Far Cry 2

Far Cry 2 places the player in a vast open African landscape ravaged by civil war, where as a mercenary they try to track down an arms dealer known as the Jackal. The game is known for the dynamic spread of fire across dried-out vegetation, which spreads according to wind direction and can drive off both enemies and the player themselves, for decaying weapons that jam and have to be continually swapped for new ones, and for malaria, which occasionally drops the main character to the ground and forces them to take medicine so as not to pass out in the middle of a firefight. The open world is also populated by dozens of armed patrols, checkpoints, and so-called buddies, who can save the player directly in combat if they're wounded, giving the game an unusually raw, unpredictable feel to every encounter.

The Xbox 360 version launched on the same day as the PC version in 2008 and offers the same open world, the same main storyline, and the same side quests scattered across the map, including the need to travel between missions under one's own power through desert, savanna, and rivers instead of fast travel on the map. The graphics were slightly simplified compared to the PC version, with lower-resolution textures and shorter draw distance, and the game runs at a fixed resolution with a target frame rate of around 30 frames per second, whereas the PC version could scale detail and performance according to the computer's configuration, from weaker rigs up to the era's top-end hardware. Controls moved to the gamepad instead of mouse and keyboard, which changes the feel of shooting and long-range aiming, and the game lacks modding support, which PC players later made extensive use of for tweaking the game, fixing bugs, and adding their own content extensions. Cooperative and competitive multiplayer nonetheless work on the console the same way as on PC, just via Xbox Live instead of computer servers, with the same game modes and maps as on the other platforms released the same day, so console players didn't come away with content diminished compared to PC, just adjusted controls.

Why play it: For players who prefer a gamepad, the Xbox 360 version offers the same open world and story as the PC, just with slightly simplified graphics, a fixed resolution, and no modding support.