I don't think anyone likes Far Cry 2 now who didn't also like it at the time. In some ways if fulfills the role of a cult classic- it pushed boundaries, had a highly original setting (if not premise) and was a much deeper and morally interesting game than Far Cry 1. I liked that the stupid monsters of FC1 were gone in favour of purely human enemies. I liked that they put grazing herbivores in the game, even if they didn't impact on gameplay. I particularly liked the in-hand map you had to look down at without pausing, and I believe FC2 was the first game to actually get regenerating health
right, by splitting it into those partial segments. I also think FC2's day/night cycle takes the perfect amount of time to complete. Far better than GTA's 24 minute cycle was.
As others have said though, it's a good game trapped in the body of a bad game. I didn't mind that there was weapon degradation, but it broke the immersion when there was no way for me to clean or repair the guns myself- just toss it out and it's a long slog through enemy territory back to the gun shed. I didn't mind the Malaria, as it seemed an appropriate way to stop you going off the map, but when I got my first tiny bottle of pills to fight it, it frustrated me that I couldn't see how many I had remaining. I wanted to immediately do more missions to stock right up on the stuff, but the game wouldn't allow it. Clearing bases was actually quite fun while listening to the guards get more and more terrified as you whittle them down Predator style, but when you just want to do a story mission, and have enough ammo for it, there were next to no fast-travel options available which was pretty piss-poor. The fact that there's supposed to be two factions at war and yet everybody fights you and
only you, breaks the immersion. It also bummed me out that the iconic Far Cry Hang-Gliders returned from 1, but you still couldn't ride thermals in them. I would have loved to glide over the savanna really taking in the beautiful scenery. Can't really complain though- FC5 doesn't even remember the hang glider heritage (or that Far Cry is supposed to be THE exotic location FPS that doesn't follow everyone else). Fire looked great, but only ever spread about 7 meters across, which breaks the immersion. Enemy guns never jam, even though when you pick them up yourself they're in the worst possible condition, which breaks the immersion. Enemy cars are always faster than you no matter what- breaks the immersion. Every enemy will furiously attack you on sight no matter what you -or they- were currently doing. Immersion again.
In the end, it got so rinse-and-repeat that I couldn't finish it. I did get a lot further than I did with Far Cry 1 and its stupid Trigens though. Like someone said above, FC2 became a chore. Everything you did was a chore. And big loud firefights were probably the worst part of it all. I seemed to find the most enjoyment out of stealthing around, and the down time when I could just walk around looking at the stunning Sub-Saharan landscape.
[sub]And for the record, Far Cry 2 had hands down the sexiest sniper rifle ever[/sub]