Far Cry vs 2 vs 3

[lakedude]

FC1, Loved it!

Pros: Big wonderful open world with the freedom to do things many different ways from being stealthy to going in guns blazing. Boats and land vehicles were easy to control. As in any shooter you kill way more people than you ever could in real life but you have a plausible reason for tactical advantage, the mad scientist chipped everybody! Makes them easy to keep track of with the binoculars. I found the story to be good. Sure the mutants were a bit over the top but I liked it. Kicked the action up a notch. Boss fights were with normal weapons not stupid Quick Time Events. No stupid hoppy-jumpy crap.

Cons: No save options [EDIT] but all the auto saves are kept so you could go back in time if needed [/EDIT]. Colors were a bit too "postcard", [EDIT] but you had your choice of several render options that changed the look of things to be more or less realistic, there is even a cartoon option! [/EDIT]

FC2, took a couple days but LOVED IT after the learning curve.

Pros: Grapics were very nice and colors were realistic. Looks just like a picture! Huge open sandbox with lots of freedom to do things your way and save when you want. Did you notice that the star field was a real star field? You could tell which way was north by looking at the stars! How awesome is that? Boats and land vehicles were easy to control. No stupid hoppy-jumpy crap or QTE crap. Weapons were based on real weapons and there was no fighting stupid space aliens or mutants. Minimal on screen HUD to maximize immersion. You could walk for miles or take a bus if you wanted to travel a distance. The 24 hour clock and changing weather was awesome. Doing missions in the dark was a must if you were trying to be stealthy. Loved the flare gun for starting fires from a long way off...

Cons (reported by media): The malaria was annoying but it was part of humanitarian side missions so it added something. The aging guns were actually realistic. All you had to do is go to the weapons store and get new (clean) weapons before each mission. The weapons load-outs took some trial and error (or internet searching) to get the hang of. Several of us were confused the first time we went to the arms dealer (when you don't really talk to the arms dealer, just use the computer). Traveling bothered a lot of players, especially when cleared checkpoints called in reinforcements (re-spawn) but again that is somewhat realistic. In real life areas do not stay clear of enemy unless you occupy the area with your own force to keep it secure.

FC3 I know FC3 cured some of the issues from FC2 but honestly I didn't like FC3 much at all.

Pros: Turning the map green by taking over enemy locations was the best part of the game. You have freedom to do things your own way while clearing the red flags. Good fun! You are not shooing stupid aliens or mutants. Wildlife is cool.

Cons: OMG I don't even know were to start. The colors are terrible, worse than FC1. You can't save anytime you would actually want to. You can only save once [EDIT] what I mean is that there is only one (maybe 2?) save slot(s) [/EDIT] and only when nothing is going down [EDIT] meaning you can't save during an active mission [/EDIT]. Stupid hoppy-jumpy tower climbing. Stupid QTE during boss fights. Taking towers out so that your map works is just silly, it would have have been more logical if you fixed the towers to enable your map. Why exactly do you have an interactive map? Why exactly can you tag and track with the camera? Looooong cut-scenes you can't skip no matter how many times you have seen them. Save is not really save, you just kinda get back to the same area. Checkpoints are not saves so if you turn you computer off you must duplicate much of your work. Why can you fast travel (in FC2 you took a bus)? No freedom during many of the main missions. You are locked in to a specific duty like gunning while someone else drives or driving while someone else guns or guarding a specific area or person. Vehicles have no traction and skid out making them annoying to drive, boats are a bit better. Pop up commands were helpful but took away the wonderful immersion that FC2 had. You really felt like you were playing a silly game in FC3 as opposed to feeling like you were there in FC2. People whined about checkpoints respawing in FC2 but in FC3 the wildlife respawns and the wildlife can kill you quicker than the enemy! The weather change is very abrupt. [EDIT] Enemy is blind as a bat even in full daylight (in FC2 you did missions in the dark if you wanted stealth, in FC3 you are all but invisible if you crouch down and don't kill anyone, even in broad daylight). [/EDIT]



I'm sure there is more but that is enough for now...

 

[Childs]

I tried playing FC2 this past weekend and I couldnt get into it. The malaria is lame. The checkpoints wouldnt bother me that much, but all the roads are in ravines so you can't avoid them. In FC3 I would just take off across the map, but in FC2 you get funneled into checkpoint after checkpoint. If they didnt shoot at my car I wouldnt mind as much, but I'd get into a firefight, kill them all, fix my car, go another 100 yards, then start the whole process all over again. Sprint too much and malaria kicks in. The game is just so tedious.

I didnt play long enough for weapon jamming to become an issue, but why not carry a cleaning kit so you can clean your gun every once in awhile. It also seemed like bad guys would just spawn out of nowhere. You couldnt even just drive by the bases, because there was some rubberband AI and they could catch up to you, even though they werent in cars when you passed them.

Not to mention the game is really buggy. I spent the first 30-60 minutes trying to wake up after you escape the first town. The scripted events are broken in several places. And you keep bringing up real life, but this game is no where near realistic. You dont fix bullet holes in a radiator with a socket wrench, or find diamonds using gps/diamond detector. And Africa isnt a series of interconnected ravines.

I definitely appreciate the changes they made in FC3. Even though FC3 was a more linear story, it actually felt like there was more freedom. I'm looking forward to the patch that resets the bases. That way I can just roam around with all my signature weapons and try different ways to take down bases. I have no interest in playing story mode again. Hopefully the next Far Cry game will have a less Hollywood style QTE mega action COD-esque single player campaign like in FC3, but maintain the freedom and core game mechanics in FC1 and FC3. I wouldnt mind FC4 simply being most of FC3's game play back in the African setting. I did like that in FC2 you got to pick who you are, and what gameplay decisions you choose effect your story.

Maybe what I want is FC1/Crysis without mutants, aliens, or nano suits. Just let me be a merc roaming the countryside kicking people's asses.

 

[gorcorps]

My biggest issue with FC2 was they started sacrificing fun for realism. Everything you mentioned that made sense to you sucks in the game world. I play shooters to escape reality, not duplicate it. The breaking guns, breaking cars, malaria, etc all screwed up the game for me. It wasn't fun, it was really damn annoying.

FC3 is much better in terms of fun. Who cares about why you can fast travel? You can walk to that spot so it's just a way to cut out the walking you have to do. If you want the realism back then walk everywhere.

 

[Stringjam]

FarCry2 is one of my favorite FPSs in life. I loved the environment - and honestly I'm pretty tired of tropical island games. I was really hoping FC3 would be back in Africa.

It seems to me like Ubi put a lot more effort into FC2. There was a lot more interesting architecture and less stuff being reused. The town up in the canyon was just gorgeous.

The AI in FC2 was way better than FC3. They had a lot more behaviors, models, and scripts. NPC's would help each other if one of them got injured, and they would also try to crawl behind cover if they got shot and wait for you to come by. There also wasn't a bunch of noob indicators all over the hud like FC3.

I don't remember how many times I would get in a firefight and some group of NPCs would come run me down from behind in a jeep. The AI navigation was very good in this game, and they would cover quite a distance to get to you.

I still enjoyed playing FC3, but I wasn't glued to my computer like I was during the FC2 campaign.

 

[lavaheadache]

I thought Far Cry 2 sucked until I figured out how useful the buses were. Once I started using the buses I began to have a lot of fun. I still took the time to make my way across the country side but it was nice to have the option to get a lot closer fast with the buses. Sometime even the buses were far enough away to make it a journey to get there.

 

[lakedude]

So yeah the malaria on FC2 sucked but then so does getting eaten by a tiger or other wild animal on FC3.

The bus on FC2 took some time to find and the bus station closest to the center town does not show up on the map, but you figure it all out eventually. To me that was the fun of it. The game was difficult at first because of all the things you don't know but after a while you learn how to get where you are going, keep your weapon "clean", how to get the jump on patrols, which weapons are effective and when to use each mode of transportation.

Having a good selection of weapons helps a ton. I like to carry the flare gun (to start fires), the PKM (lots of bullets, better range than shotgun), and the Dragunov (long range sniper). I also found the IED, and the m1903 useful. Late in the game the MGL-140 is just awesome but is a bit of a trade off since it ruins the "vehicle delivery system". When you have a sniper rifle the patrols are less of a nuisance and more like Enterprise Rent a Car but with the MGL-140 you might end up blowing up your transpo. The dart gun is cool but it wears out fast, does not have much ammo and it will not blow up propane tanks so I didn't use it much. I suspect the AS-50 is worth having but I've not used it much.

Maybe you need to be in Astronomy Club to appreciate the real star field in FC2?

 

[KaOTiK]

Loved FC1, hated FC2, enjoyed FC3.

You complain about the wildlife in FC3 yet it was really easy to deal with in multiple ways. The easiest solution was just make sure you carried a shotgun, that is all I did and would kill any wildlife in 1-2 shots with it. If I was wanting to be stealthy I used a syringe to either see where the wildlife was to avoid it or use the repellent to keep them away, you were giving multiple ways to deal with it. You are really going to complain about wildlife respawning and compare it to the shitty outposts respawning in FC2? First off, we don't know how many animals are in an area and can't see them all so it makes it more believable that there are more there, second you are given ways to deal with them as I explained above, third you can travel on the roads and avoid them 90% of time if you really want too, they also don't respawn when you run down the road for 30seconds and head back.

The vehicles handled pretty well I thought as well and were fun to drive. The save system is a bit goofy but not how you describe it either. You can save where ever and it will save your status/progress but when you load the game up you will be moved to the closes spot to where you logged out from that you have cleared out (safe house, town, radio tower), it sucks it doesn't load you right where you save at but it saves all your progress made still and normally doesn't put you far at all from where you were in most cases.

FC3 has its problems, but FC2 has its own as well and were much bigger making the game a far less fun experience. There's a reason most hate FC2.

 

[BlitzPuppet]

I liked FC1, hated FC2 but finished it anyways, Hated FC3 and uninstalled barely 1 hr into the game.

Just seemed like the same game as FC2 but in a tropical setting.

 

[lakedude]

You are really going to complain about wildlife respawning and compare it to the shitty outposts respawning in FC2?... they also don't respawn when you run down the road for 30seconds and head back.

Not to be picky but this is not as you describe. In FC2 reinforcements have nothing to do with time, they work on distance. If you stay in the area, a cleared checkpoint will stay clear indefinitely. If you leave the area reinforcements will arrive/respawn. If a checkpoint is near the center of a square you need to travel some distance to trigger a respawn. If a checkpoint is near the edge of a square you can trigger a respawn without much movement on your part and yes that is a bit annoying. Of course this is all marked on your map and is easy to deal with. You can usually just drive right by checkpoints and only a vehicle or two will follow you. Some checkpoints are a bit more tricky but that is part of the fun!

The save system is a bit goofy but not how you describe it either. You can save where ever and it will save your status/progress but when you load the game up you will be moved to the closes spot to where you logged out from that you have cleared out (safe house, town, radio tower), it sucks it doesn't load you right where you save at but it saves all your progress made still and normally doesn't put you far at all from where you were in most cases.

I have several issues with the save system in FC3. No saves are possible at all during "missions". Any attempt to save during a mission will generate a message saying that saves are not possible. Quick travel is also disabled during missions. During a mission you depend on "checkpoints" to save your progress but a checkpoint is not a full save. If you decide to quit playing right after a checkpoint your progress is not saved. Checkpoints only "save" if you don't exit the game. As I said, they are not true saves. I had trouble with the helicopter mission so gave up and went to bed. The checkpoint was on the airport with my friend right near the helicopter. When I came back to the game I was not at the helicopter, I was all the way back in camp and had to fight my way out of camp (again), get mortars shot at me (again), and fight my way back onto the airstrip (again).

There is only one (maybe 2) save slots. If you have goofed up and need to go back in time you can not. This was very annoying! One time I stocked up on all weapons before I went to see the crazy woman. I ended up getting all the weapons taken away. The next time I went to see her I didn't bother to stock up since she was "friendly" and since I'd lost all the weapons the previous time and I end up in a huge boss fight with crappy weapons and no way to just go back one save slot. Very annoying!

Oh and don't get too close to where you are going and change your mind about the way to approach the target. FC3 will accuse you of leaving the area and kill you for backing up a few steps!

On FC3 taking over the red flags was fun because many of the annoying problems are not encountered. Saves were possible, you could approach and withdraw if you wanted, you had freedom and that was nice. The main mission sucked IMO, YMMV.

 

[Anteaus]

I thought FC3 was good buy overrated. I generally liked all three but the second is my favorite (minus the malaria BS). Lakedude and I share many of the same criticisms. Another annoyance from FC3 is that the game in general feels "clunkier" than the others...if anyone understands what I mean. They put in all sorts of good ideas in there but some of it is arbitrary and also the game engine in general plays rough. Whether you're at 25 FPS or 60 FPS, the game feels a tad jerky. You can tell there are some console GPU optimizations left over in there.

None of these things make FC3 a bad game as a whole. I just feel that it doesn't qualify for the hype it recieved industry wide. I played about 5 hours and just walked away. Once you get burn through all the gimics the storyline just isn't good enough to deal with the BS save system.

...and those towers! WTF. I was getting Assassin's Creed flashbacks!

 

[lakedude]

Whether you're at 25 FPS or 60 FPS, the game feels a tad jerky. You can tell there are some console GPU optimizations left over in there.

I played FC3 on a laptop and assumed it was the laptop that made it jerky. It is jerky on a real system as well? I especially noticed this when I went from looking level to looking up to climb a tower (stupid hoppy-jumpy crap).

 

[Childs]

FC3 doesn't quite feel as smooth as it could be, a combo of graphics and mouse feeling.

The biggest gripe I think I had with FC3's gameplay was the HOLD E to loot, HOLD E to skin, HOLD E to pick up a weapon. Definitely a remnant from the console port, and for such a simple mechanic it got in the way quite a bit. Should have just been tap E, or let you rebind the different functions to different keys. Interface in general was clunky.

And I kinda liked the radio towers. It was a nice little zen moment. I think thats what was missing in FC2. FC2 just hassles you all the time. I rarely even drove in FC3, just took of running, enjoyed the scenery, then plotted how to take down a base. If I didnt feel like dealing with pirate patrols, I could simply cut across the map. I was rarely bothered by predators, because they warn you when they are around. I'm not much for hunting IRL, so after I got the requisite skins for the items I needed I simply avoided them. But the flamethrower, sniper rifle, SPAS-12 all made short work of the toughest predators.

In FC2, you're hassled when you drive, you're hassled when you run. You're hassled when you shoot your gun. Even finding that stupid bar was a pain in the ass, because you look on the map and its location is fairly straight forward, so you plan a route. Then when you get there you find out there is only one road in. I must have spent 30 min trying to walk my way, but again, they put it in a valley so there was only one way to get in there.

Part of it might have been I expected a freer experience in FC2, after playing FC1, Crysis 1, and FC3. FC3 was very strict when it came to missions (mission areas, QTE, scripted events), but it didn't bother me as much because I did story missions when there was nothing else to do in the area. FC2 is freer when dealing with missions, but more restrictive in every other way.

 

[lakedude]

So I agree with much of what Childs said...

In FC2, you're hassled when you drive, you're hassled when you run. You're hassled when you shoot your gun.

Once you get the lay of the land you learn to travel at night and avoid the clearly marked checkpoints (the beds control time and allow travel at night). If you look around there is typically a way to avoid blundering into a checkpoint. You listen for patrols and you get a "feel" for how to go places. There are a lot of "back ways" to do things that make life much easier.

In most cases taking a boat is a good way except in areas with boat patrols, like the police headquarters. Taking the bus avoids a lot of trouble as well.

Oh and don't ever take a defenseless car or slow defenseless fishing boat! Use vehicles with mounted weapons or the buggy is pretty cool as well. Walking away from roads is usually safe unless a sniper spots you. Walking at night is more safe.

Even finding that stupid bar was a pain in the ass, because you look on the map and its location is fairly straight forward, so you plan a route. Then when you get there you find out there is only one road in. I must have spent 30 min trying to walk my way, but again, they put it in a valley so there was only one way to get in there.

Yeah, I didn't like the land route to Mikes Bar so I took the water route. Much easier!

 

[Lonbjerg]

FarCry -> Crysis -> Crysis 2 -> Crysis 3

Seperate (and only related by name)

Farcry 2 -> FarCry 3

People seem to overlook this fact

 

[Childs]

FarCry -> Crysis -> Crysis 2 -> Crysis 3

Seperate (and only related by name)

Farcry 2 -> FarCry 3

People seem to overlook this fact

Far Cry 1, Crisis 1, Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3 are the same genre: open world first person shooter. There aren't many games in this genre, so its reasonable to directly compare them.

And I started to use the rivers after reading about it being the better way in the Steam Forum. And mounted guns make short work of the check points, but it was just annoying having to drive, switch seats, kill guys, repair vehicle, drive 1/4 mile, then repeat. My first buddy mission had like 5 checkpoints in between the mission stages. One cool thing about a part of the mission was I had make a guy change the rendezvous point. Once he did it, he begged for his life, but the game didnt care at that point, so I killed him. Didnt want to get backstabbed later on. Even if that wasnt going to factor in the game, I still liked that I could do it! Its annoying in modern games when they script it so much you might as well be watching a movie.

 

[lakedude]

FarCry -> Crysis -> Crysis 2 -> Crysis 3

Seperate (and only related by name)

Farcry 2 -> FarCry 3

People seem to overlook this fact

You are referring to who made the games? Crytek vs Ubi?

Or that FC2 and FC are related only by name from each other?

 

[Lonbjerg]

You are referring to who made the games? Crytek vs Ubi?

Yup...CryTek owns the engine....Ubisoft the "FarCry" IP.

They split up after Farcry.

 

[Sulaco]

I adored the original Far Cry.

Linear story-telling and progression, but excellent and refreshing open-ended approaches to every single objective. Which, in 2004, was pretty ground-breaking. Back doors, hidden areas, flanking positions, and of course, the massive islands with vehicles to drive freely around in. Very underrated FPS in the same year as Doom 3 and Half Life 2 stealing the spotlight.

I also enjoyed the AWFUL Euro 'engrish' voice acting (Who could forget: "How do you like THOSE apples! and "I'm gonna shoot you in the FACE!"and wonderfully bad B Horror Movie plot with the Trigens. It was so deliciously comedic despite trying to take itself seriously.

Crysis 1 was really the only spiritual successor (I Don't count the woeful Xbox/PS2 FC games), but I found its gameplay more tedious and forced with its over reliance on the suit power gimmicks. Just ruined the pacing of the game.

I generally enjoy sandbox games quite a bit, but FC1 still is the best at what it did.

 

[lakedude]

Crisis was cool but I didn't like the second half dealing with aliens.

Doom 3 with OpenGL looked nice but it was so very linear and the flashlight thing was just so annoying. In direct contrast with FC1 you had almost no freedom. You were going down hallways and corridors. A room was the biggest space you could hope for. Even where you were outside you were restricted big time. Of course this was somewhat necessary do to hardware limitations in the day but as you said FC1 was proof that open worlds were possible, even with hardware available in 2004.

 

[ThinClient]

FarCry 1 was amazingly good.

FarCry 2 was GTA:Africa. Fail. Hated it.

I learned my lesson with FC2 and refuse to buy or play FC3.

 

[gorcorps]

FarCry 1 was amazingly good.

FarCry 2 was GTA:Africa. Fail. Hated it.

I learned my lesson with FC2 and refuse to buy or play FC3.

I couldn't stand FC2 but really like FC3, so it may be worth it for you down the road once the price drops.

 

[ThinClient]

Principle says nope.

 

[lakedude]

FarCry 1 was amazingly good.

FarCry 2 was GTA:Africa. Fail. Hated it.

I learned my lesson with FC2 and refuse to buy or play FC3.

FC3 is nothing like FC2 so don't let that stop you.

I personally loved FC2 and hated GTA. One of my best friends loves GTA and is always trying to get me into it but I just hate it.

FC1 was great and it is too bad none of the subsequent games from Crytek or Ubi are as good (IMO). I'd like Crysis more if it were not for the aliens.

I'm playing FC1 again right now. It is just awesome, cept the graphics are looking a bit dated.