That said Far Cry 2 is actually pretty amazing. I had no idea that they were going with an open world setting for the sequel, essentially making this a FPS Sandbox style title, and it works surprisingly well. The other aspect of Far Cry 2 that I enjoy is how satisfying most of the firefights you'll get engaged in feel, especially since you can typically plan your attack, even setting up the time of day you want to assault an enemy encampment, along with scouting ahead for certain areas or ways of springing surprises on the militia men that you'll encounter. The whole thing really feels reminiscent of something I'd see in Rambo 2 or 3, which in my opinion makes the entire experience all that much better.

The storyline of Far Cry 2 doesn't hold up quite as well as the actual gameplay, but it's still decent for the most part, but I don't think many will pay too much attention to the details provided. The idea is that you're a hired merc that's been brought into the country to take down a big time arms dealer named "The Jackal" (not Bruce Willis), but you're quickly stricken with a big time bout of Malaria, and laid low long enough for The Jackal to actually track you down. Fighting in the village you're trying to recover in brings you out of your daze long enough to meet one of the factions involved in the various battles going on around you, which then sets you off into the actual world of Far Cry 2.

The area you get to toy around in is definitely large, and while it's hard to compare it to other open world titles like Saints Row 2 or Mercenaries 2, playing the entire game in First Person view really drives home the setting, and helps to nail that open world feel for me. Early on the game will introduce you to the basic mechanics behind battle and keeping your character healed (you get to select from 9 different characters in the beginning), including the ability to drive various vehicles spread out along the land to get you from point A to point B quickly. You'll also gain safe houses, and buddies that you can often team up with to take down particular targets. Gaining these friends will provide other bonuses as well, as long as you build up enough of a rapport with them by gaining reputation points for performing certain tasks that they'll often ask of you.

The game provides you with a map that allows you to plot out some of the roads and areas before going in to take out a certain mission, but there are still plenty of surprises and unexpected encounters you'll run into along the way. The best laid plans can easily by upset by wandering factions or rebel members, so you'll want to keep a close eye out for small roaming parties in the jungle areas. That said, it's not particularly difficulty to take down the unarmored and unorganized random bad guys around the map, but you'll find that when you're trying to assault the bases that your typical run and gun tactics will not work quite as well. Scouting ahead for weapon caches and other areas you can either ignite or explode will serve you well, and it'll help to thin the herd a bit so you can get in and finish off whatever your current objective is.

There's no auto healing or regeneration in the game either, which I think adds a nice sense of realism to the world around you. Instead you'll need to acquire some basic meds to boost your health back up, but if you let things go too far you might need to reset some broken fingers, an arm, or even extract a bullet or two. Also, you'll be trying to recover from Malaria throughout the campaign, so you'll constantly need the appropriate meds to help you recover. If you begin to get too sick, you'll be able to tell by the color of the screen changing to a yellowish tint, with the border area beginning to phase out. It doesn't happen enough to make it an annoyance, but it'll be definitely be something you have to take care of now and again.

Visually, it's just as impressive as you might have suspected, and while I'm sure the PC holds the benchmark for all the versions, my time with the Xbox 360 port definitely left me impressed with what I saw. The various environments all stand out from one other, and the real time passing of days lends itself to some impressive vistas depending on your location. Character models are all animated extremely well, and thankfully they don't adopt that bulky Unreal 3 style of character that so many shooters have nowadays.

The music is pretty solid, following along with a theme to match the environment and local, and when you're riding around in vehicles you can pick up on whatever radio station is currently tuned in, which could feature propaganda speeches from either faction in the game, or some type of local music. It's not GTA or Saint's Row, but it works well enough in the environment you're playing around in.

The game offers a hefty amount of weaponry that you'll come across over time, and it even offers a money system by collecting diamonds that you'll either earn for jobs or find in various locations around the map. Diamonds allow you to purchase upgrades and brand new weapons, which are always going to be better than the ones you'll pick off of dead soldiers. The used weapons you find around towns and enemies can degrade over time, and will often jam up during a firefight, adding another light touch of realism to the game that I really enjoyed. You can have up to 4 weapons equipped at a time, with different types like rifles, pistols, rocket/grenade launchers and so on, along with tossed weapons like grenades and Molotov cocktails. There's quite a bit to see and gain access to from the shops as well, and you'll often want to change out your arsenal depending on the mission you've decided to tackle.

I really, really enjoyed Far Cry 2, and I was happy to see that it's a pretty far departure from the formula of the first title. The open world environment is absolutely beautiful at times, and the little touches in the game really help to heighten the sense that you're in a real world setting. Firefights are often satisfying and strategic, requiring a bit of a thought before just jumping in, and while the online mode supports 16 players and only offers some industry standard game types, the map creator that comes with every version of the game is a lot of fun to toy around with, and hopefully gives the MP some legs in this busy holiday season. Definitely worth checking out, and hopefully it won't be overlooked in the wake of all the high profile titles being released this month.