Far Cry 2 vs. Crysis Warhead

Far Cry and Crysis, both developed by Crytek, are growing up and parting ways. Far Cry 2 is now being developed by Ubisoft Montreal, while Crysis Warhead is remaining with Crytek and will be the first game released from Crytek’s Budapest studio. Each game will run on different engines: Far Cry 2 will run on a Ubisoft-developed engine called Dunia, which means “earth” in many languages. Crysis Warhead, on the other hand, will run on a revised CryEngine 2, and will be much more lenient on system requirements. The graphics for both games are stunning, but graphics aren’t everything these days.

Crysis Warhead is not what you think it is. It is not the second of the trilogy. You could call it Crysis 1.5, a stand-alone expansion with an alternate story, paralleling events from the first. So, new protagonist, weapons, and plot. So what? At least everyone can play what Crysis could have been. Maybe Crytek is making amends for the system requirement overkill, or it might be a segue way into porting the series to consoles since CryEngine 2 is more efficient now. Warhead will be the last Crysis to be a PC-exclusive game.

Although Crysis Warhead does not really know where it belongs, Far Cry 2 knows what it is. Far Cry 2 has a lot more to offer than just amazing graphics, and has the potential to look better than Crysis Warhead. Far Cry 2 is set in Africa with a 50 km² (no load!) environment, including everything from forests to savannas. This game emphasizes realism and dynamic gameplay. The environment is readily affected by weapons; you can cause wildfire as well as damage and destroy buildings, trees, and vehicles. You can use wild animals to your advantage as a means of distraction.

Oh, and there’s more. There’s a wind system, day and night cycles, persistent enemy AIs, and weather patterns that respond to how well you are doing. Birds will chirp in the sunlight when you’re doing well, and it’ll storm when you’re sucking. Some aspects of the gameplay, such as weapon jamming, are so real that it might even get annoying. “Africa is really dirty and they jam weapons,” as the game’s producer, Louis-Pierre Pharand, says.

The guys at Ubisoft Montreal did their homework. They removed Jack Carver, the protagonist from the first Far Cry, per players’ requests, and now implemented nine playable characters who are all mercenaries. Some of the Montreal team even went to Africa to study different areas to aid in creating more realism for Far Cry 2.

Strangely enough, Far Cry 2 looks great so far, but during the Ubisoft demonstration at Dreamhack computer festival, there were a lot of glitches. Sure, there are tweaks to work out and the projected system requirements aren’t too bad, but I hope it won’t turn out to be a Crysis. Aside from that, this game is nothing but good news. Watch out for Far Cry 2 to be released on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3, with both games due Fall 2008.