The Games of Christmas '08: GPU Performance Part 1

Far Cry 2

When it was released, the original Far Cry stunned gamers and proved to be extremely popular. Indeed, it gave Crytek their claim to fame but since they have moved on to bigger and (not really) better things with the Crysis series, someone else would need to continue the series with another potential cash cow. Enter Ubisoft and their Montreal studios that have taken what Crytek started and have added a few new wrinkles to the fabric.

While the original Far Cry featured the main character Jack Carver running around a tropical paradise, Far Cry 2 is set in the depths of Africa where the player takes the reigns of an unnamed character. Civil war is the name of the game here and it makes for a very interesting setting as you search for The Jackal who an arms dealer is selling weapons to both sides. Naturally, your mission is to hunt down and kill The Jackal through whatever means necessary.

This is your typical first person shooter and much like the original, it is supposed to set a new standard in graphics quality.


Using their proprietary Dunia Engine, Ubisoft Montreal has crafted a game world unlike any other seen to date. There are several features of this engine such as destructible environments and life-like fire which really show you how far game design has come. Both DX9 and DX10 / 10.1 APIs are featured and as you will see, they offer some interesting performance differences.


While fire behaves almost like one would expect it to in the real world, the AI is also extremely intelligent. They will hunt you down like a dog when you are on the run and duck for cover when you are on the offensive.


Since Far Cry 2 plays much like any other FPS, there shouldn’t be any problem diving right into the hunt for the Jackal but there is one thing to remember: the gameplay is completely open ended. That means what you do in one portion of the game’s 50 square kilometers of playable territory could have an impact on another area.

Mention should also be made of the fact that all of this action takes place on a single map instead of the usual “levels” we have all become used to in first person shooters. Therefore, you will seamlessly transition into different environments from African savannah to some lush jungle.