40 Fun Facts About Far Cry 2

Which disease strikes Far Cry 2's mercenary in regular fits, blurring his vision until treated?

Malaria was added to give players a constant worry, and early builds were harsher still: during a fit the player lost control of the mercenary altogether.

Far Cry 2's director revealed the hunted arms dealer was meant to be which first-game character?

Jack Carver, hero of the first game, was imagined as scarred by its events and turned into a major smuggler, though nothing on screen in Far Cry 2 ever says so.

Far Cry 2's team weighed settings as far-flung as the Arctic and which planet before choosing Africa?

Mars was floated in early planning, and Japan, the American West and the Australian outback were weighed too before Africa won for its variety of terrain.

Which gems, found in briefcases scattered around the country, serve as currency in Far Cry 2?

Diamonds are the only way to buy weapons and equipment, so the mercenary carries a locator that points towards hidden caches of them.

Which Joseph Conrad tale of a steamboat journey into colonial Africa inspired Far Cry 2's story?

Heart of Darkness gave the game its theme of how far people will go to survive, and its film version Apocalypse Now was an influence as well.

What happens to guns scavenged from enemies in Far Cry 2 as the mercenary keeps firing them?

They jam and break down: a worn gun first sticks mid-fight and has to be cleared by hand, then fails for good and must be thrown away.

The string sections of Far Cry 2's score were recorded at which famous London studio?

Abbey Road's Studio 3 hosted six string players from the composer's own orchestra, picked because they would attack their instruments ferociously.

Which German studio made the first Far Cry before Ubisoft Montreal took over with Far Cry 2?

Crytek signed with Electronic Arts in 2004 and went on to make Crysis, so Ubisoft bought the Far Cry name and gave the sequel to its Montreal team.

Besides jeeps, buggies and boats, which unpowered aircraft can the mercenary fly in Far Cry 2?

Hang glider flight is quick and silent, and in several spots it is the only way to reach a case of gems that cannot be collected on foot.

Which playable mercenary in Far Cry 2 is a former US Marine, aged 28, who left the Corps for private security?

Marty Alencar was born in Brazil and moved to the United States at 14; he joined the Marines straight out of high school and later served at a naval station in Egypt.

Which former smuggler, aged 24, is the youngest of the nine playable mercenaries in Far Cry 2?

Xianyong Bai trafficked goods between western China and Pakistan as a teenager, then used official credentials to move medical supplies into poor parts of Africa.

Which former paratrooper, aged 48, is the oldest of the nine playable mercenaries in Far Cry 2?

Josip Idromeno, a Kosovo-born bear of a man who once ran a small trucking company, takes high-risk contracts to support his family back in Europe.

Quarbani Singh, a playable mercenary in Far Cry 2, spent 14 years policing which island nation?

Mauritius is where Singh rose to police superintendent before taking security contracts across Africa, and his file hints at a wife and children in Paris.

Paul Ferenc, a Budapest-born playable mercenary in Far Cry 2, did army service in which country?

Israel became his home when his family emigrated in the 1980s; he went missing from the army weeks before his discharge and later ran stolen cars through Turkey.

Frank Bilders, Far Cry 2's Northern Irish playable mercenary, was held in which notorious prison?

The Maze held Bilders for three years of a five-year sentence, and an attack in its machine shop wrecked his knee, which is why he wears a leg brace.

Andre Hyppolite, playable in Far Cry 2, grew up in the capital of which Caribbean country?

Haiti made him an insurgent, yet his file notes a conscience: he walked away at the last minute from a plot to kill the exiled president Aristide in Johannesburg.

Hakim Echebbi, playable in Far Cry 2, was a lieutenant commander in which country's navy?

Algeria gave him command of a maritime counterinsurgency unit; after an attack that killed his sister he resigned and put a fortune into Dubai property.

Warren Clyde, playable in Far Cry 2, grew up on an Arapaho reservation in which US state?

Oklahoma raised a football player who studied aeronautics at Tulane; an injury ended his army hopes, so he became a bodyguard and then a charter pilot.

Far Cry 2's developers camped on the savanna for two weeks in Tanzania and which neighbour?

Kenya was the main model for the setting, and the trip showed the team they had got the look of the place badly wrong, so they reworked the game's world.

Reuben Oluwagembi, a civilian the mercenary helps early in Far Cry 2, works in which profession?

Journalist Reuben is covering the civil war, and after the credits the press ignores his story, so he starts publishing it on his own blog.

Which Far Cry 2 network trades the mercenary's medicine for delivering passports to refugees?

The Underground works to get refugees out of the country, and the more notorious the mercenary becomes, the less it trusts him and the harder the pills are to get.

The United Front for Liberation and Labour fights which rival faction in Far Cry 2's civil war?

Alliance for Popular Resistance fighters, the APR, are no better than their UFLL rivals: both sides claim to speak for the people while preying on civilians.

Far Cry 2's mercenary never speaks, a blank slate modelled on which silent shooter hero?

Gordon Freeman of Half-Life was the model, and for the same reason the mercenary's body stays out of view except in moments such as treating a wound.

Far Cry 2's Buddy system drew on the Girlfriends feature of which Rockstar crime game?

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas supplied the idea of relationships to keep up, mixed with XCOM's soldier management, and a Buddy who dies stays dead for the rest of the game.

On PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Far Cry 2 saves progress only at which captured locations?

Safe houses have to be taken from the enemy first, and the computer version dropped the limit, letting players save anywhere.

Far Cry 2's mercenary restores health with water bottles or which single-dose injectors?

Syrettes are carried in limited numbers, and once health turns critical the heal button instead plays a scene of the mercenary treating his own wounds by hand.

Which blade does Far Cry 2's mercenary carry for melee kills alongside thirty firearms?

Machete kills are the game's one melee option, and the Jackal drives a blade of his own into the wall just above the mercenary's head when they first meet.

Which public transport serves as the fast-travel network across Far Cry 2's open world?

Buses run fixed routes, and every other journey means driving, sailing or walking through country where any armed group in range will open fire.

Which engine was built for Far Cry 2 by gutting and rewriting nearly all of its predecessor's code?

Dunia was built so that a square kilometre of terrain could be made in a day, and upgraded versions went on to power the later Far Cry games.

Which designer, fresh from Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, directed Far Cry 2 and chose its setting?

Clint Hocking took the job as a break from Splinter Cell, and he added the forgiving rescue system because that series' harsh death penalties had frustrated him.

Baaba Maal, who sings on Far Cry 2's soundtrack, comes from which West African country?

Senegal's Baaba Maal recorded full vocals and chant-like parts for composer Marc Canham, whose first, louder drafts Ubisoft had turned down as too bombastic.

Which mobile publisher remade Far Cry 2 as a top-down shooter for phones with ten missions?

Gameloft released its phone version after the main game, and Pocket Gamer praised it as a strong game in its own right.

Rock Paper Shotgun likened Far Cry 2's punishing difficulty to which later action RPG series?

Dark Souls arrived three years later; Rock Paper Shotgun's retrospective argued the shooter got there first, and named it the best entry in its series.

Which late-night TV brand co-produced a free album of South African music to promote Far Cry 2?

Adult Swim put the album out as a free download the day before the game launched in North America, with behind-the-scenes footage of the production included.

Far Cry 2's plot of wiping out both sides of a conflict echoes Red Harvest by which crime writer?

Dashiell Hammett sent a lone operative into a lawless city to destroy its warring sides, the same path the mercenary takes between the two factions.

At his first meeting with the mercenary in Far Cry 2, the Jackal quotes which German philosopher?

Friedrich Nietzsche's Beyond Good and Evil supplies the lines; the Jackal then declares that nobody can kill him and leaves the feverish mercenary alive.

Flora Guillen, a Buddy in Far Cry 2 who served in Angola's army, was born in which country?

Cuba sent her to Angola on an officer exchange, and when its forces withdrew she was among the thousands who chose to stay on.

Far Cry 2 was first announced as an exclusive for which platform, before other versions followed?

Windows was the only target until another team showed the engine running on consoles after a media event in Leipzig, and the plan grew.

Far Cry 2 dropped the sci-fi tone its predecessor took from which H. G. Wells novel?

The Island of Dr. Moreau fed the first game's mutant-filled story, which split players, so the sequel aimed for a darker and more realistic tone instead.

Which Far Cry 2 downloadable add-on introduced an exploding crossbow and a silenced shotgun?

Fortune's Pack arrived the month after launch with three new weapons, a utility truck, an ATV and five extra multiplayer maps.