Far Cry
All we wanted was a nice little tropical vacation...
By Susie Vee

PLATFORM: PC

PUBLISHER: Ubisoft

DEVELOPER: CryTek

GENRE: 1st-Person Shooter

ESRB: Mature

SCORE:

Let’s start by saying that Far Cry is a great game. Let’s also get out of the way that it’s not the end-all and be-all of first-person shooters, as some of our more excitable colleagues in the game journalism industry may be claiming. What it is, however, is a good-sized step forward in game design, and a great technological achievement.

The game’s main claim to fame is its gigantic outdoor environment, allowing you so see roughly 800 yards into the distance – and allowing you to snipe enemies from that far away. The tropical island setting also looks great, even if most gamers will have to turn down the detail settings a few notches.

On the other hand, Far Cry is a prime example of where we are in the history of game development. Big budget, A-list titles like this, with great production values and big marketing budgets are currently trying to figure out what kind of games they really are. Is Far Cry a classic-but-dated FPS (like Unreal II) or is it a steal/tactical game (like everything from Splinter Cell to Thief)?

As an outgunned, outmanned lone wolf on an island teaming with villains, you won’t last very long playing in a run-n-gun style. Stealth is the logical way to play a game like this, but the stealth mechanic is so touchy that it’s almost impossible to get very far without being spotted.

We liked the game’s seeming non-linearity, but there were plenty of points during the proceedings when due to scripting or the geography of the island, we felt like we were being steered down a specific path.

The plot is throwaway, and you’re pretty much just thrown into the deep end without much of a tutorial (or backstory) at the beginning, so we felt somewhat detached from the action. The main female character gets kidnapped at the beginning, and you spend much of the game trying to find her – poor Valerie is not only offscreen, she’s also a typical helpless damsel-in-distress. Other than that, we didn’t find much to take offense at in Far Cry. Even the macho-guy mercenaries, who you can eavesdrop on, don’t spew anything but cartoon vulgarities.

But enough complaining – once you get into it and get the hang of the slightly sloggy controls, Far Cry is a blast. There’s a ton of variety in the situations you’ll fight through, and there’s often more than one way to get to your objective.

There’s also a rudimentary vehicle system, but driving boats and jeeps is a bit of a hassle, and their usefulness is somewhat limited, since every bad guy on the island seems to zero in on you right away when you're driving.

If you’ve got a high-end PC, and you want to take a not-to-serious tour of a lush, tropical environment, Far Cry is the video game equivalent of a great popcorn movie.