After replying to this thread a while ago I decided I didn't give the game enough of a chance, so like a couple of others I went back and reinstalled it and stuck with it. And yeah it does get much better and I'm really into it now, got about 80% of the game completed, all weps, upgrades, etc. I think the thing that turned me off to begin with was that it throws all its worst aspects at you right at the start, like the bad movement of the main character, the malaria, the crappy vehicles, the fact that 99% of the people in the game will shoot you as soon as they see you. Get past that lot and get a couple of decent weapons and the game opens up. The second island's much more fun cos that's when you get the heavy artillery and vehicles.
There's still some baffling design decisions but you get used to the stuff you don't like, and even the driving becomes OK after a while, cos it lets you explore the landscape more instead of just beaming from one location to another unrealistically. The respawning enemies aren't much of a bother tbh because it's not often you have to pass through a checkpoint you just cleared out rather than going a different way, plus those downed enemies are a good way to replenish your ammo instead of hunting for a weapon store. Plus the graphics are better than those in Crysis, there is much more gunplay than Crysis, the world is far more open and interesting, there's no stupid aliens, the game's much bigger and you get to start huge fires which add a whole new element to the gameplay. And the day and night cycle thing is fantastic.
Just an example of where the fun in this game is to be had: I drove into an enemy-infested checkpoint and my vehicle came under fire, I tried to pick the guys off but they got my engine hissing smoke so I decided to drive away at all speed and regroup. Unfortunately I drove right into the wooden railings of a span bridge and broke them, my vehicle was hanging off the bridge and I climbed out before it could drop. Just as I stepped out there was a noise behind me and an enemy truck hit a rock, went flying way over my head with the machine gunner still trying to hit me, and plunged all the way down into the ravine. I looked down and I could see it had overturned in the water, but the two guys had climbed out and they shot me in the face with shotguns from way down below. So I stepped back and tossed down a grenade, it fell onto the chassis of the truck and blew up, killing both the guys, at which point I sauntered back to the cleared checkpoint and picked up the only remaining vehicle. How many other games can do this sort of thing?
I misjudged this game early and nearly missed a really good shooter, I'm glad I went back to it because it turned out to be the sort of running-and-gunning, STALKER-ish game I love
![:\](/images/smilies/submitted/smark/ohwell.gif "Oh Well :\")
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