Far Cry 2 PC Game Review

I am the type of person who loves sandbox-type games, meaning a game where the player has a lot of freewill and is not bound by a story-line, kind of like Grand Theft Auto (but even the freedom there isn't enough for me). There is that part of me that dreads that idea of determinism in something I am playing. I mean, if there is already a fixed ending, a fixed story, I am not really attracted to it. It is really more like watching a movie or reading a book. Someone else has already decided for you, no matter what button you press or what direction you go to.

This preference of mine was first expressed when I played Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I played it with a few friends, each of us sharing one laptop and having different characters and just going around the big map and doing the different quests. But then I had a different agenda in mind. In the first kingdom, or whatever you would call it, I wanted to kill everyone and become the new king. Basically, I had my own story, my own quests, and my own plans for my character. For those non-player characters that couldn't be killed, I would throw them into the ocean and let them swim endlessly when they wake up. Until eventually, wherever kingdom I go to, I am a fugitive at large. I stole everything interesting I saw, wore the armors of high-ranking officials I killed, in the hopes that one day I would be the the ultimate king and dictator of Cyrodiil. But my efforts were still in vain. There was still that lust for more freewill and more freedom.

And so, moving on, I started playing Far Cry 2 quite a long time ago but didn't really get to continue much because of time constraints. I downloaded it based on the reviews saying that it was a sandbox-type game. And I was really attracted to the fact that I could just roam around Africa and just explore and stuff. But of course, as you may have already assumed, that is not the case.

Basically, it is like being in the movie Hotel Rwanda, only I am not in the hotel, I am a foreigner assassin out to get this sort of Nicholas Cage Lord of War guy there who's supplying weapons to both sides of the opposing forces.

And within minutes of being in Africa, while chatting with this nice local chauffeur who's supposed to take me to my hotel, I get dizzy and pass out. I have malaria or some sort of disease. To cut the long story short, I end up working for this guy because he's the only one with the medicine that treats my condition (side note: this reminds me of my economics class where our professor said that medicine is a perfectly inelastic commodity because no matter what price it is, the demand will be the same, and in this case, the price was risking my life for some private army of assassins). And so as you can see, at the very beginning of the game, I am already getting annoyed. There goes my freedom, right?

So after killing a bunch of guys for him and rescuing this expatriate chick, he makes me go to this place called Mike's Bar. So I was like, finally I can just unwind, buy a few drinks, chat with the locals, trade weapons or whatever, you know, feel like I'm Leonardo DiCaprio in some Blood Diamond storyline. So I go there with my car that looks like a classic Opel Kadett, and guess what, there is absolutely no one there. And the bar was closed and it looked like crap. It was such a shame because it was by this beautiful lagoon. There was a weapon shop, a storage room of some sort, another house, but no people.

So I'm just chilling there, waiting for a call from this guy I'm working for, and then it hit me. I was like f*ck this sh*t, I'm going to get in my car and just explore and go wherever I want. So I drive around, checking out Africa, going through rough roads and at times even through jungle paths, getting into conflict with some locals who shoot me from time to time, until eventually I see an airport in my map. And so I rushed to the place, very excited thinking I can finally get out of this war-torn place and probably go chill in South Africa or tour Egypt or something like that. When I get there, I go park beside the hangar, I go down, and that's when a bunch of Africans with shotguns killed me.

And so I was like: it's alright, it's all good, it's a game, I saved in a nearby safe house anyway (in this game you can only save in places called safe houses that you most of the time have to conquer first cause someone is sometimes already there before you). So I load my previous game and make sure I stay away from the airport.

This time around, I followed the train tracks. It somehow made sense to me. I just wanted to get out of the hassle that these civil war people are putting me through. Eventually, I get into some conflict with a bunch of guys who blows up my car. Good thing I was able to survive and I killed them all but my problem now is I was walking. And it was such a very big place. I felt like I was crawling through the dessert, following a railroad that might not even lead me anywhere, or even worse, lead me to my grave.

Until finally, hope shows up in my map. It says that there is a police station nearby. I traverse the hillsides. I try to avoid conflict as much as I can. And then there it was, not so far away was this place that my map said to be a police station. And so I run as fast as I can. I see some sort of guard tower and I saw that someone was up there. And so I figured it would be a cop, and since I was excited, instead of going directly to the police station, I climb the guard tower hoping I could just explain to this cop my whole scenario and he could help me out. The moment I get to him, he points his gun at me and shoots me. And so I equipped my knife I slit his throat. Right after this, I hear a big explosion. I turn around to look at the police station and the whole thing was on fire. A few moments later the guard tower I was standing on explodes as well.

I was confused for a moment, just staring at my screen as the game asked me if I wanted to load my previously saved game. That's when I realized that it wasn't even about the game anymore. A part of me, a part of my dreams, exploded and burnt to ashes along with that police station and guard tower. I was angry on the inside but also realized that my anger wouldn't really be able to change anything. There was no freewill to begin with. The decisions have already been made for me. There is a story that is meant to unfold.

There is just something so profound about this whole experience that I had to write about it. I feel that it signifies so much about my real-life yearnings and aspirations. I even think I know what it all means but I am just too scared to assume. As for Far Cry 2, I believe it is disheartening. I do not recommend anyone to play it.