For us gamers, every new technological development promises a more realistic experience, with increasingly impressive visuals that aim to provide an authentic world for the player to get lost in. While we've already been treated to our fair share of eye candy with the most recent generation of machines, Far Cry 2 is another step forward in immersive graphics and gameplay. Not satisfied with making the game look good, Ubisoft has endeavoured to create a full 'body simulation' experience, similar to that of Mirror's Edge, while throwing in large scale social developments that are comparable to those of Fable II, for good measure.

As would be expected from such a game, the storyline is very open ended. Taking on the role of a gun for hire in Central Africa, your mission is to find and deal with The Jackal, a notorious arms dealer who has ruffled more than a few feathers by selling his wares to both sides of a major conflict. You must work your way up to him, earning money to amass an impressive stockpile of weapons, vehicles and safe houses to earn respect from the two warring factions in the unnamed region and open up more missions. The twist is that you are invited to think and act creatively in order to reach your goals by any means necessary. As a story it's a little generic, but as an excuse to run around locations ranging from the desolate African savannah to lush jungle environments, it'll do just fine.

While billed as the first true sequel in the Far Cry series (understandable after the relatively forgettable spin off titles such as Instincts and Predator), no story threads from the original are picked up. This means that the crazy genetic experiments and tropical island locations are out; after poor results from focus group testing, Ubisoft also decided that Far Cry's protagonist, Jack Carver, with his blasé attitude and lurid shirt, was too dislikeable to base another game around. Instead you get to play one of nine male mercenaries and, once selected, your character is then modelled in the style of Gordon Freeman - i.e., you don't speak or see yourself for the whole game but everyone reacts as though you aren't a mute, psychopathic killing machine. While I find this a bit creepy, it does allow players to better identify with their controlled character by projecting their own personality on to them.

In an appealing move, the eight individuals you didn't select become allies to aid you via the game's 'buddy' system. This made me select my character based not on how I wanted to appear but with regards to who I wanted to interact with later on - an innovative twist on the increasingly common trend of offering more and more personal customisation options. As a buddy, each character has a distinct personality, as well as intelligence and connections that can help you with your missions by providing an alternate method or route. For example, early on I had to assassinate a corrupt police chief by blowing up his motorcade. Not keen on risking my neck, I opted to take him on in quieter surroundings; a quick phone call from one of my buddies had me stealing some important documents to force him to return to his station, where I was able to pick him off without worrying about other guards. The fact that I still used a rocket launcher to accomplish my mission is of no real consequence...

The one downside of the buddy system is its predictability; while getting a call from an acquaintance after receiving your mission each time is fine and the auxiliary quests required to make the final confrontation easier are always different, the one constant is your mate's inability to act subtly. Every time they offer a new solution, they get caught in the end and it's up to you to swoop in and rescue them. If you don't then they can end up dead, after which you can never take advantage of their assistance again. While this adds tension, the frustration kicked in fairly quickly as, knowing I had completed a mission, it was about to be extended by a whiny phone call from my incompetent colleague - how even half of them survived this long is beyond me.

The ineptitude of your comrades aside, the gameplay in the campaign is practically flawless. Ubisoft has gone to extreme lengths to ensure that Far Cry 2 is one of the most authentic feeling games to date. Even more incredible is the fact that in no way does this high level of realism ever detract from the guns blazing appeal of the shooter genre; if anything, it offers many improvements.

The fictitious unnamed African nation in which the game is set is a huge area of fifty square kilometres that has been designed to perfectly complement the open world nature of the game. Rather than blasting your way through discrete levels, after the first mission you are dropped into the thick of things and, whilst provided with some initial guidance, pretty much left to your own devices when it comes to finding and completing missions. Although this may seem daunting at first, you can cover a decent amount of ground on foot and, when walking is too much, there are always vehicles with which to tear across the winding dirt tracks. It's also nigh on impossible to get lost, as you start off with a map of the land that shows every road and town, as well as the size of wooded areas and the location of any streams. You can add to this map whenever you see something worthy of tagging, such as ammo dumps, safe houses (which are unlocked when you kill their previous owners - aren't you just lovely?) and meeting places. To provide additional assistance, you also have a GPS receiver that you can use to check your orientation in relation to the map. This does, however, lead to one mildly unbelievable element, as every single vehicle also comes fully fitted with sat-nav; you'd think that when you're living in a war-torn country with resources becoming more and more scarce, it would be highly unlikely for everyone to simultaneously decide that their car isn't quite fancy enough and needs some high tech kit.

The missions you undertake on your lengthy hunt for the Jackal are extremely varied, showcasing the kind of challenging gameplay that Far Cry is famous for. Typically, you are required to make your way into a hostile zone and kill, rescue or destroy specific targets. Reconnaissance before action is always recommended in these scenarios, as the enemy AI is sharp enough to shave with; guards are capable of communicating with one another, predicting your movements and taking cover when reloading -most of the time. There are still many soldiers and freedom fighters that seem to have taken a double dose of stupid pills the morning you decided to rock up, who stand there, tenaciously absorbing bullets and firing straight at you until, eventually, one of you dies. While this idiocy is frustrating when viewed alongside the impeccable strategic thinking of other NPCs, it doesn't detract too much from the overall experience and you rarely witness acts of stupidity en masse.

One result of the (mostly) superior intelligence of your foes is that you will get shot quite a bit. Normally this isn't an issue, as you can just grab a medkit or eat a sandwich and you're good as new. However, in Far Cry 2, the grisly reality of gunshot wounds really becomes apparent. Take enough fire and a quick stimulant injection won't fix you up; instead you have to take care of the affected area and extract bullets, set broken bones and remove burnt flesh. This is, for lack of a better word, gross. The sights and sounds you are treated to whenever you pop your arm back into place or, in truly hardcore moments, rip out bullets with your teeth had me cringing and groaning in sympathy. If you've ever spent time watching people getting hit in the crotch on Youtube (come on, we've all done it), you'll know the feeling well. It did have a positive effect on my playing style, though; in order to avoid these ghastly practices, I wanted to avoid getting shot. Knowing that every bullet has to be extracted with a penknife and that falling down means wrenching my ankle back into its socket made me a more cautious and stealthy individual.

A gung-ho attitude is further discouraged by the qualities of the weapons that are made available to you. It seems that no one in Far Cry 2 takes care of their stuff (save for their precious sat-navs!) and any gun you pick up is, more often than not, grubby, worn out and prone to jamming at the worst possible moment. This makes you choose your starting firearms with care and conserve ammo for fear of having to pick up a crappy gun mid-mission. When they do work, the weapons are spectacularly devastating. I often complain about the lack of destructible environments in action games and so I'm delighted to inform you that Ubisoft is now firm favourite for Best Game Engine, purely for the level of devastation it offers. Shack walls tumble when blasted by grenades, trees topple after absorbing prolonged machine gun barrages and fire is, once again, one of the most powerful tools that man has at his disposal. Throw a Molotov or ignite a car and the dry African scrub provides a ready source of fuel; flames can spread through grass, consume trees and engulf buildings if the conditions are right. However, it's easy to trap yourself and you have to keep on your toes to avoid becoming part of the inferno. This destruction is also permanent; flood an area and it becomes inaccessible for the rest of the game. Burn grass and it gradually grows back, albeit damaged and scrubby. Add paint drying and I could watch it all day!

The chances are that you won't care the first time you find flames licking around your legs, though, because it all looks so gorgeous. The first Far Cry pushed modern PCs to their limit and its successor is here to show us just how far gaming can go to provide a more powerful medium than cinema, even without scripted events. The lighting in this game is second to none; you'll find yourself standing slack jawed under trees, tracking the rays of sunlight that are streaming, creating a realistic dappled effect as you move under the canopy. The textures all look authentic and react as you'd expect them to - fire a bullet into a pond and watch the resultant ripples to see what I mean. The sheer number of different faces in the game is staggering as well and, even when enemies shout during battles, their words are synched and animated perfectly.

The elemental effects don't end with fire, either; as time progresses you experience a wide range of different weather conditions, including sleet and thunder (yes, it rains in Africa), enormous wind storms that send dust flying everywhere and, of course, the beating hot sun. The passage of time is also modelled in-game (as with many other sandbox style titles like GTA and Saints Row) with one minute of real-time equating to five in the game. For some really spectacular lighting, find a bed and rest until sunrise or sunset; with views this good you'll never want to go outside again!

With such lush visuals, I was expecting some slowdown when things got hot. Surely, I thought, even the mighty PS3 can't handle all of this and maintain a consistent frame rate. Not once, however, has the game stuttered. I've tried everything to break the engine - including filling the screen with fire in built up areas with dozens of confused screaming locals (all in the name of science of course) - and nothing has phased it, my experiments merely demonstrating how games that look this awesome can, and should, be so stable. The body-simulation aspects of the game, such as when you learn you have malaria early on and experience moments of disorientation and temporary loss of vision), are all realised brilliantly. Everything is experienced through your character's eyes, a feature that is thankfully fast becoming the standard in first person games, providing seamless movement through the game world with no jarring moments to pull you out of the action.

The production levels on the audio are equally high, too; as with the likes of Battlefield: Bad Company and Call of Duty 4, Far Cry 2 seeks to teach you just how loud guns are. If you're next to a grenade when it goes off then expect some deafness and blurred vision as the shock sends your character (and, by extension, you) reeling. The voice acting isn't half bad either; while many of the support characters are somewhat contrived, their accents are at least spot on. The game has a real multicultural feel, featuring allies and mercenaries from all over the globe - and everyone sounds authentic. There's plenty of dialogue as well, with lines rarely being reused too often, even in incidental talk between NPCs. Your buddies also have plenty to say, providing varied dialogue, especially when you have to repeat missions so the situation doesn't become stale. The only aspect that detracts from the realism of the game is the music. There's nothing wrong with it (in fact the score suits the mood of many moments perfectly) - it's simply that it's there. With such emphasis on providing an authentic experience, hearing tense strings whenever an enemy is near makes it all go a bit Peter and the Wolf. I'm sure many people won't take issue with this but I am personally glad that there is an option to mute the music.

Even if you don't take your time admiring Far Cry 2's extensive beauty, it will take you a while to complete; with plenty of missions spread over three acts, the story-driven campaign has well over thirty hours total gameplay if you take the time to complete the many side missions that earn you valuable weapon upgrades and safe house locations. The multiplayer mode may appeal to you as well; it did initially for me, promising realistic close quarters battles with a wide range of weapons and game modes, including the old favourites like deathmatch and CTF, as well as some new twists on base capture and domination game types. After seeing the destructive capabilities of my arsenal of grenades, incendiaries and big, BIG guns, I couldn't wait to dive in. Unfortunately, the experience doesn't translate well into the usually fast paced style of online battles. The health system is also carried over and, whilst it adds an element of stress and tension to the gameplay, it feels cumbersome and the animations became frustrating after a while. Still, there is plenty of variety on offer here and if you enjoy a more cerebral kill-a-thon then this may be the game for you. A level editor is also included, further extending the experience, which proves extremely user friendly; within half an hour you can create a decent looking map with plenty of hidey holes and vantage points laid out.

Far Cry 2 has greatly impressed me. With gorgeous visuals, high quality sound and extremely well conceived gameplay mechanics, it's a near essential title. Although the story itself is a little bland and not the most original scenario, it carries the action well and you get so engrossed in your activities that you don't really notice it, unless, like me, it's your job to point it out to others. As a single player game, Far Cry 2 stands well above many recent releases, making us nearly forget that not all games that promise a lot invariably fail to live up to their own hype. The multiplayer mode is unremarkable but brings enough over from the campaign to provide at least an interesting distraction and I'm sure we'll be seeing some great home made maps in the near future, which is the feature that's most likely to keep the multiplayer community coming back for more. If you want to experience the true heat of battle and live the life of a mercenary without all the faff of travel and risk of disease (and, you know, getting shot and killed), then Far Cry 2 is the perfect alternative to the real thing.

Reviewed by Henry Osadzinski for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).