Far Cry

"The latest, the Greatest, The Highest system requirements! Choice!"

Oh... My... God...

This is one of the greatest games I have ever played. The AI are actually intelligent, the game's difficulty is through the roof, even on easy mode, the attention to every single detail is superb. And Cryengine gets a cookie for it's abilities.

Graphics: Ok, look. I don't have the greatest chip in the world, a Radeon 9200, But even with this dated thing, The graphics simply blew me away. Cryengine, the built in game engine is absolutely stunning. Physics are right on, and the draw distance...
Amazing! Normally on a game, you either get about a half-mile draw distance, whatever. Either that, or it's a wall (like in Halo) Cryengine boasts a 1.2 Kilometer Draw distance!
Of course, just because you can see really far, doesn't mean that you'll be able to peg off someone from 1.2 kilometers away... very easily, anyways. However, you can lay down on the ground, and that increases your ability to peg off a headshot accurately by a ton!

Textures are incredible, but then again, so's everything else about the game! Now if only developers could figure out how to turn all those shrubs from simple bitmaps into actual 3D mesh without slowing down your system, that would just be fantastic.

One last note about game physics. If the enemy has a rocket launcher, DO NOT RESORT TO HIDING BEHIND A PILLAR. Unlike most games, shockwaves do not stop where
10/10

Sound: I really don't have a say here, because I have a sound card from the stone age. however, I do like the sound quality. The voiceovers are pretty awesome. Also, I seem to notice that when you have a tridgen running at you, roaring it's pants off, I notice that it seems like the sound is actually coming from the Tridgen itself. Spiffy.
I found it kind of funny that some of the mercenaries sound like whining officemen. However, that didn't happen too often. Most of the time, they sound like the pound-me-in-the-butt kind of thing you'd expect from a (jailmate). Deep, tough, burly, don't-mess-with-me-or-you're-dead kind of voices, really.
10/10

controls: I love it. My only pet peeve was that you could only carry four weapons, but in the grand scheme of things, one can get over it. Walking around, the controls are pretty easy. press the 'W' key to move forward, that kind of thing.

One feature I love with this game, is you can use the 'Q' and 'E' keys to lean left and right, respectively. Using this, you can peek around the side to find out what's going on BEHIND that corner before you run over there and raise hell. Saves you having to die that one extra time.

One last thing you wouldn't want to do is fire while running. Now, in this game, you can hold the shift key to run, much like you could in the old DOOM games. However, much unlike this old gem, running causes you to lose accuracy. And I mean by alot. You'd have to play to find out how much it does.

Vehicles: Yikes! I like bumpy rides... in real life. Of course, you're on a tropical island with all these bumps and bruises, but that doesn't mean the cars can't have suspension. If you get motion sick easily, I would recommend not driving. period. When I say "In the Driver's seat experience", I mean it. You can see the steering wheel turn, and all that other fun stuff. The only other problem I have with it, is that you can't see the little hands... turn the little wheel! Last time I checked, Neuro-technology was still in the planning stages! Don't get me wrong though... If you're the kind of the person that can ride in the front seat of a top-ranking roller coaster over and over again, it'll be a fun ride!
8/10.

Online play: I have two words for you. Don't. Bother. Online play is fun and exciting given two circumstances.

1: there are low-ping servers available.
2: there are enough people to fill up the map without it getting boring.

On both these things, far cry fails miserably. Not to mention the fact that your CD key is saved on Ubisoft's servers, so if you reformat and reenter your CD key... Well... Sucks for you... Well, not really.
3/10

Fun factor: Well, this is one of the scariest games I have ever played. And I loved every second of it. With the exception... of course... of the near-useless machete. If they had put in a use for it, I may have actually used it!

If you like running over genetically mutated monkeys in a 4x4, this is the game for you!
10/10

rent or buy: (Does that even apply for PC games?)

Overall: 10/10

Last thought: This is a great game to keep you occupied until the great trio come out: Halo 2, Half-Life 2, and DOOM III.

Also, I was watching G4's endless footage of E3 and noticed that they're coming out with a sequel-type-thingy. So keep on the lookout for that!

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/25/04