Friday, December 23, 2022

Video Game Review #422: Demolition Man

Demolition Man
Sega CD


Nostalgia Factor:

I reviewed the Super Nintendo version of Demolition Man back in 2015. Cripes, it's been seven years already? Hey Father Time: you need to calm down just a little bit. Anyway, I enjoyed my time with the game. It was fun, but it was short and easy. It didn't offer much in the way of replay value. I gave it the somewhat generous score of a B- and went on with my life.

I thought I was done with Demolition Man for good. I certainly had no plans to play through it again. But then the Sega CD version of the game dropped into my lap - and what can I say? I was curious. I wanted to see what the differences were between this game and the SNES/Genesis versions of the game.

My verdict? Aside from a few cosmetic differences, they are pretty much the exact same game. Read on for my full synopsis.




Story:

I love the movie Demolition Man, and the game does a relatively good job at following along with its story. You play as supercop John Spartan on his quest to catch fiendish supervillain Simon Phoenix. Your hunt takes you through modern day LA and into the cookie cutter future, where Phoenix instantly becomes the world's most dangerous criminal.

The game does a great job at showing you the various locations from the film, such as LA on fire, the shootout at the museum, and the battle at the cryo prison. The use of integrated cutscenes from the movie for the Sega CD version of the game is a nice touch. I really felt like I was making progress through the events of the film.




Gameplay:

I wish I could say there was something special about Demolition Man's gameplay, but there really isn't anything notable about it. This game is not as deep as similar games of its era, like Judge Dredd. There is no strategy involved other than plunging forward, taking damage, and shooting the crapola out of anything that moves.

You are going to take a ton of damage, but Sly absorbs bullets like a sponge. Luckily, there are health items aplenty to be found. Jumping over pits and across obstacles is another challenge. Some of the later levels involve zipline craziness and things can get a little hectic.

These side scrolling 2D stages make up the majority of the game, but there are isometric overhead stages thrown in as well, where you rescue innocent civilians from the havoc unleashed by Simon Phoenix. Although the perspective is different, the overall gameplay doesn't. Charge forward, shoot enemies, dodge bullets, and collect enough health items to stay alive. And charge forward.

I didn't pull out a stopwatch, but this entire game couldn't have taken me much more than an hour to complete. It's very short and easy. The only real challenge comes from mastering the controls, which can be a little touchy. I died many times trying to line up jumps correctly. 




Graphics:

This game looks good. I like the environments. As I said before, they stay true to the spirit of the movie. The museum in particular is probably my favorite part of the whole game. I love the lighting effects in the subway car stage as well.

The FMV scenes from the movie are grainy and of a really poor quality by today's standards, but I'll be damned if they don't give this game some real character that's lacking in its 16-bit counterparts.




Sound:

I remember not liking the sound in the Super Nintendo version of Demolition Man. I don't remember having a problem with it this time around. It could be the same music and sound effects, for all I know - and for whatever reason they just didn't bother me this time. Or maybe this game, like many other Sega CD ports, has a new and improved soundtrack? I don't know. But all I can say is I have no complaints.




Overall:

My feelings about this game have not changed since I last reviewed the SNES version of it. I enjoy it, but at the same time I realize that it is no all-time classic.

Demolition Man is a great product of its time, when every big blockbuster movie got a video game adaptation. This is one of the better ones. It doesn't pretend to be anything it's not. It's a fun, relatively simple action/platformer that can easily be beaten in an hour or two.

If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, you definitely need to play this game. If not, I can't say you are missing out on a masterpiece or anything like that. But I still think you should play it. And if you are going to play it, this is the definitive version of the game. But I'm still giving it the same score as the SNES version. 



THE GRADE:
B-




If you liked this review, check out some of my other game reviews:


Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Video Game Review #421: Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker

Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
PSP




Nostalgia Factor:

Every single time a series that I love (such as Metal Gear Solid, Resident Evil, or Kingdom Hearts) releases a title for a handheld system, I tend to write it off. Maybe I should stop doing that. I've known about Peace Walker for years and years now, but I've never had much of an urge to play it due to the fact that it is "only" a handheld game. Turns out it is a lot more than that.

Mop Up Duty rolls through 2010 with my review of Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker for the PSP.




Story:

I played Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes nearly eight years ago. It was my 11th video game review. In that review, I said I would play Peace Walker "soon." I am now on review number 421. So much for soon!

Back in my review for that game, I remember making a comment that its story didn't make any sense to me because I hadn't played Peace Walker. Peace Walker takes place between Metal Gear Solids 3 and 5 (but not 4 - which takes place in the future). This game bridges the gap between the end of Metal Gear Solid 3 with the death of The Boss, and the start of the new Boss's exploits in Metal Gear Solid 5.

The events of this game take place, what did they say, nine years after the events of MGS3? In those nine years Snake has broken off and formed a mercenary group. Their base of operations becomes what will later be known as Outer Heaven.

Snake is drawn into a mission to defeat the Peace Walker, a Metal Gear prototype that is programmed to basically eradicate mankind if it detects that its country of origin is being bombarded with nuclear weapons. The idea is that it is the ultimate nuclear deterrent because most humans would be reluctant to launch a counterattack that could doom all life on the planet.

This game is much more straightforward than your usual Metal Gear Solid game, with all its dozens of convoluted twists and turns. This game does do some silly things, sure, but compare this to the second half of Metal Gear Solid 2 and it is no comparison.

I wish I could say that I understood who some of the characters were, however. Paz? Chico? Kaz? Who? Maybe they are mentioned in Metal Gear Solid 3, but I don't remember any of them. This game absolutely does not do a great job of making sure you know what is going on before you start playing it. Right off the bat when I started playing this I was so freaking confused as to what the heck was happening. I became a little disjointed from the game's story, and honestly I never really recovered after that. Of all the Metal Gear games out there, this is the one where I cared about its story the least.




Gameplay:

You'll notice pretty quickly that this game doesn't have the same flow as previous Metal Gear Solid titles. Most games in the series are story driven, guiding you from one interconnected location to the next. Peace Walker is mission based. Most of these missions are short, ranging anywhere from five to ten minutes in length. When you complete the mission, you get experience points, upgrades, and you are sent to the mission menu. You can either go back to your base and use the points you've earned to upgrade it (producing new weapons and items in the process) or you can select to move on to the next mission and keep playing.

At first, this was a little jarring to me. It felt like the flow of the game was constantly being interrupted. For example, I'd complete the mission of infiltrating an enemy base. A cutscene would play where a tank would roll into the area and aim its cannon at me. I get the message "Mission complete" and I go back to the game's menu.

If I choose to keep playing, I select the next mission in line. This mission begins with Snake facing off against the tank, who acts as a boss character. So instead of infiltrating the base and doing battle with the tank all in one go, it is broken up into two separate missions. The plus side of this is that you can upgrade your character and your base before going into battle with the tank. In the menu, I can equip a rocket launcher and a machine gun instead of the tranquilizer gun and shotgun I had been carrying - neither of which would have been useful against a tank. Like I said, this was a little jarring at first. But the more I played, the more I got used to the concept. Eventually I ended up embracing it.

Missions in this game are very easy. Getting spotted isn't the death sentence it is in previous MGS games. In Peace Walker, you can usually destroy all your enemies and clear the alert status pretty easily. Enemies don't just keep coming and coming endlessly until you hide and lose them. This takes a lot of the challenge away, knowing you can just run through and mow everyone down, completing your mission in a fraction of the time it would take otherwise. On the flip side, using stealth and avoiding detection usually results in a better mission grade, which factors in when upgrading the base and earning experience points.

Upgrading the base is a time consuming yet oddly pleasant aspect of this game that I did not think I was going to enjoy. I liked assigning soldiers to different areas of the base, and sending out troops into battle to bring back money and experience points. It took me a while to figure out the whole weapon upgrade thing, resulting in a ton of grinding in the early game to get the equipment that I wanted. When I say grinding, there are "Extra Ops" optional missions that you can play over and over again to gain experience. You always want to aim to get an S rank, as these reap the highest benefits.

Extra Ops missions are even shorter than main missions. They range from disarming mines, rescuing soldiers, and wiping out all the troops in the area. One of the most fun things to do in this entire game is to knock enemies out with the tranquilizer gun and then strap a balloon on their back that takes them back to the main base - where you can then assign them to work details. Spamming Extra Ops missions repeatedly and bringing tons of enemy soldiers back to the base is a good way to level up quickly.

The main game itself is fun. As I alluded to, it is more action-oriented than past MGS games. The boss battles are big and epic. I do think the game is lacking a more personal connection that previous games in the series have been able to capture. While this game is fun, and surprisingly so, I didn't quite feel the connection to it that I did to past games in the series.




Graphics:

This game looks good, especially for a PSP game. It definitely doesn't lose any quality in the switch from the big screen to the small. Ok, maybe a little. But that's forgivable. If you're going to play this game, I'd suggest the HD version for the PS3.

One thing I enjoy is the fact that cutscenes now take place through hand-drawn sequences, resembling pages from a manga. I understand that this game probably had a smaller budget than its predecessors, hence the change. And I approve of it.




Sound:

The Metal Gear Solid series has always had great music, sound effects, and voice acting. Peace Walker definitely carries that torch proudly. This game sounds just as good as any of its console counterparts. Sadly, this may be the last time I ever get to hear David Hayter as Solid Snake. I've played and reviewed every game in the series now from 1 through 4. I know they make the switch to Keifer Sutherland for 5, and that makes me sad.




Overall:

I underestimated this game. It's lengthy, it's fun, and it's definitely more than "just" a handheld knockoff of the main series. This game kept me up late at night for weeks, completing Extra Ops missions, progressing through the main story, and upgrading my base and assigning work to its personnel. I haven't even talked about how you're supposed to build your own version of Peace Walker. I was never able to do that, as I couldn't figure out the system for doing so. Probably the one gripe I had with the game. I definitely feel like I missed out on a big part of it by not being able to figure this out.

Peace Walker is a lot different from other games in the series, but in a good way. That said, I definitely didn't care much for its snoozer of a story. I thought that this game would get me pumped and ready to dive into Metal Gear Solid V, but honestly it hasn't done so. I mean, I do plan to play that game someday (and I am referring to The Phantom Pain and not Ground Zeroes). But I'm in no rush to go out and do it now.

This is a fun and engaging game. I'd recommend it to anyone who has the means to play it. As a Metal Gear title, I am not sure where to put it. I definitely missed the zaniness of the main series in this one. The stealth is a little meh. It feels more like an action game than anything else.

But I had a good time playing this, and that's all that really matters. Good game? Yes. Good Metal Gear Solid game? You could definitely survive without playing this.



THE GRADE:
B



40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:




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Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker (the review you're reading)


Up next, Mop Up Duty moves onto 2011 with:
Gears of War 3



For a complete index of all my past posts and game reviews, click


Thursday, December 15, 2022

Video Game Review #420: Braid

Braid
PlayStation 3




Nostalgia Factor:

This is a game I've been interested in playing for a long time. In fact, my PlayStation 3 tells me I purchased this game eight years ago back in 2014. Eight years and I still haven't played it! Believe it or not, there are games that have been in my collection for much longer than this that I still have not played.

I knew little about this game coming into it, other than that it was critically acclaimed. What would my take be on the game? Let's find out.




Story:

I am not one for abstract stories. I can't tell you a single thing about what this game is supposed to be about. You play as some dude. Before each stage you read a series of love letters talking about your romance with a princess that you love. How these letters tie into the levels that you play through, I have no idea.

At the end of the game a bunch of weird shit happens and the credits roll. The end. See? I told you I couldn't tell you anything about this game's story. It just made no sense to me. Like I said, abstract stories aren't my thing. I am stupid. I need things spelled out clearly and easily for me. It wasn't long before I completely stopped paying attention to the story and just played Braid for its gameplay.




Gameplay:

At first glance this looks like an average 2D platformer, but that couldn't be any further from the truth. This is a puzzle game disguised as a platformer. Your character handles like any 2D platformer would. He runs, he jumps, he climbs ladders, that sort of thing. But he can also rewind time. So there's really no way to die in this game. If you fall into a spike pit, the game freezes and you are forced to rewind time until before the fall.

Each of the game's six levels introduces some new type of time travel gimmick. You must master these gimmicks to collect each puzzle piece contained in these levels. Examples of gimmicks include being able to create a "shadow" character that mimics your actions when you rewind time, helping you to solve puzzles - a gimmick that slows down time - and a gimmick that allows you to keep items that you pick up after you rewind time.

Solving these puzzles and collecting each of the game's puzzle pieces is the main challenge of Braid. If you skip over the puzzles and just run to the end of each stage, like I did the first time I played through this game, you aren't going to be able to properly complete the game. And you won't get anything out of the experience. I was able to collect maybe 25 or 30% of the game's puzzle pieces on my own, but I'll admit that many of the puzzles stumped me to the point where I had to cheat and look online to be able to complete them.

Some of them are just so dang complicated. That whole area with the platforms that are impervious to changes in time was very frustrating. Even looking up the solutions online, I still struggled to complete them. At the same time, some of the puzzles had me slapping my forehead in frustration because they were so easy and obvious once I knew the solution, but they had me completely stumped trying to figure them out.

I understand why the creator of the game wants people to play this without looking online for help. I truly do. But I just was not smart enough to figure some of these puzzles out. I'd still be playing this game if I was attempting to beat it on my own merits.




Graphics:

This is a very good looking game, I have to admit. I absolutely love the art style and how it looks like you are playing through one big, beautifully animated picture book. The colors are fantastic. The world is very immersive. I am not one of those "video games are art" people, but this one comes darn close.




Sound:

When I first started playing Braid, the game pulled me in and immersed me completely. I was playing in the dark with headphones on. On ensuing gaming sessions, I found myself not wearing headphones. It took me out of the experience a little. There's nothing too special or memorable about the game's music or sound effects, and this becomes obvious when you remove the headphone immersion factor from the equation.

Not that there is anything wrong with the game's music or sound effects. I'm sure they did exactly what they set out to do. I'm just saying they aren't memorable.




Overall:

I'm a little torn here. There's a lot to like about the game. The graphics. The art style. The controls. The clever time control mechanics. I found myself having fun playing through this game.

And then I made it to the end of the game. I had collected maybe a fifth of the puzzle pieces I needed in order to beat the game. Being able to beat the game meant I had to go back through each stage and collect each and every puzzle piece there was to collect. Some of these puzzles were fun to tackle, and I enjoyed using what I had learned throughout my first playthrough to break through and solve some of them.

But some of them are just so dang hard. There are several that I never would have figured out in a million years. I know you aren't "supposed to" use a walkthrough or an online guide for this game, but I just couldn't help myself.

I also did not enjoy the story of Braid. As I said earlier, I'm a simple man. This game is a bit too dream-like and open to interpretation for me. Or maybe I'm stupid and I just don't get it. Or maybe I just skipped through the game's story sequences without giving them much thought. It is indeed a lot of text to read through.

Whichever way you shake it, I think that one of the big draws of Braid is its storyline, and the fact that I wasn't able to enjoy that aspect of the game drags it down several levels. All the reviews I have read online have been overwhelmingly positive about this game's story. When you take that away, all you are left with is a somewhat above average puzzle platformer.

I felt the same way with Celeste. There's just a certain something about these types of indie games that I am failing to connect with on some level or another. 

I wanted to like this game. Even after playing it, I still want to like it. But my experience with it was only just okay. Like I said, this is an above average game. That's about the best thing I'm willing to say about it.


THE GRADE:
C+


40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:




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2009:
Braid (the review you're reading)


Up next we visit 2010 with my review of:
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker



For a complete index of all my past posts and game reviews, click


Friday, December 9, 2022

Video Game Review #419: Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2
PlayStation 3




Nostalgia Factor:

I've been interested in the Far Cry series for years and years now. The only one I have played is the first game in the series, and that was over seven years ago. My initial plan had been to marathon my way through the entire series. Well, here we are in 2022, and I am only just now finally moving onto Far Cry 2.

Hey, maybe I can actually make it through every game in the series by the time I'm 95!




Story:

You're almost better off just reading a Wikipedia summary. I had a hard time paying attention to this game's storyline. It's a bit fast moving. There's a lot of characters. A lot of action. Things aren't set up very well right from the start. Shortly after I began playing this game I found myself confused as to who I was supposed to be and what exactly I was doing here in Africa.

I was eventually able to figure out that I'd been sent in to Africa to bring peace to an unnamed war-torn country by defeating an evil arms dealer who was fueling both sides of the conflict. Unfortunately you find yourself stripped of resources, with a bad case of malaria, and at the mercy of the warring factions. Both of these factions give you missions to complete for them - like go blow this thing up or go kill this guy. Sometimes you're given the option to defect to the other side in the middle of a mission. It seems like you have freedom of choice, but mainly these decisions don't affect too much in the long run.

One thing I'll say I didn't like about this game is the fact that so much of it is told to you as you are playing. Oftentimes I'd find myself walking around or checking things out and then I'd realize I had missed half of what was being said to me. This is a common complaint I have among games like this where you listen to audio logs or talk to characters over a communicator. I don't have the attention span to both play and listen at the same time. As a result, I'd often miss giant chunks of the game's plot, and important ones too.

And that's why I really can't tell you much about this game's story aside from the bare essentials. Honestly, I'm not sure it is that important anyway.




Gameplay:

Right off the bat, I could see that this game was going to be vastly different from its predecessor. Far Cry 2 was not going to be based around making your way through levels or stages. No, no. This game was open world. Or, as I used to say before the term open world became mainstream: "like Grand Theft Auto."

And that's really what this game is. Grand Theft Auto as a first person shooter, set in the jungles of Africa. Okay, maybe that is oversimplifying things a bit, but the similarities are there. You have a map with a list of destinations where you can complete missions. You steal cars. You shoot bad guys. The main storyline, at least from my viewpoint, is secondary. Half the journey is getting from one destination marker to the next.

The map is littered with collectibles such as hidden diamond caches. If you want a comparison, think about the Riddler trophies from the Arkham games. There are hundreds of these things, and they are freaking everywhere. Most of them are easy to find, while others had me absolutely stumped. These diamonds work as in-game currency. You can trade them in to upgrade your weapons or buy brand new ones altogether.

When I first started playing this game, my initial impression was "wow." The open world made the game much more intriguing than Far Cry Classic. There was so much to see and do and explore. Immediately I started comparing this game in my mind to Half-Life 2, which I had recently finished playing. Based on first impressions alone, this game was A material.

It wasn't until I started sinking a few hours into the game that my opinion on it started to fall apart. There are a lot of flaws that might seem minor at first in Far Cry 2's gameplay that really begin to add up and make the game very frustrating, very fast.

I'll start with the obvious: the save system. You have to manually save in this game, but you have to do it from designated save locations. No auto save. No pausing the game and saving whenever you want. This might seem like a minor gripe at first. This is pretty much how every video game used to be, right? But you'll soon discover how much of a bad thing this is. Let's say you are headed out to a mission. You notice there's a hidden diamond cache in your area. You stop, you fight some enemies that pull up in a Jeep and try to blast you into oblivion, you look around for a bit, and you collect the diamond. Let's say five in-game minutes have passed.

You get back in your vehicle and you head towards your destination again. There's a guard outpost! You stop, you clear them out, you collect everything they leave behind, and you get in your car again. Another five or ten minutes has passed. You get to your destination. You get out of the car. Some enemies start attacking you. A Jeep hits you from behind. Getting hit with a vehicle is pretty much auto-death in this game. You die. You get sent back to the last time you saved. Everything you've accomplished in the last 20 minutes is now undone. The diamonds? Got to collect them again. The outpost? Got to clear it again. All that driving and traveling? Yup, got to do it again..

The first time this happens to you, you might be mildly annoyed. The fifteenth time this happens to you, you'll want to chuck your controller through the wall.

I'm just getting started with this game's frustrations. Let's talk about the weapons constantly jamming up and breaking. Now, this is a normal thing in games, but Far Cry 2 takes this mechanic too dang far. If you're using the same weapon for hours on end and you haven't upgraded it or done any maintenance on it, and it breaks, that's okay. Not here. You'll be in the heat of battle firing at an enemy with a gun you just picked up. It jams. You have to waste ten second sitting through a stupid animation while your character unjams the gun. The whole time you are doing this, you are susceptible to enemy fire.

You resume shooting at the enemy. The gun jams again. Aaahhhh! So annoying! But not as annoying as when you unjam the gun and it happens AGAIN. Seriously. This happens constantly throughout the game. The dang guns just would not stop jamming, over and over again. I can't count how many times I died because of this stupid mechanic. And remember what I said about save points? You can see where I am going with this.

But I am STILL not done. You can't drive anywhere on the map without having to stop and take part in multiple monotonous shootouts that take up way too much of your time. Enemies relentlessly chase you in cars of their own. They hit your vehicle with two bullets and it starts smoking and you have to stop and get out. You can repair the vehicle, and you will repair your fair share of vehicles playing this game. It gets to the point of absurdity though with these dang vehicles and how fragile they are. If you happen to get stuck in the middle of nowhere and your vehicle gets destroyed? Guess what? You've got to hoof it on foot. And this game has a pretty big map. I'd say nothing is worse than having to walk for 15 minutes until you can return to actually playing the game again, but this game really tested my limits in many, many ways.

The outposts. In normal games when you clear an enemy outpost, you "conquer" that outpost and can use it as a safe haven. Not this game. You can clear an outpost, leave, and come back to it literally one minute later, and the enemies will have respawned. It's like you didn't even do anything at all. What's the point?

The game forces you constantly into pointless and unwanted combat scenarios. You can't just drive past enemy outposts if you don't feel like fighting. Often the paths through are blocked off, forcing you out of your vehicle. When you are able to squeeze through, enemies pursue you in vehicles of their own. Before you know it, your car is smoking and you are forced to get out and fight.

What else didn't I like about this game? Well, there's the fact that your character has malaria and is forced to stop every once in a while to take pills because of malaria sickness, but I didn't find this as annoying as most reviewers. It only happens about once every half hour, which is a heck of a lot less annoying than your weapons constantly jamming up.

The game is split into two halves, consisting of two separate maps. In open world games like this I like to explore and collect everything there is to collect. But that's impossible here. Once you complete a certain mission, you are transported to the second map with NO option to return to the first one. So if you are trying to collect all diamonds and you accidentally trigger the event that takes you to the second map - you are screwed.

You know what else is annoying? The overly long healing animations, particularly when you're low on health and the animations are EVEN LONGER. Why oh why did they think this was a good idea? 

If you put aside all the gripes I have with it, the game is perfectly fine and enjoyable.

The funny thing is, I am not joking. When I look back on my time with this game, I look back on it favorably - despite all the things the game has going against it. There's something inherently fun about the formula of the game with all the driving and exploration. The setting makes you feel like you're on some kind of movie adventure. I probably poured more hours into this game than anything else I've played in recent memory.




Graphics:

For a relatively early era PS3 game, this looks really good. I like the setting. All the trees and rivers and jungle locale seem very organic and natural. I had to stop to just check out the sights from time to time. Wind blows through the grass. There's a day/night schedule. I love the way fire spreads quickly through the underbrush. I can't believe this game came out 14 years ago!

The characters look nice. The vehicles look nice. As much as I've nitpicked this game to death, I really can't criticize the graphics too much. Maybe I could say the colors are a little drab and everything is kind of  a dull brown or green color?




Sound:

Nothing about this game's music stands out to me whatsoever. Was there even music in this game?

The voice acting is pretty good. The sound of explosions and your guns firing is perfect, as are all the environmental sound effects. I'd put Far Cry 2's sound in the solid but not spectacular category.




Overall:

Despite all its flaws, I still kept coming back to Far Cry 2. There's just something about this game, that even though it does so many things to piss its players off, it is still what I would consider an overall good game. I liked this more than Far Cry Classic to be honest with you. I might have overrated that game when I first played it, however. I gave that game a B+, but when I think back on my time with it, it is very forgettable in the long run. For better or worse, I'll remember this one for a much longer time. It's not going to get a B+ or higher, however. Heck no. This game does way too many things incorrectly.

So while it may look like I enjoyed Far Cry Classic more with its sparkling B+ final grade, I'd have to say that this game beats it out in nearly every category. And what's exciting to me is that I can see the groundwork for what the Far Cry series is soon to be. I haven't played Far Cry 3 or any of the newer titles in the series, but everyone speaks so highly of them while shitting all over this game. If this is considered the worst game in the series, I think I am going to be in for a real treat.


  
THE GRADE:
B-



40th Birthday Mop Up Duty Celebration Tour:




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2008:
Far Cry 2 (the review you're reading)


Up next we move onto 2009 with:
Braid!


For a complete index of all my past posts and game reviews, click