Far Cry 2 Multiplayer Preview

Multiplayer hands-on and Ubisoft chat.

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By Edwin Evans-Thirlwell, October 3, 2008

After drowning the single player build of Far Cry 2 in complimentary adjectives last month, we were expecting our thesaurus to be similarly taxed when we delved into the multiplayer modes this week. Initial impressions were... dispiriting. On paper at least, Far Cry 2 multiplayer isn't an arresting prospect. The inevitable shopping list of figures impresses, but hardly astounds: 20 players per map, 14 initial maps ranging from the slightly undersized to the modestly corpulent, and a scant four match types. Three of the latter are well-worn FPS standbys: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag (or in this case, Diamond).

But such underwhelming fundamentals serve a purpose, as the multiplayer producer, Gaetan Richard, assured us. "As we have a map editor for Far Cry 2 multiplayer, we wanted to keep the game modes pretty simple." Richard explained. "We'll have thousands and thousands if not hundreds of thousands of maps that will be shared by users on Ubisoft's server. And this is why we wanted to have simple mechanics for everything else."

The idea, then, is to provide the timorous with a foothold on Far Cry 2's cliff-face of widgets and doodads, a well-lit highway into the heart of darkness. "Users will go and make great maps - they will make Counterstrike-style maps, they will make Halo-style maps in our map editor - but we wanted our game mechanics to be very straightforward, so everybody can understand them and have fun with them."

We were a little dubious at this, but fortunately Richard's observations - and our initial impressions - don't do the reality of Far Cry 2 multiplayer justice. The nuts and bolts of the beast are indeed straightforward, but the manner in which they lock together certainly isn't.

There are six character classes, each loosely modelled on popular archetypes. The Commando is your kitchen-lager, one-size-fits-all mid-range class, armed with an automatic rifle. The Guerrilla likes to get a little more intimate, and packs a shotgun for that purpose, while the Rebel is a heavy support troop tooled up with flamethrowers and RPGs. The Saboteur prefers to run around stabbing people in the back, and the Sharpshooter enjoys a spot of far-flung marksmanship. The Gunner, finally, is handy with the old heavy machine guns. In addition to class-specific armaments, each player gets a bog standard pistol for desperate last stands, a couple of Molotov cocktails and a machete for eye-watering melee moves.

Flexibility, Richard told us, was one of two core objectives in creating the multiplayer. "You can play a sniper, but if you take part in an Uprising match," - of which more shortly - "then your sniper won't be much good, especially if you're the captain. You will maybe go with the Rebel class using a flamethrower or short-range Gunner class to make sure you can capture and defend a point."

The other core objective is "persistency." Achieving objectives, reviving team mates and popping caps in digital buttocks nets you diamonds which can be used to upgrade a class mid-match. You can boost one class three times to pick up new weapons: the Commando has access to the devastating (perhaps too devastating) grenade launcher at level one , while the Guerrilla busts out a bazooka and the Rebel gets his hands on an RPG.

Exactly how fast you'll haul in the experience points depends on whether you're playing a ranked or unranked match. "We wanted to give some persistency in the multiplayer, not just park a mode on one match or two matches and then it's gone," Richard explained. "We wanted to have unranked matches in which you progress really fast - after a couple matches you have many diamonds to put into your classes, but on the ranked match side you have a long progression..." It will take days and weeks to trick out a particular class in ranked play.

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