Far Cry 2 - Multiplayer Preview

There are no less than four previews of Far Cry 2 up on TVG, all of which have awarded Ubisoft's virile shooter the hallowed Pre-Order Now!! anticipation rating. The final hurdle was multiplayer, as we sat down for a hands on session and our first look at the fun that'll be gracing Xbox Live, PSN, and PC lobbies everywhere towards the end of this month. To our delight, we found a multiplayer game that's perfectly balanced on the head of a pin.

Vegas With A Twist

There's something distinctly Rainbow Six: Vegas about Far Cry 2's multiplayer setup. Its game modes, soldier classes, and XP system all have elements of Ubisoft Montreal's other triple A shooter, but all have been given a Far Cry 2 twist of lemon, making them that bit sharper in the process. XP, for example, is simplified down to accruing diamonds as you tally up XP from kills, executions, and revives. Once you've earned a diamond, you can then attribute it to a single soldier class, which opens up more weapons and explosives for that class.

What puts extra emphasis on this system is that there are absolutely no weapons on the multiplayer maps, limiting players to the inventory of their class. Ammo is available at certain points (and can also be sabotaged/exploded), but that's your lot for pickups. This map setup may not be original in FPS multiplayer games, but it works particularly well in Far Cry 2 when you add the game's other features into the mix.

For example, the propagating fire dynamics (which allow flames to spread through African Savannah both rapidly and according to wind direction) make the Rebel soldier class' entry weapon (a flamethrower) very attractive. What's more, the choice of stealth or all-out destruction in the single-player campaign is alive and kicking in the multiplayer game as well. It forms a crucial strategic element as you chose between the six classes (Commando, Sharpshooter, Guerrilla, Rebel, Gunner, and Saboteur), making you think hard about where to place the diamonds that you've fought so hard for.

Let's say you opt for the Commando class, which comes with a pretty bland weapon set at the entry level. A few tooth and nail kills will eventually earn you a diamond though, and this can be used to unlock the grenade launcher - a weapon that's an absolute beast against the fully destructible environments and volatile gas tanks that tend to pepper the maps. However, you'll also find plenty of cover or high ground in these large maps, which makes stealth and sniping a very alluring option too.

Two stealth class options are on offer: Sharpshooter and Saboteur. We choose the latter for our hands on and quickly went to work with what we thought was a piercing sniper rifle. As we became confused that none of our headshots were causing instant death, a Ubisoft rep pointed out that we were using a tranquilizer dart gun (for elephants) that would do little more than make enemies a bit woozy. Our only other weapon was a silenced pistol and one Molotov cocktail, so we had to work pretty hard to get the first diamond. Once we had smuggled one though, the classy weapons came in thick and fast, including a silenced MP5, remotely detonated explosives, and a mean looking assault rifle with scope.

We became pretty deadly with these improved weapon options, darting behind enemies weighed down with rocket launchers and swiftly dispatching them, or setting booby traps in front of our team's base in Far Cry 2's take on capture the flag. Capture the Diamond is just capture the flag with diamonds and joins the team and free-for-all deathmatches as the game's bog standard multiplayer modes. The trump card mode is Uprising, which is a fairly innovative blend of base capturing and VIP modes. This team based mode places three control points on each map, all of which have to be captured by the team leader (this is where the VIP elements come in) before that team can go after the opposition's leader. If they manage to kill the other leader while retaining all three control points, then they win the game.

Licking Your Wounds

Uprising certainly adds something original to the mix. It's a mode where the momentum can quickly shift from one team to another, while good communication and team work are not only an advantage in controlling all three bases - they're a necessity. We'd have preferred there to be a few more than four modes in Far Cry 2's multiplayer offerings, but there's still plenty of variation here even with only three run-of-the-mill modes and one crossbreed. The finely balanced trade-offs between stealth and assault, Far Cry 2's propagating fire master class, gun toting cars and boats that can be commandeered, as well as a health system that's spot-on ensure this.

This health system is a tweaked version of the health setup in the single-player game, where med packs can be used to bolster your cells of health on the HUD's meter. Each time you use a med pack, you're treated to a canned animation of your character injecting themself or removing a bullet from their thigh etc. The difference in multiplayer games is that, as with the weapons, there are no health pickups on the maps. Instead, whenever your health is running low you can press the left bumper button to restock on health after being treated to one of these canned animations. This freezes your movement in the game world until the bullet or shrapnel removal is complete, and we usually got finished off by an opportunistic foe before the healing was done.

Just like a wounded dog, you have to find a secluded place and lick your wounds after a fire-fight to stand any chance of long-term survival. Healing in broad daylight will make you very easy pickings for up to 16 other players - any snipers in the vicinity will have you for dinner. This makes for a health system that's actually surprisingly well balanced and produces a more frantic pace to the multiplayer game than med packs would have done. There's also a Gears of War style bleed-out mechanic, allowing team members to revive you within 15-odd seconds of a critical injury.

We had a good look at the map editor during our preview session and it certainly looks more than capable of giving gamers what they want. It's accessible for a start. Anybody who's played management games such as Theme Park, The Movies, or Tropico should be able to get to grips with the interface without too much initiation (you certainly won't need a manual the size of Das Kapital to get acquainted with it). All the buildings and objects available in the editor are just as destructable as they are in the standard maps (that means unstable huts, explosive canisters, and branches snapping off trees); you can introduce water features by varying the height of the water table, and Far Cry's trusty hang glider can be placed atop a lofty peak of your design. You can even speed up the game's day/night cycle to make maps that pass through dusk as a session progresses.