things really start to fall apart.
I don’t hate the story. In fact, the idea of The Jackal and tracking him down across a remote, war-torn country is unreal. The implementation of the story and story elements, though? Swing and a miss. The story is presented as a serious conflict with a dark and gritty tone, but the execution comes off feeling cold, disjointed and unengaging. Our silent protagonist works with the main two factions essentially as a pawn to help either side commit atrocities, with no consideration given to their own motivation. Yeah, we’re searching for The Jackal, but that’s… uh, that’s it. Even the antagonist of the game is largely missing outside of five to ten minutes of screen time. It becomes increasingly hard to give a shit when the majority of missions send you to the opposite side of the map and generally equate to: make your way to X, kill or destroy Y. You also face unavoidable, rapidly respawning checkpoints and when you finally clear a path to your target, you’ll see them on the way back. Malaria also adds a layer of busywork. It feels less like a part of the story or locational device than a maintenance task between missions. None of it helps to build the story, nothing feels like tangible progess and just ends up as a constantly resetting loop. I felt like I lacked purpose throughout and the game’s own mechanics made sure to never provide any. The main plot line comes in woefully underdone and it’s super hard to stay interested when the two most pivotal pieces of the story it’s telling, the protagonist and the antagonist, aren’t even written to the standard of Claude from Grand Theft Auto 3.
Far Cry 2 is a semi-open world, first-person shooter. Semi-open, due to the sheer amount of invisible walls which restrict exploration you’d normally expect in an open world. The map is designed in such a way where travel is limited to the main roads and waterways, with a plethora of frustrating, unavoidable enemy checkpoints along the way. These rapidly respawn, even if you salt the earth. Fast travel is limited to a bus system, where locations are also limited. We’ve got a functioning weapons shop where you can buy weapons, upgrades and equipment. It’s clunky, but it works. You’re better off using it too, enemy weapons are always beat to hell… but they only seem to fail or jam when you pick them up. Regular attacks of malaria require regular doses of medication. Again, this is just tedious post-mission maintenance. As with the previous Far Cry, the AI stinks. Enemies will see you from all angles, attack on sight and they’ll proceed to chase you down to the ends of the earth. There’s supposedly a civil war going on, but everyone is far more interested in killing the new guy. Without the Chill+ mod, enemies retain the original game’s bullet-sponge, uh… feature. The buddy or reputation system also feels like a last minute throw-in, that stat ain’t budging and it doesn’t matter how many sidequests you complete. It only seems to increase as you push the story ahead. Honestly, most of the mechanics come off feeling like unintuitive chores.
It’s not all bad, the in-game navigation system is handled by an incredibly useful map and GPS. You can even pull it up while driving to track where you’re headed. Legitimately rock solid. I couldn’t write about Far Cry 2 without mentioning its fire physics. The fire propagation system is insane. It’s dynamic, grid-based and once one section of the grid has started to burn, it starts damaging the other nearby cells based on the wind direction, humidity and amount of dry vegetation available in the area. This can create impromptu, fast-moving blazes that can cause real trouble for you or any militia you may be moving in on. It’s by far the best mechanic Far Cry 2 has to offer and it’s a massive shame that it’s ends up wasted and buried under a mountain of mechanics that seemingly exist purely to be an inconvenience. While some may frown upon using the Chill+ mod, I think it absolutely enhances the experience. If nothing else, it tones down key frustrations from the original game. Enemies are actually reasonable to kill, malaria is less of a hassle to manage and even weapons take longer to fall to bits. It might not be widely recommended for a first playthrough, but if you’re like me and are short on time and want an easier time: go with the Chill+ mod. You might still hate it, but you’ll hate it less.
Alright then, does Far Cry 2 hold up? Absolutely not. The original premise is legitimately intriguing, but aside from the first cutscene it ends up being as missing-in-action as The Jackal himself. There’s still some good parts of the game. Navigation and the fire propagation system still hold up as absolute ripper achievements for their time, hell, even now. The rest of the game mechanics seem to be purely designed to work against the player and manage to strip the fun out of the game. The story is given no room to move, with the two most important characters severely lacking in any meaningful depth. While the navigation system is great, the map design leaves a lot to be desired. It forces you into linear pathways directly into what feel like instantly respawning checkpoints chock full of militia, who you’ll have to kill at least twice. The reputation system… exists, but it flat out ignores any progress you make which strips back any real sense of purpose or any interest you might have in any side-quests. Much like the original game, the AI is rough as guts and is more than happy to come after you, a relative unknown, rather than fight a supposedly raging civil war. The many, many moving parts of Far Cry 2 unfortunately never manage to fit together in any meaningful way and end up turning what is advertised as tense survival into a series of repetitive maintenance tasks and inconveniences. Far Cry 2 had all the pieces it needed to be something special and instead, Ubisoft delivered a fumble of monumental proportions.
Verdict:
On paper, Far Cry 2 had everything it needed. A compelling premise with an intriguing villain, the most impressive fire physics I’d ever seen in a video game and plenty of in-game systems to work with. Unfortunately, almost none of it comes together. Between poor writing, incredibly linear “open-world” travel, punishing and unavoidable checkpoint loops and mechanics designed purely to work against you, revisiting it in 2026 confirms it’s a clear swing and a miss.
Deck Compatibility: 10/10
Overall Game Rating: 3/10 — Yeah, It Stinks
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