When i first saw the screenshot of a helicopter flying across a forest, and the amount of detail featured within that one picture, i knew that i would get this game. Being a fan of the original Far Cry, i couldn't wait to see what it's younger brother would produce. Well, thankfully, i wasn't dissapointed.

The location of the entire game is war-torn Africa, though the surroundings that encapsulate you make it a beautiful environment to kill somebody. And trust me, you will kill somebody. When i first started the game, i wasn't really sure what i was supposed to be doing; the gameplays that immense that it seems to become more than another FPS.

Well, i soon discovered what the deal was with this game. It's simply the old motto "Kill or be Killed". After a short interactive cinematic, you're dropped straight into the game. Boy oh boy, was i trapped. I won't spoil the story for any people who haven't played the game, but lets just say you'll need to learn the controls very quickly to survive.

Obviously, the main thing i could talk about in this game is the graphics, so i'll move onto them in more detail. Farcry 2 uses the Dunia Engine, which was specifically built for the game itself. It gives the game an destructible environment, much like Battlefield : Bad Company, except much better. The other motto for this game would be "If it looks destructible, it is destructible". And this is entirely true, shoot a tree, and you'll be showered in leaves, destroy fences, blow up vehicles. If you don't like the look of it, destroy it!

I can't move on from the graphics without mentioning the incredible fire animations on this game. These are the best graphics of fire, and best representation of the real-life behaviour of fire,  i've ever seen. Period. You'll be surprised how throwing 1 molotov can set not just the tree nearest to you on fire, but will start a chain reaction of lighting the trees next to it alight, much like how forest fires start in real life. Not only trees though. The fire will spread across the ground aswell, pretty much any foilage in the way.

Another feature which makes this game seem 'real-life' like is the real time immersion. Get shot? It will take time for the wound to heal, which is more realistic than most FPS's, where you can be shot in both kneecaps one minute, and be climbing up ladders the next. Real time also comes into missions. For some missions, particularly stealth ones, it might be a good idea to wait for the night to settle in, and then infiltrate that base. Try it in broad African daylight, and you'll need all that time to recover the multiple wounds you recieved; and that's if you're lucky.

Never fear though, as if you not as much die, but run out of health, you can always be recovered by a 'buddy', which is a person in the game that is considered to be, well a buddy. They will move you from the location you've been shot, while firing back at the people who shot you, as best as they can anyway. Once successfully recovered, you will have low health, but you'll be alive, and you'll still have your guns. Don't rely on this feature though, as your buddys won't always have a rescue ready, and if they fail, then it's game over for you.

One thing i haven't enjoyed about this game is the weaponry missions, simply missions you can complete for a weapons merchant to unlock new and better weapons. Sounds interesting, and it is at first. You're told to destroy a convey of weapons that have come in from another country, as there stealing buisness. Well, ok, that's sounds alright, go and hunt down the convey blow it up, return to the weapons merchant. Congratulations, new weapon unlocked. Now this is where you'll begin to get bored, as the problem with these missions are, they're always exactly the same, no neccessarily the same locations, but it's always along the lines of 'Destroy a weapon convey'. Dissapointing.

But once you unlock a weapon, you can purchase froma  computer within the weapon shop, using diamonds. Diamonds are the currency you will use in Farcry, and they can be found using the GPS. The GPS is primarily a map, but it has a handy green light (presumably a diamond detector-whatever one of them are), and it will flash faster when you're near a diamond, and will stay green when you're facing one. These diamonds are scattered all over the 50km2 map, so get them little green lights out and get searching!

Weaponry in the game is different to your bog standard, pick up the machine gun, bang bang, you're dead. Your weaponry will actually age through the game. Doesn't sound too lethal, but it is. Weapons can jam, and will jam more frequently depending on their age. You can tell the age of a weapon by the amount of rust on it.

In conclusion, this game is an absolute gem in comparison to it's predecessor, and is a worthy second game in the Far Cry series. Although there are few problems with it, the problems are major to the gameplay. I find that the I find the gameplay is to vague, and although for some that might be great, as you can go off and explore, i like to be told what i've got to do and just go off and do it. The graphics you can't complain about at all, and the sounds are very realistic, with loud gunshot noises, and big booms. The one thing you might want to watch out for are the wild animals. The amount of animals i've shot by accident, thinking them a soilder is unthinkable. Well they shouldn't have got in the way.

Overall Rating: 7/10