How to Have Fun Playing Far Cry 2

So you bought Far Cry 2, the new PC video game. Heard about it, heard about the whole open-world, go anywhere, anytime thing. Thought you'd give it a try. And you did. And let me guess... You got about halfway through and you found it extremely repetitive. The game seems to consist of one endless litany of encounters with guard posts that respawn too fast manned with guards equipped with telescopic vision and backed up by enemy patrols that always manage to take you by surprise and shoot your vehicle into a smoldering chug-a-lug. The game is just drive, stop, shoot, repair, drive, stop, shoot, repair, occasionally complete an objective and then more drive, stop, shoot, repair, et cetera, ad nauseam, ad what-the-hell-how-is-this-fun?!?

Well let me tell you friend... Been there, done that. But now things are different. Now, believe it or not, I happen think that Far Cry 2 is, far and away, the best video game EVER.

How did I make this miraculous transformation? I'm not sure exactly what sparked this revelation but about halfway through Far Cry 2, after experiencing gameplay very similar to that outlined in the first paragraph above, I suddenly had an epiphany of sorts and realized, hey wait a minute... I'm going at this all wrong. And I was actually so excited that I immediately restarted the game because I wanted to experience the game from the beginning with my new 'legs'.

And here's how I learned to have fun playing Far Cry 2.

First and foremost, I learned to...

Slow the F#@k Down

Enemy jeep getting destroyed by the RPG-7 rocket launcher...

The first and most important change I made to my approach was I just simply slowed down. The epiphany I had was that Far Cry 2 is a game that doesn't lead you about by the nose but rather responds to you and the way you play. It waits for you to act and then it reacts. So if you go at the game hard and fast, it will come at you hard and fast. ALL the time. If, on the other hand, you slow down, and I mean really slow down, you will take the game by the balls, you will own the landscape, you will own the guard posts and you will own the enemy patrols.

And when you slow way the f#@k down, you have time to do things like...

  Build a Balanced Weapon Loadout