Far Cry 2 - First Look Preview

Where we left the Far Cry series last Jack Carver, and his damsel in distress (although with a modern independent woman slant) Val, had escaped to safety and were cured of that mutagen thing. So, where now for Jack? Well, that's certainly not something that's going to be answered in Far Cry 2 as it swaps the archipelago in Micronesia for the African Savannah, and Jack Carver for a whole new lead character. As far as we know, Jack Carver is sipping cocktails on a tropical island somewhere (without the mutants) with Val gazing adoringly into his anti-hero, tortured eyes - what a life.

Anyway, Crytek are long gone now (currently at work on Crisis) so Ubisoft have put the series into the safe hands of their in-house guys, Ubisoft Montreal. I'm sure the question on everybodies lips is: 'Have they captured the open world, attack a situation in whichever way you please, design of the gaming environment?' From what we could garner in our first look, the answer is a very resounding yes, and then some...

But, before we get to that, perhaps a little back-story for Far Cry 2 is in order. As mentioned, the fighting takes place in the African Savannahs (although there are also some classic Far Cry jungle environments in parts as well). You take on the role of a mercenary whose goal is to mop-up any job opportunities from a civil war going on in a failed African state. The state is in a dire condition due to a corrupt diamond trade (hmm... sounds familiar. Who could the fictional corrupt diamond company be called? We think it should be Van Lagers). Your ultimate goal in the game is to kill the Jackal - the head honcho and puppet master at the centre of it all.

You get to him by taking on various missions and objectives for the two main factions that are vying for power in the civil war. You'll also meet a load of characters throughout the game that you can interact and complete missions with. We saw one of these 'buddies' called Marty in the demo and he gives you some handy advice before helping you out on an objective (and subsequently reviving you once you eat a bit too much lead). These 'buddies' follow you throughout a game and you actually create a relationship with them where they'll react differently to you based on your actions.

Of course, it wouldn't quite be Far Cry without the trusty hand glider, and by gum you're going to need it as the Far Cry 2 gaming world is an impressive 50 kilometres square in size - that's pretty darn big! Ubisoft Montreal is still unsure as to whether it's going to have any loading screens in the gargantuan map but, either way, a world that large is a fairly humbling achievement in any sandbox style game, let alone an FPS title. Hats-off to the Ubisoft guys for sure.

Not only is it huge - it also looks incredibly good. The Savannahs are full of lush grassland and tress that have been created using Ubisoft Montreal's Real Tree engine. This maps the physics of individual branches and leaves on a tree. Shoot up at an arboreal giant and you'll see each part of it react differently to the bullets that pass through it. Strong winds will blow branches off and send them rolling across the plains and it's all completely unscripted and simulated in real time by the Real Tree engine. Speaking of the weather, the Montreal team has also created an impressive weather system that revolves around a 24 hour day/night cycle. It'll send storms rolling in and reacts to the mood of the story (e.g. if something pretty bad happens, expect rain) in order to create an atmospheric (ignore the cringe worthy pun) game world.

This environment is given extra realism by the advanced, sandbox styled AI that's constantly active around you. Faction members will move around of their own accord, lighting fires when they're camping and then kicking them out before they go to sleep. The bases dotted around the map are also alive with random events and, left to their own devices, factions and their soldiers will seem to live out fairly convincing lifestyles in a war torn African Savannah. Faction members react realistically to combat situations as well and they'll flee pretty quickly when they're outgunned, flock to the aid of their fallen comrades and jump in a jeep to actively pursue you. All of this is completely unscripted by the way, providing what can very genuinely be described as sandbox FPS gameplay (a phrase that should not be used lightly). Obviously, our lack of any hands on experience means that we can't be sure how reliable this AI is, but it seemed fairly convincing from the demo at least.

Ubisoft Montreal are clearly focusing on the features that made Far Cry great, such as the ability to attack a combat situation in any way you want. They're of the opinion that it was the first part of Far Cry 1 that was the best - before mutants started popping up all over the place - so there'll be no otherworldly sci-fi experiments going on in the sequel. Instead, the pure focus of Far Cry 2 is on that dilemma between stealth, and heavy weaponry/all guns blazing.

If you choose stealth, you'll have the freedom to scope out a situation, observing guards patrolling a compound to see their positions. Then you can smoke them out with a tactically positioned fire (started with your trusty lighter). Once they come flooding out you can pop a couple of them in the thighs, watch as their comrades come to help them, and then chuck a grenade from your unseen position to take them all out.

If you choose the deranged maniac with some munitions approach, you can fire off some RPGs from afar to start some panic and confusion, charge in with an assault rifle and finish them off at close range with a sub-machine gun. Conversely, you could simply drive a truck into the heart of a camp, fire a rocket at an ammo pile (which will explode rather dramatically) and watch the chain reaction of carnage as gas canisters start flying off in all directions.

Speaking of the array of weaponry on offer in Far Cry 2, the developers really have come out all guns blazing (another cringer - sorry!) to provide astounding detail for the munitions in the game. If you fire a RPG against a wall at close range it will actually bounce off it before spiralling away in the opposite direction and arming (as RPGs typically arm shortly after they're fired). All in all, there are over 30 weapons in the game, each of which has been lovingly recreated with their own foibles and upsides. For example, high-tech weaponry with lots of moving parts is more likely to jam in the sandy, abrasive environments. Conversely, the legendary AK47 (a favourite with Guerrilla combatants due to its simplicity) is incredibly reliable due to the fact that it's basically bullets, a barrel, a spring and some casing. However, the trade off comes in the form of accuracy - an FNFAL, for example, will be much more accurate than the AK47.

As for the multiplayer features, Ubisoft Montreal isn't showing us their hand quite yet. What we have been told is that they want to give the multiplayer that mercenary feel, just like in the single player game. Simply tagging on a capture the flag or deathmatch isn't enough for the Ubisoft Montreal guys apparently - let's just hope their hand holds four aces.