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surfjungle
Reviews
Far Cry 2 (2008)
Great graphics and poor story does not a good game make
Sometimes fun but mainly boring, frustrating, stupid. Just some words which I would use to describe FC2.
Why? Well, lets examine the above in more detail.
Sometimes fun: Weapons are fun to use and there's lots to choose from. Battles are generally fun. The graphics are quite impressive. The vehicles handle well. Many characters to choose from. The environmental sound is good.
Boring: Driving, driving, driving and more driving or other transportation. Running through outposts, monotonously killing NPC's every time you have a mission is ridiculous. Music is above average but very repetitive. I noticed that if I fire my weapon, even when there's no enemies around, the music changes from "ambient" to "battle" - not terribly smart? Frustrating: There are good mixed points with the bad and it's hard to understand why the game irritates. At times I couldn't wait to finish it just to be done with it (I didn't even bother finishing it the first time). Other times I because quite engrossed with the gun fights, especially towards the end. Random save points around the area don't make sense as "quick save" can be used unless they server as a "reminder" to save. Voice dialogue is rushed and flat. I actually believe that I could do better.
Stupid: Everyone is out to kill you with the exception of truce zones which is silly. Outposts are respawned when you get a small distance from them. More time should have been spent integrating more flora and especially fauna into the maps. While this may have been a "decision" made by the director, it made the game feel awfully two dimensional. It makes no sense hear monkeys but never to see them. The story is just plain terrible. Basically it assumes one believes the following: "Africa is a mostly terrible place", then proceeds to treat the player like a moron with a story that actually bests "Half-Life full life consequences" (google / youtube it). While I understand that it's an FPS there's no elaboration on characters, people, places, history, future, psychology etc which is especially needed for non-linear games. It's so paper thin, it's transparent. Each scheme devised by an NPC is more hairbrained than the previous. The reputation, journal, jackal tapes etc become so peripheral to the game because of the lack of immersion, they become rarely checked. Buddy missions sometimes don't get you anything but increased history with a corpse - waste of time (apologies for the morbidity but where's the "fun"? Genearal: Because of the above, this game feels half finished. Two more years sorting it's negative points would have seen a much better game hit the shelves. This game is a big step up in many ways from "Boiling Point" - it even has some attributes such as guns jamming, weather changing etc. However, the missions in Boiling Point were better thought out from what I can remember as well as the story (and that's not saying much). It falls down in many of the same areas - boring repetitive gameplay, travelling everywhere with everyone out to kill you and all the time, while you play the game, you feel like time is being wasted - an eternal and unsated search for the "fun" in the game.
Gameplay: There's something to be said for linear gameplay - the Half-Life series is a great example of how a linear game can have excellent gameplay (and with oodles of multiplayer potential). Regarding non-linear gameplay, Fallout is a very good example - giving players freedom but making the game so much fun with immersive environments - basically succeeding nearly everywhere FC2 failed). Now, I know the latter is more of an RPG game, but there is no excuse ignoring what makes a game fun - not just guns and explosions and why FC1 had less story, it was linear and managed to be much more fun, for reasons outside the scope of this review. Sadly, FC2 doesn't come close to the juggernauts that are Half-Life or Fallout. While FC2 probably wasn't in development as long, it certainly was worked on for at least two years. One has to ask themselves, where was all the time spent? Unfortunately, it feels like the time was spent prettifying dawn and dusk.
Few games will actually make me sit up and write a review - this is surely one of them. If mediocre games like this are released and accepted, it's a sad day for the FPS. For the frustration it caused me and the feeling that I wasted time playing it, my verdict has to be spend the money elsewhere, and avoid another mindless GTA'esqe, albeit pretty game.
The Contract (2006)
A reputation ruiner...
This movie is a reputation ruiner if ever I saw one. I got it for a laugh with a friend of mine as it was either this or Bobby and I wasn't in the mood for that kind of film.
The plot makes little sense. The word "bland" comes to mind when thinking about the majority of the film (including the music). The climax was a non-event. The characters were a paper thin joke - parodies of bad guys. The actions and motivations behind the characters are not ill thought out, they're just plain not thought out. I could give examples of the above but that would be an indulgent waste of my time.
Not even Freeman and Cusack could carry this tub o' glub and come through it clean. The filters/cgi were fairly bad too - making things look so surreal at times, one ended up wondering if they were in a studio or out in the woods - completely negating anything engaging as one's concentration was elsewhere.
One of the must utterly stupid parts of the movie - as my friend kept ranting on about - was the part where Cusack and that whiner moron who was finally shut up by a bullet were dismantling the bridge over the "stones deposited by a glacier" section of terrain. What purpose did this serve if not to just waste time - I don't suppose that it occurred to them that the bad guys could have just walked around? Thats just what they did - did I see a single ankle sprain? - no. We have a word for that sorta story here in Ireland - its called "Ufasach" (dreadful).
The only redeeming features of this "movie" was Dante Spinotti's photography (at least in places) and some of the scenery that didn't look cgi'd.
If you want to subject yourself to a "better" punishment than this - go watch the latest Van Damme movie.