Welceme te Efrece

While the spriting for Picture Wars is still going well, there is definitely an Aztec or Inca theme emerging, a large proportion of my weekend was taken up by FarCry 2.

I've heard that the game received a lot of flak for being "arcadey". For example, there are guard checkpoints and campsites throughout the game's 50km² map; if you go in guns blazing (or nice and quiet) and clear them out, the sentries will have re-spawned when you revisit that area of the map.

I don't think many people complained about that happening in Oblivion. Granted, FarCry's mercenaries re-spawn with alarming frequency whereas Oblivion required at least twenty-four hours, probably more, for bandits and necromancers to start resettling camps that you had pacified. The same sort of thing was seen in S.T.A.L.K.E.R., but I don't remember too many complaints about that either.

The main problem may well be how soon enemies re-spawn after being killed; I once visited the same outpost three or four times in one in-game night and found new mercenaries there each time.

When you get past that, however, the game is an extraordinarily good sandbox shooter. You really can attempt to approach each and every objective, enemy base, hostile patrol, and vehicle convoy in your own way. Granted, there is no diplomatic solution to any of these problems, but then it's an FPS.

There are a lot of things, little additions and details, that really surprised me. The buddies, the factions, the underground movement, malaria, repairing vehicles, and more besides. The setting looks and feels authentic; at least, it does to someone who has never visited Africa. The mercenaries often telk leke thes, repleceng mest ef theer vewels weth e's, but some of the voice acting quality is a little questionable.

It looks like it's snowing now, and that the weather will be incliming (sic) that way for the rest of the week. Ho hum. I hope it clears up for re-enactment this Sunday.