Far Cry 2 Multiplayer Preview

Multiplayer hands-on and Ubisoft chat.

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The first thing that strikes you about the gameplay itself is the pace, or rather lack thereof. Your character moves and turns as though encumbered with emphatically non-virtual flesh, which makes it hard to beat the odds through sheer dexterity. If you're caught side-on by a prepared opponent, you'll be dead before you see the muzzle flash, so think again if you plan on circle-strafing to victory.

Don't come expecting to patch up your bullet-ridden carcass mid-battle, either. As in the single player campaign, when you heal you'll actually see yourself dig shrapnel out of your limbs or twist broken bones back into place. Such sequences are painful to behold (though Richard tells us Ubisoft Montreal took an unwholesome pleasure in their production); on a practical level, they also leave you stationary and defenceless for several seconds. Being about as sportsmanlike as a pack of hyenas, we were very willing to take advantage of such incapacity, much to the irritation of fellow journalists.

After you've had your arse presented to you on a the point of a machete a few times you'll get wise to your own limitations, and start to make better use of cover - especially that provided by flora, with its shifting tides of real-time shadows. Rushing into buildings is a definite no-no, as the dynamic lighting simulates the lag before your pupils dilate, and you'll want to take advantage of brilliant little touches like the volatile ammunition stores - watching an adversary in dire need of a rearm flee under a hail of exploding rounds is satisfying to say the least.

Above all else, you'll need to get to grips with the propagating fire system, with stray sparks quickly transforming arid scrub into a vortex of flame, swallowing friend and enemy alike. While getting the tech to function online was tricky, the real challenge, according to Richard, was to give it enough rope to be threatening without allowing the slightest blaze to engulf an entire match. "If the whole map is on fire then sure, the frame rate will suffer, but [that map] will also be unplayable." Combustible swathes of vegetation dot each map, often strategically positioned by doorways or spawn points, and a timely Molotov cocktail in their direction can repel even the stiffest assault. Just be careful the wind doesn't blow it back in your face.

Fire proved to be an especially useful ally once we got round to Uprising, Far Cry 2's fourth and most ambitious match type, a variation on the Battlefield series' influential Conquest mode. Two teams compete for ownership of control points, most of them ring-fenced with conveniently flammable shubbery: once a team has captured all these points, it must kill the opposing team's captain to attain final victory. The twist is that only captains can take over control points, which should help the mode stand apart from its inspirations.

Uprising has an enjoyable air of dramatic progression, as hectic, see-saw engagements degenerate into cat-and-mouse endgames. The more control points you possess, the harder it is to defend your turf, as the displaced team finds itself able to roam and strike at will. Conversely, if you lose all your control points the role of captain becomes pleasantly fraught: it's tempting - and, we discovered, easy - to go to ground in the densely accoutred environments, but eventual defeat is guaranteed if you do so.

Far Cry 2's long-term online appeal may well depend on the map editor - which we'll discuss at length in our not-too-distant review - but the gunplay isn't to be sneezed at either. While it may not crack open any paradigms, the game's multiplayer component is a worthy counterpart to its promising campaign. Stop back soon to find out how it all adds up.

Far Cry 2 is released October 24 2008 for Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. This preview is based on the 360 version.

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