If you are concerned about Far Cry 2 because you didn’t play the first, fear not because the second has nothing to do with the first.  With that barrier shattered, let me state upfront that FC2 does alot of things right, and it screws up some things too.  The visuals in this game are stunning, I personally found them more interesting than graphics in Crysis.  From shadows to the flame effects, it is hard to be dissapointed with the way this game looks.  The game plays like an open world game, where the player can choose what missions he wants to do and when.  This is fun, and lets the player explore the African enviroment freely, though this is also the games greatest downfall: pacing.  Because the player has to do a variety of missions for different things, (weapons, medicine, money) the main goal to kill the “Jackal” is forgotten.  The story has you in the middle of an African civil war between the UFLL and the APR.  I played the whole game and never really figured out what those acronyms stood for, nor the different between them.  I suppose this could be intentional from the developers as a plot point, though I found it frustrating because I often forgot who I was doing the mission for.  The gunplay is very satisfying however, and the wide varity of weapons give you many options for how you creatively accomplish your tasks.  FC2 also does something interesting by introducing the buddy system, which makes some of your friends come and revive you after you have been downed in combat.  I found this feature useful as I sometimes would go too deep into enemy territory when I wasn’t prepared.  I have read in other reviews about the frustrating random encounters, and while I agree that they are pests, the fact that they are there keeps me from getting bored while driving about the landscape.  I did however, find that the respawn times of enemy outposts was far too short, which was a minor annoyance.  Overall I thouroughly enjoyed Far Cry 2, and if you are a fan of shooters, this is an excellent choice.  As a final note, don’t underestimate the “dart gun,” it is the most lethal dart gun I have ever seen.