Here I was, ready to discuss the merits of Far Cry 2 and why I think it's underappreciated... and then I saw it's a B-Cell thread.
No, I don't think it's a cult classic by any stretch. It was received well and sold well, and was the starting point for the mega-franchise the series is now. It's since then been met with criticism, and rightfully so, but I still think it's a great game.
- The setting is still rather unique among shooters. It's a rare case that doesn't involve extensive military conflict with escalating explosions. Even more exceptional is its atmosphere, where everything is collapsing, decrepit, worn out and dirty. The people are ruthless, amoral, opportunistic, or just desperately trying to get out. It conveys a sense of danger and hopelessness in a way I've seen few games manage. And yes, the weapon degradation adds to that atmosphere. It makes perfect sense in the story, and it's even given a proper reason as opposed to just being an out-of-universe gameplay mechanic.
- The graphics hold up amazingly for a 10 year old game. I'm serious when I say the lighting still takes my breath away, especially during the sunsets. I'm still impressed how you can literally see the shadows of every single leaf and branch.
- The weapons are some of the most satisfying in gaming history. The AS50 sniper rifle sounds like a goddamn cannon going off, and surprising convoys with the IEDs never gets old. The game also makes the player work for these weapons. In Far Cry 3 I'd gotten all the guns I'd ever need probably halfway through the game, which meant any wealth I gathered from then on was meaningless. Needing the amount of diamonds for the weapons makes them feel precious and earned. And the only silenced sniper rifle is acquired only at the second half, and it can make like 10-15 shots before breaking, meaning no clearing entire outposts without being spotted at all *COUGH* FAR CRY 3 *COUGH*
- The UI is simply brilliant. For no other game would I even bring this up, but the information is conveyed in such an unintrusive manner that it does an amazing job to immerse the player.
But of course there's the bad stuff like hyper-aggressive and unbalanced AI, shallow open world with little incentive for exploration beyond finding diamonds, the basically nonexistent story, the barely functional stealth with no way of telling where enemies are, the game being essentially twice as long as it needs to be and malaria adding an unnecessary level of RNG into the mix and stretching out the playtime by forcing you to do those stupid medicine runs.