A great game amidst a sea of veritable holiday hits!

Far Cry 2 is an excellent game, amongst many of the shooters being released this holiday, Far Cry 2 is unique enough to stand out. After spending close to 25 hours with the game, I was able to explore the nooks and crannies of the game play, mission structure, story, sound, and graphics.

Game Play: Far Cry 2 sticks to the basics in terms of shooting, but puts a twist on it by adding realistic reactions stemming from your injuries, the environment, and your equipment. It adds a level of intricacy on top of a rather formulaic game play. Driving is also fun i short bursts, land vehicles and gliders mind you, as with cars, when you hit a bump, the camera acts accordingly, and with the glider, its just a blast overlooking the landscape from up high. The boats sadly, is like a faster form of tedious running, nothing special but gets the job done. Control-wise, it is structurally sound, except no matter how much I fiddle with the analog sensitivity, looking up and down is slow compared to looking left and right.

Mission Structure: Missions are almost uniformly the same, which is travel to target, and then proceed to kill/disable/or destroy said target, but the locales are diverse enough so monotony does not set in. Furthermore, the option to take a second path via one of your "Buddies" (who are people you encounter or save and then become a contact) changes up the formula enough to keep the fun going.

Story: The story is relatively straightforward, yet above other cookie-cutter stories that accompany most shooters due to the dialog from NPC's and a few plot twists which won't disclose so that you may figure them out for yourselves. There is also a nice injection of political commentary to make it socially viable, so if your reading this and are under 17, use this as an excuse for an "in depth" look at Africa's turmoil, so maybe your parents will be keen on buying it for you haha.

Sound: The sound is stunning, as someone who has gone to the shooting range a few times, I can safely say the guns sound good with a satisfying report, although enemy dialog can be a little repetitive at times. If you have a home theatre setup, this is the game to use in showing off your surround sound.

Graphics: for the size of the game, the graphics are pretty damn good, especially the lighting, I enjoyed walking through the jungle during the sunrise and letting the light peer through the shrubbery, pure graphical excellence. The varied environments are also nice, each showing strengths, such as the grass and rocks in the valley, the deserts worn paths, and the jungles thick trees and vines, I thought the water had nice effects on the surface, but not so much underwater, they relied to heavy on the murky effect. But what i appreciated the most graphically was fire and the effects that accompanied it, burn a little bit of dead grass, and it will spread far into the neighboring trees, and maybe onto some unsuspecting enemies.

Overall: If you are looking for a game that feels like a full package, then Far cry 2 should satisfy. While it isn't revolutionary over its predecessor, it has many improvements, and is still loads of fun.