- No climbing towers to reveal more of the map - No loading screens for entering buildings or missions - All cutscenes are seamless and you’re always in control of your character - You don’t have to pause the game to open the map - Stealth where you don’t see people through walls or lure them with rocks, so it genuinely requires strategy. - Actually smart companions who can die if you’re not careful - A map that’s small enough where you don’t have to fast travel everywhere - No stealth bar, the only way you know you’re seen is with a bullet - Outposts get taken back by enemies and don’t just stagnate (there is also a story explanation) - No racing or fishing minigames: it’s a total warzone. I’d argue this is the ONLY good Far Cry game. All future games abandoned what made 2 so great.

This game was great back in the day. I remember sinking many hours into it when I was a kid and having a blast.

Part of me wants a remake of Far Cry 2 but I don't have much faith that Ubisoft would stick to the original vision.

With the buddy system, when they saved you, it was interesting how they dragged you to a safe location but also nearby. I dunno how that was done but it was very cool and realistic.

The only other FPS game I think that captures the loneliness and survival aspects of Far Cry 2 is the stalker series and the mod packs for that franchise. I really really do wish the far cry series would tap back into what made this game so great Simple, minimalistic, difficult and unforgiving at times but when you're immersed you get lost in the world and it's not a checklist collect-a-thon.

FarCry2 felt state-of-the-art when I got the console version in 2009. Its visuals and artstyle still look great after 15+ years. I run a new savefile every year just to relive it, can't say that about any other game.

You can use the range finder on the sniper rifle scope to guage distance for the mortar. Once i figured that out it became surprisingly usable! I dont think the game ever told you that though. I did enjoy it at the time but the constant traversal of the map can become a slog. Especially bumping into a checkpoint ever 2 minutes

Loved the gun jamming and degredation, hated the malaria.

There was so many things I liked about this game but my god those respawning check points just sapped my enjoyment and I couldn't bring myself to keep playing it when I picked it up. Shout out to games with minimal huds though.

I played the FC1 and it was ok. When I saw the trailer for FC2 I had to play it and I loved it. Then I saw the trailer for FC3 and played that and loved it. All three games are different and I'm ok with that. All the games after FC3 feel like dlcs of FC3.

I'm noticing a pattern lately. In-depth game analyzers mostly tend to have a sophisticated accent. _Just a thought._

On the map issue: It might be that the devs just belonged to the generation that really had to use maps on longer trips. And that forms a habit of planning your route and then putting it aside. Checking on the map is something you only do if your plan does not work, and you stop your car to do it. Its a very healthy habit I think.

A small correction to the ending… At this point in the game your character is suffering from advanced malaria sickness (which you can confirm during this part of the game) even with the pills you’ve been taking, you will die. This is way the Jackel calls you a “terminal case…same as me”. Likewise the jackel is also suffering from a brain cancer that will also kill him. So the Jackel knows that the both of you are dead men walking, but you can choose to do one last act of good to help others.

'Fun' is the wrong word. A game only needs to be compelling. There are people who enjoy Kaizo mario games that are almost sadistic mechanically. They just happen to find that sort of challenge compelling. People who like games a bit more grounded will enjoy FC2. And it could be argued that it is the FC with the most interesting and unique ideas.

Far cry 2 is my favorite by far. I’m replaying it now on infamous and it’s so much fun. Everything is trying to kill you, the weapon selection is excellent, the map is huge and diverse, and the physics engine and gunplay is superb. The guns feel powerful and the enemies react viscerally to being shot. Because it’s an older game, it also has so fewer restrictions on gameplay, meaning unlike newer games that feel like interactive movies with the cutscenes and guided missions, Far Cry 2 just gives you your objective and the way you approach it is up to you. When you come upon a location of enemies, you have so much choice on how you eliminate them. Maybe one person will park the truck on a hill and rain down fire from afar with the machine gun, whereas someone else may prefer to go in guns blazing. It’s incredible.

I have been waiting a long time for an analytical video about this legendary game. Thank you very much ... Waiting for analysis of SpecOps The Line and more !!!

Best in the series. Not even nostalgia. You feel alone, you are alone. Running through the jungle never felt so good.

keep it up man, that's a really good video...

Great video. Even greater channel picture (I love Samara).

"You suddenly catch malaria and black out" :D

Good video, makes me want to play this now

Always happy to watch another Far Cry 2 analysis

This was the game that made me fall in love with the SVD rifle. Semi automatic and learning how to use the range finder - I use the SVD in any game that has it now.

Ah! This time it doesnt seem broken. I like your retrospective!

something funny about this game that others might get a giggle from, this game killed my last pc. yeah strait up, just playing it caused my rig to die. ok it was an old rig but what a way to go. a great game all round

Great video, Svikters man. Far Cry 2 really is an experience like no other. Recommend to any fan of a good FPS with good sims gameplay. ⭐⭐⭐⭐

Far Cry 2 is an example of a game that becomes godlike if you get past X hours. After a while, you go from being hunted to being a complete slaughtering machine. You know all the routes, and you know the map.

I didn't play 1, but I did 2 and 3. 2 was the best overall experience, while 3 had an engaging villain but other than that... Eh...

The multi-player from Far Cry 2 was great, chaotic, crazy, great map editor, too, fun gunfights where each one felt fair. Sadly, you can't find online matches anymore atleast on Xbox

Always enjoy hearing other perspectives about this game. I don't use vehicles in open world games unless operating them is fun or a mission requires it. You miss details in game worlds when driving rather than walking, just like you miss details IRL when driving rather than walking. Because I rarely drove, the re-spawning enemies at outposts wasn't much of an issue for me because I would just walk around them. When I did clear one out, I would have appreciated if the game gave me more time before enemies returned, but that wasn't a big deal for me due to my play style. I get why it annoyed others though.

fantastic review!

I miss having ths *Feral* Abilities. Like leaping through the air. Or attacking people with my hands like a lion.

Far Cry 2, man. IMO, it's one of the most surprisingly improved followups of all time and a perfect balance between "satisfying" and "stress inducing".

@marks4047 I did the sniper scope rangefinder/mortar trick as well, but noticed something unique. It was entirely possible to properly range the target sector ahead of time without the rifle or scope, coordinate the map with the weird metal triangle inclinometer on the side, and initialize a first round hit. Long story short... You can be well out of sight and shot of your target, and nuke them with the mortar. First time, every time.

If Far Cry 2 had the GPS system like the one in current Far Cry titles, I would play it again

Fun fact, the guy at 11:45 shows up in Far Cry 4 as a gun smuggler named Longinus

This is one of my favorite games ever. I loved it since its release and I often re-play it with the high difficulty mod. In my humble opinion it could have been a perfect game for my personal taste with some add ons like civilians around the place (with the player's freedom to shoot them or not), more animals (the few animals in the game have no blood, it kills realism) and stuff like that. My god how I love this game. I still love almost all the others of the franchise, but this one is just something different and not purely commercial.

The storyline and characters like Jackal is what made this game interesting

*this game saved me back in 2010 when I was bored with gaming 🙌 the vibe, the jungles, the desert, the guns, the brush fires, hunting diamonds, how tough the enemies were....it was just a very realistic and cool experience 👍 Far Cry 5 is the only game in the franchise that compares to 2 IMO* 🕵

You did an awesome job with this, man. Far cry 2 hardly gets the love it deserves. Would love to collaborate if you're ever interested

If you want to play a game where you have a bad time in Africa, it's Far Cry 2 or nothing. Such a unique experience.

Bro you're forgetting one vital inspiration: the movie Blood Diamond.

I use to play this quite a bit on xbox 360 and I enjoyed it, I feel it really gives the feeling of trying to survive a warzone

One of my favorite video games back in the day, this retrospect/analyst was fantastic

This game was something new at the time. Guns and cars that break down(AND CAN BE FIXED), spreading fire, option to be a sniper and stealthy. Open vast environment in AFRICA, awesome.

I actually played the game again half a year ago, and honestly? it still holds up. Sure, the controls are wonky, and it lacks some modern QoL features, but the atmosphere simply cannot be matched by anything that came out since. It's probably the most immersive pure FPS game ever made.

I love the Jackal. It's writing was excellent, and I roamed the map just to collect all the tapes. Never played other far cry games, because the other antagonists seems.. cartoonish, for me

One of my favorite things to do is load up on fresh guns and just drive around the map into guard posts and populated arenas like the Cattle Farm or Junkyard and just clear the map until my guns fall apart naturally, then keep going with the machete and scavenged equipment. When I get back to an armory, if I've lost everything, I win. Repeat. Edit: My first ever exposure to weapon degradation and I was hooked. I was used to Medal of Honor and COD, used to relying on the same guns for a long time and forming loyalties to the home-team faction's guns. Then this game comes and flips that script. I couldn't let it go.

(sniff sniff) "He's around here, i can smell his shit".

wait there is no crosshair in far cry 2? I've played this game when it came out and i never noticed it. i do play on PC and always aim down the sight when i play an FPS.

We need a remaster of this game

The weapon degredation as annoying it becomes is a pretty nice touch. Usually when a game has that it plays to the game's aesthetic, even some storytelling. Here, you're in a failed state in Africa going through a civil war with an influx of (repeatedly) used arms. All in an environment that plays hell on your equipment. All you need to do is look at your weapon to see that, hell even the newer ones you get at shops have some wear and tear. Same goes with malaria if for no other reason than to reinforce the idea that "you are not the lord of death" that the game tells you. Plus, if I recall there's a good chance each weapon you see is there thanks to the Jackal. Lastly to touch on the "ending the war" bit. There's a good chance those mercs there who were essentially stranded when shit hit the fan would at best get left blowing in the wind or at worst... well get executed.

you don't have to have the map in hand while driving. The signs on the crossroads are colored to which marker they lead and they change accordingly(blue yellow red...).

27:49: song?

There is a theory that the Jackal is Carver from FC1.

Modern Far Cry has sunk further and further into “Ubislop” territory, feeling more and more formulaic with each new entry. I think Far Cry 2 holds up very well because of how un-formulaic it is. It’s flawed for sure but I feel like Ubisoft or perhaps some other studio should look to this game as a source of inspiration going forward.

I started playing a couple of days ago, I've completed 20% of the main storyline and I have absolutely no idea what the story is about, how the world works, what's the point of the missions I've done - I don't even know how I'm progressing the main storyline, I only notice when the percentage goes up but I have no idea what happened and how the story moved forward. And the worst part is that the game doesn't give you a reason to care about any of that, 90% of the time I'm just staring at the map trying to figure out how to get wherever the hell I need to go even though I have no idea why I'm even going there. Who am I serving? I don't know - and I don't care. How do I meet new buddies? I don't know - and I don't care. What are the buddies even good for? I don't know - and I don't care. What do I get by purchasing weapon crates? I don't know - and I don't care. Why is my gun jamming even though I purchased it? Is it because it's gotten old, or I accidentally swapped it for a second-hand one, how do I get a new one that doesn't jam? I don't know - and I don't care, I'll just press that R button and soldier on. The game just doesn't give you a reason to care about anything or to explore any new locations or learn the mechanics of the world. Hell, I don't even care about my own character! Yeah, Jack Carver (or whatever) in FC1 was cheesy af but at least I knew who he was, what he was doing, what his character was like, etc. Elder Scrolls games for example allow you to "give character to your character" by giving you options to play in different ways by joining different factions and guilds - you can be an assassin, a thief, a warrior, xenophobic, racist, imperialist, multiculturalist, etc. you can choose what kind of person you want your character to be. In FC2 you're a nobody, you never speak, you don't know where you are, what you're doing or why you're doing it. Sorry for the rent, I really want to like this game but it's so damn hard x)

While i hate many things about this game (piss poor story, pointless friends, no real factions, respawning checkpoints, way too fast weapon degradation and the fact that on the other hand you have unlimmited supply of them at your shop, repetitive mission design, pointless alternative missions given by friend, fake malaria mechanics and so on), i have to say the combat and stealth are awesome. Stealth here is realistic, and enemies don't forget about you after a minute, also their AI is decent. Combat is balanced really well (maybe apart from a bit too short shotgun range and overpowered explosive bolts), driving mechanics are fun, physical map is great just as every other first person animation, graphics aged so good becasue of great art design, and i really like the weapon limmit and how it forces you to create certain loadouts that are never perfect. Combat is without a doubt the best in the series (every next FC game has wierd shooting mechanics and AI is horrible in latter games with enemies that behave like lemmings). Overall a decent 6-7 out of 10 game, but mostly a case of unrealised potential. Oh and the atmosphere is just one of a kind.

This is one of the gew games that make me feel that i am in a dangerous environment, you think before getting in a shootout, i usually avoid the ones i didn't prepare before because all could turn into shit in a moment

This game is my favorite out of all of them no questions about it.

Hell yeah, my favorite Far Cry! Screw all those menus and " interface upgrades", mission objectives, just give me gun, map and i will be going

You don’t need to spam the reload button to unjam your gun you can just press it.

Thank you for pointing out ALL of the good things of this game. This is the best part of the circle that Ubisoft is looping... but skipping past everytime.

I don’t agree Jackal is an overlooked Far Cry villain. I say most in the fandom don’t even see Jackal as a villain to begin with.

Considering the rescues you get right before you die it's not that realistic or punishing. The malaria thing is annoying but the rest of the game is awesome to me. You can't ever freely travel about the map. There's always a threat. Travel in this game is actually more than just running for a long time once you kill everyone or level up enough. You get better weapons but you're otherwise the same through the whole game.

whether or not a dev has designed a game to be fun has very little impact on whether or not i found a game fun except ofc the very very extreme cases , i completed far cry 2 with barely 10km driven and some 50km walked (rougly cause it could be more but its been a year since then) stalking the enemy in the tall grass (and yes the stealth works perfectly fine) mostly avoided confrontation and just scouted the outposts from afar and i got like 80% of the diamonds in the game and i had fun every step of the way

I love Far Cry 2 immersion and atmosphere but the combat and mechanics are really clunky so i didnt finish. Im a Far Cry 3 stealth master, so when i i saw that you couldnt do stealth takedowns i was pissed. If they make a remake with newer Far Cry mechanics it would be be perfect cuz the ambiance for me is the best of the series

Don't worry about Malaria pills, everybody. If you help every family, all the refugees, with all their passports, your pill bottle will become bottomless (2/2 must be done in the North and the South, separately)

3:51 Technically they did bring Jack back. However, like the rest of the story, they don't say out right that he's the Jackal. There's only the similar clothing and a few lines about how he used to be a military man. Ubisoft "confirmed" that this is Jack Carver 10 years later and he's "broke bad". you say the Jackal's dialogue is "so-so" are you also referring to the Jackal tapes? They're not much, but they are interesting to listen to. 11:49 "You think you can hit a guy in a fast car?" The devs knew what they were doing. 😂

The map complaint isn’t really valid considering you don’t have to drive with your map out because there’s a GPS on every vehicle with an arrow pointing to the objective and signs at crossroads change colors depending on where the map marker is to help direct you

It was my first online game on the 360, but I found it so tedious that FC2 took me like a year to finish because I always got sick after 1-2 missions, and the respawning camps + long driving distances in-between missions. Maybe I should replay it someday, now that I am not some impatient ~18 y.o anymore

2 and 3 PEAK

FarCry 2 single handedly taught me how to use a real map. Somebody has to find all of those diamonds!

Might be worth a replay with Realism+ Redux mod

besides malaria the only thing that was actively bothering me was "this is a secret op so don't expect any help from our boys" like that's the only thing that happens in the game they are at war but outside of 2 scripted events they don't fight they are at fight yet they don't react to taking losses i'm not saying i'd want it to turn to call of duty but come on "hey guys i blew up the trainyard and they are massing for attack" so you go and join the fight on either side not much but makes the game and entire war aspect more like raging war also lack of actual fights between factions after 2020 for a white man shooting black people in africa there is only one response - MORE who were they supposed to shoot in africa? pink fairies? chinese? they ruin entire games with anti white racism claiming that "majority of population in this city is black" so we go to africa where majority indeed is black and what suddenly it's bad? it wasn't enought that they weren't really people, they were infected mutants with parasite virus but no, ign and other brainedead terrorist organizations just had to play the race card for something that doesn't even concern them

i remember the feeling this game gave me when my second buddied died in battle after saving my ass, i shot my last four styptics into his heart and and there i had to ole yeller him in the african bush

This game changed the world

This was the first dark souls shooter

2 was amazing. Though its newer ports make the gunplay horrible

You used Risen I soundtrack, didn’t you? I will recognize it everywhere.

camp respawn was the single issue that at the time made it unplayable to me.

Far Cry 2 needs a remake!

8:38 Seriously? Do you carry out aerial spraying with Agent Orange on farmlands in Africa? After all, they have a lot of food there. Because they have the right?

Far Cry 2 might have annoying gameplay mechanic, but what appeal for me over the other Far Cry 3+ serial is the atmosphere in Far Cry 2 and the characters was top notch. Nobody are "Good guys" in the game. Even your player character from their Bio aren't what you call exactly good guys either as they are just opportunistic merchenaries. The Jackal/Jack Carver is one of the charismatic Deutergonist

Farcry 2 is my absolute favorite game in the series

I loved this game.

You don't know what I think. Also Far Cry 2 was my first Far Cry game and I've never played the third one nor do I want to. Far Cry 2 is the reason I like survival games. I wanted more of the struggle and mundane.

Okay fuck it.... I'm downloading the game again🥹🔥

I would love Unisoft to port this onto the current gen console with a fps increase. Though I hope a indie developer will make a spiritual successor to this game.

hardcore = better Game has to make you feel dont need another game, you cant have every game to be on go, easy to play if you re tired, as people-- i mean, gamers say, these are the ones it feel like a ritual, or whatever you call your special moment.

After playing stalker, far cry 2 and stalker are similar in a way

Ya this game showed me why you never donate to other countrys going through conflicts. It really shows why the world sucks. Cause War and Greed is just a cycle that i wish could end. But can't becuase of human nature Great game!

This is the best farcry

How dare you diss my boy, Jack Carver.

Swedish English is the funniest English

If you're spending too much time looking at the map rather than the game world, or hell what's on the road ... that's on you.

Should have been able to pick the female mercenaries. But it was 2008

Just watching 5 minutes of this made me start back playing Far cry 2 again

One thing you kinda skipped over but Jack carver from the first game IS in far cry 2. One of the people who made the game came out and confirmed that Jack carver is the Jackal. Hense the name JACKal and his great sense of fashion lmao. Also the first game mentioned he was a mercenary and has sold arms which are both mentioned by the Jackal as well.

2 was the best game theyve not topped it since