Far Cry 2 is a gem. While Far Cry 3 made bigger waves for the franchise and truly pushed it into the mainstream spotlight, the second entry in the series had a lot of interesting mechanics that went missing in the third. And though it used to be a footnote in chapters past, players can now explore the difference because Far Cry 2 joins the list of Xbox One’s backward compatible games.
With this reveal, gamers can now revisit Africa, complete with gun jamming, on-the-fly wound healing, the buddy system and everything else that made Far Cry 2 unique. It’s not to say it’s better than the follow-up title; Far Cry 5 definitely has some great new mechanics that Far Cry 2 did not have, but imagine if we could have both the old and the new.
That’s not all Microsoft revealed though. Driver: San Francisco and Sniper Elite V2 have also joined the list of backward compatibility. Sniper Elite V2 takes players to the Battle of Berlin, where American protagonist Karl Faireburne must capture or kill scientists involved in the German V-2 rocket program. As the name suggests, the game is highly focused on sniping, complete with realistic gun mechanics.
Lastly, Driver: San Francisco is known as one of the largest driving maps in games of its kind. The game recreates San Francisco with 208 miles of road to travel on. It also features landmarks like the Bay Bridge, Marin County, and Oakland. The plot is also a strange one for a racing game, with the protagonist actually in a coma the whole time, but with the ability to “shift” into other bodies, which is how the player changes what cars they’re driving.
These games are available to play now via Xbox One’s backward compatibility feature, whether you own the game digitally or physically.