Far Cry Review – Introduction
Tired of waiting for high profile sequels like Half Life 2 and Doom 3? Need something to
justify the purchase of that shiny new video card? Well wait no more, German developer Crytek
has brought us Far Cry, a next generation title you shouldn’t overlook. Easily the best looking
game on any platform to date, Far Cry has plenty to offer in terms of graphics and gameplay.
This one is easy to recommend.
 |
|
| Title: | Far Cry |
| Distributor: | Ubi Soft |
| Sugg. Retail: | $39.99 USD |
| Supported OS: | Windows 98SE/2000/XP |
| Minimum Specs: | 1GHz Processor 256 MB RAM 64 MB DirectX® 9.0b-compatible graphics card 4x DVD-ROM 4GB Free Space |
When you install and play Far Cry the first thing you’ll notice is how absolutely beautiful this
game is. Lush green undergrowth sways in the breeze, water sparkles and shimmers as it reflects
the landscape, everywhere is a vibrant interplay of light and shadow.
 |
 |
 |
The game boasts a draw
distance of 1.2 km, and takes place on a number of small tropical islands. This setup allows
you to see the entirety of whatever level you are on. At any time you can use a pair of
binoculars with various zoom settings to examine your surroundings. Being able to see massive
outdoor environments like this is not only visually impressive, it also adds realism to the
experience.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
As you play through the game you’ll notice small visual details that give the game a polished
feel and help draw you further into the experience. As you walk through the jungle, light
filtering through the leaves overhead will run along the length of your gun. When not looking
through the scope of your rifle, the lens will shine with a tiny distorted reflection of the
scenery in front of you. Small touches like this add to the overall “wow” factor of the game.
 |
 |
 |
You will need a high end DirectX9 compatible card to truly appreciate all this game offers, but
you will be glad of the investment.
Far Cry Review – Overview
Longer than the average shooter, it took this reviewer approximately twenty-five hours to complete
the single-player campaign. In an age when games seem to be getting shorter and shorter, it’s
refreshing to see a game with a bit more meat on its bones.
Load times are not really a problem here. The game will load between levels, but the levels are
massive and once loaded there are no pauses in the gameplay, only momentary flashes when the game
lets you know it has autosaved. These are so inobtrusive you will sometimes not even notice them.
You cannot quicksave your progress, if you die you have to load from one of these predetermined
autosave points, but the placement of these is usually pretty intelligent, and not having to worry
about constantly saving can actually be a refreshing change of pace.
The plot of the game is barely worth mentioning. You play as Jack Carver, a former special ops
soldier who quit the millitary to become a civilian sailboat captain. However, your peaceful
life is interupted by the evil machinations of a mad scientist and his army of goons, who blow
up your boat and kidnap your hottie passenger Valerie. Val comes from the Lara Croft school of
female game characters, she’s similarly physically endowed and even sports a similar “fashion
mole” on her lip. She appears in several gratuitous booty scenes, emerging dripping wet from
the surf, bathing in an island waterfall, etc… Sometimes you’ll feel as though you’re playing
an episode of Baywatch. The story takes a few predictable twists and turns, and contains some
sci-fi elements, and generally serves to put you in situations with lots of baddies to shoot at.
Action fans will be pleased to know it does this well and often. Fortunately, the game is so
pretty and so fun to play, you won’t be paying much attention to the mediocre story.
Far Cry Review – Gameplay
The gameplay in Far Cry is engaging and as detailed as the visual aspect of the game. It can be
frustrating at moments, but you’ll always be coming back for more. The weapons are all modeled
after realistic modern firearms. There are no real surprises here, but all the bases are covered.
They “feel” like real weapons when you fire them, machine guns will recoil and jump with automatic
fire, the sniper rifle will bob and weave with your breath when zoomed way out, and of course the
models are all beautiful. You can carry up to four weapons at one time, meaning you will sometimes
have to strategically pick the right gun for the right situation.
The game has a robust physics model, many objects can be affected by gunfire and explosions.
Enemies will die with satisfying “ragdoll” animations, and there are several situations where
you wil be able to roll barrels down a hillside to crush bad guys. In some cases the terrain
will deform with explosions, which is a cool effect, unfortunately this doesn’t seem to happen
most of the time. Also, it is disappointing how few obects can actually be destroyed. Trees
and buildings can take a full clip of rockets and suffer little more than a scorching.
The enemy AI is competent and well programmed. Enemies will take cover and aggressively team up
and try to flank you, issuing verbal commands to one another. The “stealth” aspect of the game
is one which could have used more work. Sometimes no matter how stealthy you try to be, enemies
will be alerted to your presence, and once one has seen you, all enemies in the area will go fully
hostile. It’s usually better to take the direct and violent approach.
There are a variety of drivable vehicles in the game, several with mounted weapons, and these are
all an absolute blast to drive. There are some fun chase sequences scattered throught the campaign,
on land, sea and air. Each vehicle has its own distinct wieght and feel. Zipping down a river
in a patrol boat feels quite different from soaring through a deep valley in a hang glider, once
again a testament to the games great use of physics.
The Multiplayer portion of the game offers endless hours of entertainment. There are several
different modes of play, including classic deathmatch and CTF, but the main draw seems to be the
assault mode. In this team based game, one team will try to capture a series of checkpoints
while the other defends. There are different character classes, similar to Half-Life’s Team
Fortress. There is a fighter who carries assault rifles and submachine guns, a sniper, and an
engineer. The engineers can drop health packs, lay mines and build structures at various
predetermined points in the level. The structures can be anything from defensive walls to gun
emplacements and towers. These can be destroyed with enough firepower, and rebuilt again,
adding an almost RTS-like give and take element to the game. A good combination of the three
classes is needed to acheive victory. There’s nothing particularly groundbreaking here, and
it’s not as fast paced or fleshed out as other recent games such as Unreal Tournament 2004, but
the online game is fun, stable and is easily the best looking multiplayer shooter to date.
With the inclusion of the CryEngine Sandbox, a development tool that allows users to create
their own content, we are sure to see some great mods. The future online life of Far Cry looks
promising.
Far Cry Review – Conclusion
This game is a must play, if only for the amazing graphics. We finally have a true next
generation game, and a professional and polished one at that. It is not without its weak points,
namely the paper-thin plot and the occasionally frustrating gameplay. But these flaws are
vastly overshadowed by the creative and technical accomplishment that is Far Cry. This is a
true rival to the elusive Half-Life 2, and best of all, it’s complete and available right now.
If you have the harware to run it I highly suggest picking it up. If you don’t, perhaps it’s
time for an upgrade.
Thanks for reading today.
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| Store Rating | Store Name | Price | Visit Store |
|---|---|---|---|---|
   794 Store Reviews |  CircuitCity.com | $ 769.99 | 
| |
5662 Store Reviews |  PC Connection Express | $ 769.00 |
| |
415 Store Reviews |  Sears | $ 769.99 |
| |
7246 Store Reviews |  Beach Camera.com | $ 743.96 |
| |
1416 Store Reviews |  PCNation | $ 751.99 |
|
Related posts:
- City Life PC Game
- Sapphire X9 XT 5MB Video Card Review
- The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay (Developer’s Cut) Review
- Nyko AirFlo PC @ MaxOC
- Company of Heroes (PC) Review @ ThinkGaming.org
