Far Cry 2 [X360]

There have been plenty of shooters with awesome graphics, unique settings, smart AI, open worlds, or fancy physics. But there hasn't been a shooter that has all of these things. Until now. Far Cry 2 is the next step in the evolution of first-person shooters. Like Half-Life before it, this is a game that puts you into a world and does everything in its power to make you forget it's a game.

But before we get too carried away with the praise, a bit of perspective is in order: Far Cry 2 is a shooter. It's not an RPG, it's not a Grand Theft Auto-style world simulator, it's not a stealth game, it's not a tactical military sim, and it's not a floor cleaner or a dessert. It's a game about cool firefights in exotic locations. Think Blood Diamond meets African Queen meets gun porn. The bottom line is the act of shooting and being shot at. Repeat as often as necessary.

Far Cry 2 opens with you coming to Africa to assassinate an arms dealer. After the obligatory "tram ride" sequence -- in this case a taxi trip from the airport to your hotel -- everything suddenly goes south. You're ambushed by malaria, men with guns, and even the guy you're supposed to assassinate. So much for a quick job. Now you're stuck in a foreign country with no friends and no weapons. You change that by doing missions on behalf of warring factions, merchants, the church, and fellow mercenaries, earning guns and friends as you go, and unlocking new missions as you freely roam a wide swathe of Africa, by car, jeep, and sputtering riverboat.

This isn't really an action movie game. It doesn't feature balls-to-the-wall pacing like Call of Duty 4. Nor is it a spooky story-driven game like BioShock. It's got a very measured pace. If there's an analog to Far Cry 2, it would be an art house thriller, maybe with subtitles and no-one famous, maybe something made in Australia or by a North Carolina film school student. A lot of the game is driving from place to place and considering how to do what you're about to do. You'll drive to the armory to get new guns, then park at the base of a hill, then climb up the hill, and then scout out your objective with a telescope. The soundtrack is eerie and understated, recalling something by Clint Mansell or The Dirty Three. There's the sound of the wind in the grass. The sunlight almost literally dances through the trees. Sometimes the rain comes.

It's beautiful and mostly serene. This usually hushed corner of Africa is curiously unpopulated by anyone but zebras and soldiers (the rare civilians tend to be huddled in back rooms), so anyone you meet on the road is worth shooting at. There's a Mad Max vibe here, much more so than Fallout 3, this holiday's main pretender to the world of Mad Max. Far Cry 2 is a stark, lovely, and vast place on the verge of exploding into flames and gunfire.

When the shooting starts, it can play out a lot of different ways. There's plenty of variation in terms of your objectives, rewards, and methods. Some missions play out in the open, some take place in byzantine shantytowns. Some missions lend themselves to sniping in broad daylight, some to close quarters night stalking. Some missions earn you new weapons, some earn you friends, some earn you anti-malaria medicine, and some just earn you new missions. The AI is clever and dynamic, meaning that gunfights rarely play the same way twice. For a game that's ultimately about shooting, Far Cry 2 is imaginative and generous.

The hearty gunplay is built around weapons that break down. There are plenty of run-down guns for the taking, but they're more prone to jamming or even exploding when you fire them. You're better off buying new guns, which break down less frequently and can be upgraded by also buying field manuals. But there's always an element of uncertainty, which is a fairly brave move for a shooter. Conflict diamonds are currency, earned as rewards from the country's warring factions, but also scattered around the countryside where you can find them using a tracking device. The diamond hunting is similar to something you'd do in a Zelda game, digging up rupees with your cute little shovel. But here you're using a primitive tracking device similar to what Javier Bardem used in No Country for Old Men.

The overarching concept of Far Cry 2 is to never take you out of the game. You're always looking through your character's eyes. You'll never look down from a third person view, even when you're in a vehicle. Maps aren't separate screens, but actual 3D objects you hold in your virtual hand. Menus are few and far between. The HUD elements like ammo counts and health bars are minimal, and they only come up when you're injured or low on ammo. Even navigating the wide-open world is based on following signs on the road and a portable GPS system you carry with you. The objective of Far Cry 2 as a game is to get out of the way and let you experience the game world. And there is no other game world quite like this one: haunting, spectacular, meditative, explosive, violent, and serene, all at once, and all in a mere shooter.