Far Cry 2 is one of, if not the, most promising first person shooter out this side of Christmas. Until now, all the focus has been on the game’s impressive single player mode, but yesterday, we got the chance to mosey on down to an African restaurant in London and get some extensive hands on time with the multiplayer portion of the game.

 

Far Cry 2 at launch will boast 4 multiplayer modes, 3 of which are of traditional FPS origins, and one additional new mode. I mean, where would an FPS title be these days without the traditional deathmatch, team deathmatch and capture the flag modes? Far Cry 2 is no different and those are 3 are present, but for one, their capture the flag mode has a Far Cry flavour to it.

 

“Capture the Diamond” is like the traditional capture the flag mode in many respects but there are a couple of tweaks that give the game another edge. One of the main points is that during the mode, it’s possible to take your opponent’s diamonds and still have access to your guns and drive vehicles. Gone are the days of being a bullet sponge, now you can fight back and if you’re good enough, you can be your team’s hero. Don’t think it’s that easy though because as soon as you pick up the diamonds you’ll have a trail of coloured smoke following you around so expect to become a bullet magnet rather than a sponge. This works both ways though as your teammates can then make their way over to you to offer some much needed support. It’s not all attack, attack, attack though as you’ll be unable to score if your own diamonds aren’t home. These few little tweaks make for some fast paced multiplayer action with both teams trying to defend their objective while at the same time calculating the right time to make that all important rush.

The fourth mode is what Ubisoft Montreal like to call “Uprising” and in this mode you’ll have multiple objectives. At the beginning of the round, each team is randomly allocated a captain and you’ll have to set out and capture objective points in a “king of the hill” style manner. However, only your captain can capture these objective points so it is essential he stays alive and your opposing captain dies. It should also be noted that all players have spawns on, even the captain. Once you have all the objectives under control, you must then focus all your attention on eliminating the opposing captain to take the win. It is a new and fun combination of some old school modes that makes for some fresh and interesting multiplayer sessions.

All of the single player mechanics are present in the multiplayer modes, so you may find yourself creating some strategically placed fires to flush out an opponent or diving for cover to pull a bullet out of your leg. The healing process is really simple, a quick tap of the left bumper after you’ve taken some heavy fire and it will trigger an animation whereby your character will relocate a bone, remove a bullet with his teeth/some pliers or push the bullet out with your finger; each as gruesome as the last, but be careful, this animation doesn’t render you invincible. Even the gun jamming is present we’re told but it’s not as prevalent and in the 4 hours I played I ran out of ammo before the weapon jammed.

The multiplayer aspect runs a similar class and reward system that can be found in Bad Company. Before you start a game you can choose one of 6 classes; Commando (assault weapons), Sharpshooter (snipers), Guerrilla (shotguns galore), Rebel (flame thrower!), Gunner (heavy machine guns) and Saboteur (dart rifle & stealth weapons). You can even change mid-round when you die to counteract an opponent’s tactics a la Bad Company. As you rack up experience points, you’ll not only rank up, but you’ll receive diamonds that you can use to upgrade your classes, and with each upgrade comes more powerful weapons to use. The upgrades for the Commando and the Sharpshooter for example, are the grenade launcher and the 50 cal sniper respectively ... Boy, are these powerful weapons!

In addition to upgrading the weapons with diamonds, successful use of the them allows you to fill up “manuals” for them. Each weapon has 3 types of manuals attached to it; operation, maintenance and bandolier. The operation and maintenance manuals improve the accuracy and power of the weapons, and the bandolier gives you more clips. It should also be mentioned that the experience is only persistent in the ranked modes, so all the player match people out there, expect to lose yours after every session.

There are 14 “official maps” included in the title varying in both size and area type with the environments including; fishing villages, deserts, savannahs, jungles and urban & colonial areas. The inclusion of the hugely impressive map creator as well means that you’ll have a huge variety of maps to try out as soon as the community gets their hands on it. You even have the ability to change the time of day and the weather, so if night matches in stormy weathers are what you want, feel free to set it up. If you want a long match that spans from night to day, you can set that up as well because 1 hour of your time equates to about 6 hours in game.

The multiplayer mode is a visual treat like the single player mode and runs on the same technology. Many a time will you see a swaying tree out the corner of your eye and unload a clip in to it thinking it was someone else. It also appears as the local wildlife doesn’t make an appearance for all those interested... Well, we never got to see any.

As far as the vehicles go, on the bigger maps, it is essential you make good use of them. The game features rovers, jeeps, Datsuns, dune buggies, hand gliders and even two boats; a swamp & fishing boat. The dune buggy was great fun to throw over the uneven terrain and they all handle in traditional Far Cry style; first person view and tricky as hell to switch direction. If you hit too many things, the vehicle, like in the single player, will need someone to step out and repair it with their trusty wrench.

The multiplayer in Far Cry 2 is simply delightful, with easy and responsive controls and the same sort of addictiveness as Bad Company. The game is picturesque and the multiplayer mode boasts all the immersive aspects that the single player does. Oh and did I mention that the map creator was incredible as well? I have a distinct feeling that come the end of October, I will have a new multiplayer game in my life.

 

Far Cry 2 will be released for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC on October 21st (North America) and October 24th (Europe).