Moving into the middle the pack, the two pieces that occupy fifth and sixth on my list are very different from one another. One, a thoughtful analysis of the game, and the other a meta-analysis of the early reception of the game.
#6 - Opinion: On Far Cry 2's 'Slow Burn’
Chris Remo’s seminal examination of how players seemed to be experiencing the appeared within days of the game’s release. I tried to stay away from pieces that were written in the first months after the launch window, but the way this piece framed people’s thinking about the game can’t be ignored. Pieces about the game written years after the fact (for example, the Alec Meer piece at #7) makes it clear that either Remo’s analysis was right - or that his framing changed the way critics play. Hmmm.
#5 - Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Warfare* But Were Afraid to Ask Far Cry 2
Over the past decade there have probably been thirty pieces that follow a similar structure to this one; walking through the general flow of the game progression and explaining how the various elements of the game and the narrative work together to reinforce the central themes and aesthetics. Leigh Harrison’s piece landed more than six years after the game’s release, and I chose to include it because of all of those pieces over the years, this one is, I think, the most articulate, and most well-written.
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