Had read enough forum posts to know of its sand box nature and what to expect. While I did enjoy the openness after a while I did get tired of how the mission structure is (Go back to center town then head back out). I did like that there was a bus to quick travel as I used that often to get to different parts of the map.
Combat felt fine as was vehicle control. Lots of confusion sometimes in figuring out where the bullets were coming from but at times like that you just run for cover. Even though the place was mostly desert or jungle, there were lots of nice little village or just random buildings that allowed for fun situations.
I mostly did the main missions. Still took me 30hrs to finish. I only did a few buddy missions and a few more gun missions to open up the weapons. At first I also explored more for diamonds but later gave that up unless I spotted one while driving/boating.
The fire effects were nice too. A few explosions and you might end up surrounded by burning grass or in a burning building. The villagers should be more careful with all those explosive barrels they have stacked around.
I didn't pay too much attention to the story. Just did missions and randomly drove around getting jumped by every other person in a car. Ending was a bit different than I expected. Fun enough game to jump in when you want some quick combat.
