Cry freedom

It's the sheer scale that gets you. 50 square kilometers of African landscape, from wide-open savannahs to dense jungles and rickety shanty towns; climb up on high ground and you can see for miles. And in Far Cry 2 it's all open, it's all there for you to explore - there's no linear storyline here, no frustratingly blocked off sections. You're free to do as you please. And in Far Cry 2, that means kill or be killed.

The action kicks off in an unnamed state, where the economy has collapsed, taking democracy and social order with it. At the start of Far Cry 2, you chose from a selection of deadbeat, vicious-looking mercenaries then head straight into the warzone, hired by a mysterious employer to take out an arms dealer named The Jackal. This guy is a monster, stirring up tribal squabbles so he can flog his wares to the highest bidders. It's time to shut this shop down.

Working for the man

From here, your aim is to learn more about the two key militia gangs presented in Far Cry 2 - The United Front for Liberation and Labour (UFLL) and the Alliance for Popular Resistance (APR). Carrying out missions for these dangerous outfits represents the meat of the game - it's up to you who you work for and how. One minute you'll be assassinating a police chief, the next you're raiding some remote military compound.

Far Cry 2 also offers dozens of side-missions. You can do dodgy tasks for the local gun-runners to earn new weapons, or carry out jobs for the locals to claim malaria pills. Yes, you have malaria and its queasy presence is always at the back of your mind as you head out into the bush on yet another kill mission with little hope of medical help if the sweats come on.

The beauty of Far Cry 2 is this: the way you approach every mission is up to you. If you're raiding an enemy base, you can scout around it, find a high point and just snipe at targets, or drive straight through the gates and blast away like a mercenary possessed. The game also features a realistic day and night cycle, plus real-time weather effects - some missions are best left to a dark, foggy night, rather than blazing sunshine...

Fire starter, twisted fire starter

Combat is furious, incredibly tense and hugely satisfying. Though you start off with basic weapons, soon meaty shotguns, mortars and flamethrowers come your way. Enemy AI is challenging - soldiers will dive for cover or try to surround you, but they'll also make mistakes and lose you if you move around with care and stealth. At times, the environment can be used as the ultimate weapon - Far Cry 2's realistic fire propagation system means you can set fire to the bushes near an enemy building and watch as the wind turns your blaze into a raging inferno, taking out your targets in one red hot swoop.

And behind it all is the stunning scenery. Far Cry 2 is a living world filled with wild animals and diverse, swaying vegetation. Wandering around, you happen across amazing vistas, the landscapes sometimes bathed in mists, sometimes speckled with bright sunshine.

But the political world you inhabit is far murkier. You don't have to play by the rules and do what the faction chiefs tell you. Throughout the game you'll meet fellow mercenaries who you can team up with to complete missions - but they'll often add their own shady objectives to the mix. Far Cry 2 is a game about trust and treachery - and, believe us, the latter is in far greater supply.

Unfortunately, in the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Far Cry 2, save points are few and far between, which means you may end up having to repeat many minutes of gameplay. The first hour or so is a chore, with under-powered weapons and a very steep learning curve. Oh, and the many armed checkpoints dotted around the landscape - which fulfil a similar (and similarly frustrating) role as random monster encounters in Japanese RPGs - get tiring pretty quickly.

Far in front

But Far Cry 2 is so fascinating, so ambitious and so entertaining it really is unmissable. From frenzied gunfights to moments of sublime visual majesty, it has everything.

And it doesn't end once you've fought through the 30-40 hours of single-player action. There's a decent range of multiplayer maps and modes (nothing fancy, just the usual deathmatch and capture the flag variants), plus an intuitive map editor that you might actually use rather than stare at with bewildered incomprehension. Last year, Ubisoft Montreal pushed the technology barriers back with Assassin's Creed - now it has pretty much knocked them over. It is your duty to discover Far Cry 2 for yourself.

GAME's Verdict

• Amazingly lifelike environment.
• Brilliant sandbox game design.
• Compelling missions and tense combat.

• Lack of save points in console versions.
• Checkpoint battles can get boring.
• Takes an hour or so to get going.

Review by: Keith 'Tarzan' Stuart
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 24.10.08