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Thank Goodness no quicksave!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: September 12, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I know people go on and on about the graphics, but the best thing about this game is that there's no way to save a game. The game itself decides when it will save. It makes for so much fun!! You can play frustrating levels over and over and over and over (and if I forgot a few "overs," just add about 30!!). Even when you do a perfect job and have 100% health and ammo, you can't save!! So when you accidentally fall off a 10 foot ladder due to not hitting the key in exactly the right way, you get to play the level over again!! So fun! While most games written in the 21st century have a quicksave option so that you can play levels at your own pace and ability, this one was able to go beyond that "convention." It's true that this a much prettier game graphically than Doom 3, but the bad thing about Doom 3 is that you don't have to play the levels over and over and over (keep going!) and over (almost done!) and over again. Whee!

FAR CRY - muscling in on the Action Genre

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 16
Date: November 20, 2003
Author: Amazon User

My preview is based on articles and interviews I have read along with a viewing of the tech demo. Even so, it's worth a 5 for whetting my appetite with what it promises to offer.

There are many first person shooters, but Far Cry from German developer CryTek strives to add gameplay elements which make it worth serious consideration. Voted Best Game at ECTS 2003, Far Cry has managed to draw interest and create lasting impressions despite going up against heavyweight contenders such as Half Life 2 and Doom 3.

>>The Game Engine

CryTek have designed their own engine for running the game. The engine is known as CryEngine and is capable of rendering vast draw distances of up to 2 kilometers without fogging. It also makes use of polybump technology, enabling an object comprised of 250,000 polygons to be condensed into only 1,500 without virtually any loss of quality. This alone frees up cpu time and makes FAR CRY more accessible to lower ended systems.

Added to this is the ability to create real world physics. In the game you might decide to push some barrels in order to watch them roll down a hill onto the enemy. The barrels will roll the way they should depending on the angle used to push them and the shape of the ground they connect with. Push them again from a different angle, or using different force, and the barrels will roll in a different way.

This realism is also applied to the in-game characters which have been modelled with a great deal of attention paid to their skeletal structure. The character will react and/or fall according to where on the body a shot impacts - an event referred to in computer games as rag doll physics.

And lastly, the terrain is deformable. Use a rocket launcher and the shell's impact will leave a crater in the ground.

>>Game Premise

You play Jack Carver who is forced out of his sun-drenched semi-retirement to help out a female journalist in unravelling a mystery. There are homicidal mercenaries out to stop you.

>>Game Setting

The action takes place on the main island of Micronesia, although there are other smaller islands which you can sail or swim to.

Environments will range from jungles, caves, lagoons, ancient temples, and include facilities such as bunkers, underground laboratories and other claustrophobic indoor areas.

>>Player Freedom

The decision to set the game on a lush tropical island means that the game is not linear as in most shooters. You have complete freedom to move about and carry out your missions any way you deem fit. The player is in control, rather than being forced to complete missions in a set way. You are free to use your discretion and imagination to undertake missions using stealth tactics, all out assault, or a combination of the two depending on the circumstances you find yourself in.

>>Non-Scripted Artificial Intelligence

This, for me, will be the heart of the gameplay.

Because of the non-linearity of the game (even though there is a progressive story line), the AI units are NOT scripted.

The AI of the game was designed to "understand", and react to the environment. The enemy interacts with the environment just like you, and will use it for cover and to try take you down using tactics such as suppressive fire, outflanking etc. They will call for reinforcements - even from other islands - for backup. Each enemy unit will react not only to your input, but also with the surrounding terrain in unique ways. In other words, the enemy knows as much as you about the arena you play in. Each AI unit will have the ability to recognize objects within the environment such as rocks, water, trees, vehicles, as well as being able to recognize other agents in the game including dead AI units, and they will respond individually to the situation through their internal driven AI.

The beauty of this is that every time you play a section of the game the AI will respond in different ways so you never play out a scenario in exactly the same way. One example of AI attacking strategy in FAR CRY is that rather than keep shooting at the last location they 'saw' or 'heard' you, the AI will attempt to 'guess' where you might be moving to and in which direction, and will continue to hunt you down. This will make for very tense close combat and keep the adrenaline level pumped up for the player.

>>Weapons and Vehicles

At present, weapons range from a P90 SMG, OICW, AG36, M4, Desert Eagle, down to a machete.

Vehicles can be driven in 1st or 3rd person view with the ability to fire weapons while driving. Jeeps, boats, and HMMVs can be used by the player, and the AI will use vehicles to pursue you.

And did I mention you also get to fly hang-gliders? : )

>>The Sandbox Editor

My excitement was further increased with news of the Sandbox Editor which will be shipped with the game and is billed as the What You See is What You Play Editor. According to an interview with the developers, it took only 3 days (!) for one of their new multiplayer developers to learn how to use the editor.

You can build and edit terrain, drop in some AI units, then play test your scenario all with a few mouse clicks. Switching from the game to the editor will be easy (much like in Operation Flashpoint).

Fast development time for scenarios coupled with a low learning curve using the editor will ensure a formidable amount of Multiplayer maps will be developed soon after the game ships.

*An example of the Editor can be seen in the "tech demo" - see end of this preview for details.

>>For Programmers

For programmmers who want to write their own scripted routines, the game uses the Lua programming language which allows you to write and embed your own routines into the game without having to touch the game's original C++ code.

>>For the Mod Community

For modders, the news is also optimistic. The developers have stressed that everything in the game has been designed with the mod community in mind, and therefore can be modded quite easily. They have mentioned releasing development tools for the mod community either with, or shortly after, the game's release.

>>Summary

With huge terrains, vast draw distances of up to 2 kilometers, rag doll and real world physics, polybump technology, deformable terrain, an editor which appears to be simplicity itself, and an unscripted AI, next year looks promising for anyone willing - and daring enough - to take a relaxing (?) break in the lagoons, caves, and lush jungles of Far Cry's Micronesian Islands.

>>Additional Information

FAR CRY is presently scheduled for release in February 2004.

Two excellent interviews with CryTek's developers can be viewed at Game Zone and Avault.

* For an impressive demo of the game go to Gamer's Hell and download the 32Mb "tech demo". I'm sure you'll be excited at what you see.

Maybe Game companies in the US should look at this...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: April 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I just finished the full version of Far Cry, and have to say is WOW! No other game out there has held me so tight to a storyline since....Half-Life, and this one rivals it.

The graphics are intense and intricate all at the same time. The lighting is phenomenal, especially when shoothing at hanging lights. They swing and act like a real light source should! No other game out there has this level of detail, yet. The AI is pretty intense also, they work together and can surprise you nicely. The use of vehicle and mounted weapons is very nice.

One problem that I did have was the instillation of the game. It would not load beyond the 3rd disc, and this is evidently one of the problems being found. Very Frustrating! I ended up having to copy the CD's onto my hard drive and install them from there, which to my surprise, worked very nice. So, I did have quite a few headaches getting it installed, but trust me it was well worth it!

Also, the game is beautiful! Yes, I said beautiful, the landscapes, the structures, and the characters themselves. All this, and it ran nicely on a mid/low level system. Imagine that, a product that is awesome and it runs with low requirements. Whoa! Who could thought that it could happen!
(My System: AMD Athalon 1 GHz, 512 RAM, Radeon 9500 128mb, and Sound Blaster Audigy.)

The multiplayer is pretty good. Not the best I have played, but still fun. Nice use of vehicles and character classes.

All in all, I was very surprised by this game. It literally came out of nowhere. There was little press until release time. This game evidently came from Europe, and I hope is scares the US makers into working on their own products a little better.

And, yes it is a hard game. It is not meant to be one that you can just cruise through. It is meant to push you and drag you through the storyline. Also, there is a way to save your progress between save points. Check out the Far Cry website forums for it.

Hope this review helps someone in choosing this game. I know that I am pushing all my friends to try it and am going to be giving it as gifts.

Does not work

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 14 / 22
Date: March 20, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Will not work if you have a dvdr/rw or cdr/rw drive on your computer. How stupid is that? Very!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Awesome..with few minor glitches..

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: September 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Half-Life 1.5. Enough said!!! Amazing scenery..the whole game takes place on a bunch of deserted tropical islands with beautiful beaches/water/trees and foliage crawling with baddies and then some.. You have boats on the water hunting you with bazookas and Black Hawk choppers on the air that can be called in to dice and slice you if someone raises the alarm. You crouch, you crawl, you hold your breath before sniping the baddies riding towards you on a machine gun mounted jeep so that they are both dead before they reach you. The ambient sounds are great, you find bad guys not just by seeing them through binoculars, you sense them, you hear them walking around..and you really need to crank up the speakers..

Its not dark and creepy as Doom3, and the graphics is probably 80-90% as good (not so great facial textures, but the islands are so stunningly beautiful) and the gameplay is thousand times better. The bad guys AI is amazing as in Half life as they will hunt you in groups instead of running in to your machine gun fire. They are relentless and want to take you down. I sniped a sad bugger on the head as he stood near a stream and watch him slide in to the water and his blood seeping in to the water turning it crimson red!!! Awesome!!!

Few glitches include the time when I walked straight at a duo sitting on their jeep and as I pumped bullets in to them, they were screaming "Do you see him? Where is he?" as I am standing two feet away firing my gun

Also, I found it amusing that they would drive their vehicles right towards you, but stop at the very last second and not drive right over you. I would have driven over instead of having to stop and then shoot. Few minor bugs such as this and the potential of what this game could have been prevent it from becoming as good as Half life. I dont like that the game doesnt let you fight underwater. The amount of replay value might suck.

But all in all, this is a game that you need to play to see what Doom3 should have been.

Excellently made, I am truly impressed

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I have to say, being a nerd, going to a nerd school, and having all nerd friends, ive seen, played, and bought ALOT of games. I have enjoyed some of the recent titles, such as HL2 and Doom 3. But i have to say, none of them are as good as this.

I purchased this game recently, and i am very VERY happy with it. Not only are the graphics and scenery 100% incredible, but the gameplay is so non-linear (Free/not in a straight line/ uncontrolled), but the AI is far more intellegent in this game than any other game ive played. More than once ive seen them duck, call for reinforcements, and pull the alarm.

Now, to adress a few complaints against this game. First off, Someone said that they had to empty a clip into an enemy to kill them. This means, in general, that they dont know where to shoot. You have body armor, so dont you think the AI would too? jeez... Second, some complain that this is too hard. This really depends on the person who plays it, the Easy setting for Farcry is easy enough for anyone... Unless you just suck. Now, ive also seen a complaint about how "boring" the game is... WTF. Farcry is one of the most intense, realistic, heart stopping, and, in general kick ass forms of gameplay i have experienced in a long long time. Now, the most frequent complaint i have seen is about the fact that there is no quicksave. GET OVER IT. I dont know about you, but i learn from my mistakes. If you get killed, try something new the next time, and you'll be on the next level soon enough.

The only complaint i have, though minor, is about the cutscenes/plot. I mean... come on... it can't be that hard to synchronize the peoples lips with their voices... but i suppose that doesnt really matter =D. So, if youve been pondering whether or not to buy this game, do it. If they were asking 80 for it, i'd buy it. I love this game.

The best FPS now at a great price

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: February 23, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I first acquired Far Cry when it was initially released, but the copy was an OEM that did not allow online play. I just purchased a new copy that does have that ability.

I have been through the entire game twice, the second time in the "Realistic" difficulty level (not bad for a 62 year old), and then have started again to see how far I can get with just a hand gun. I have also downloaded mods and enjoyed those.

I own and have played many other leading FPS's such as Half Life 2, FEAR, DOOM 3, etc, etc, and in my opinion, Far Cry still remains the best of them all.

The outstanding features include a gorgeous, detailed environment; a varied and interesting set of HUGE levels with many possible non linear ways to achieve the goal, often with boats, vehicles and even hang gliders you can use; and an almost scary level of AI with mercenaries that run the gamut from cautious to extremely agressive. Finally, a fairly descent story as these games go. I highly recommend it to any FPS fans who do not own it already.

Jason Chamberlain

gotta admire the attention to detail

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: April 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Bought the full version and am approx. halfway thru the game.

PROS:
* excellent graphics and foliage modeling
* clever AI
* relatively non-linear freedom of action (despite what you may have read you don't have complete freedom to move everywhere on the islands....on many of the islands, if you attempt to travel around the backside of the island, an indestructable chopper will kill you)

CONS:
* Can't save your progress whenever you like (this can be really frustrating, especially when that last enemy on a level wastes you within site of a health pack or the next savepoint, however if you run the game in DEVMODE there is a semi-functional quick save/load key enabled...UBIsoft says this will be addressed in the next patch

* the game is maybe too hard (or more armor and health packs would be nice)..although I'm getting better at exploiting the weaknesses in the AI (lure 'em into an ambush)

* the AI isn't set up to react to sounds the way it should...a gunshot may alert the enemy from a kilometer away but not from the next room.

OVERALL: As is, this game rivals Operation Flashpoint as the best FPS ever IMO,...in time the modding community may make this an even better game

FROM THE BOX:
Supported Video Cards at Time of Release
NVIDIA GeForce 2/3/4/FX families (NVIDIA-based cards must have Forceware drivers 53.03; GeForce 2 and GeForce 4 MX cards do not support
all graphics features)
ATI Radeon 8500/9000 families (ATI Radeon 9500-9800 XT recommended; ATI-based cards must have Catalyst drivers 3.9
(laptop models of the listed cards are not fully supported)

These chipsets are the only ones that will run the game. Additional chipsets may be supported after release. For an up-to-date list of suppported chipsets visit the FAQ for this game at http:\\support.ubisoft.com

MY SYSTEM:
WinXP
P4 2.8c CPU on an Intel 865 based mobo with an 800mhz frontside bus
512mb DDR PC3200 SDRAM
Gigabyte brand ATI Radeon 9600XT video card

This game runs fine for me on the High settings (looks a bit nicer on the Very High settings but my framerate plunges if there is too much action in the area. Looks pretty decent on all low settings too.

While not nearly as much of a realistic combat simulation as the Operation Flashpoint series, Far Cry excells in the fun factor. Throughout the game there are nice little touches and an attention to detail that will leave you smiling :-)

Good Stuff

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: January 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Far Cry is easily the best FPS ever made because it exeedes every other FPS in every way possible (I say this after beating Half Life 2). The graphics are incredible, maybe not as good as Half Life 2 (the only way that it's not as good), you are equiped with some of the coolest weapons (and a lot of them), the story is great, and you can aproach most situations however you want. This is the best part; in most situations you can deside on a full attack on foot, or in one of many veicles. If you don't wan't to do that you can be stealthy, or snipe. It's all up to you. BUY IT

Gaming of the future with a bad kick to the past.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 8
Date: February 11, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I started Farcry with high hopes for it. It looked good, sounded good and was hailed as one of the best shooters since half-life. I began playing it and found that it was all that was promised. The graphics are just plain stunning, with the absolute largest environments I have seen in any game ever. The enemy AI is creepy smart, and will commonly outsmart and overwhelm you if you don't watch your step. Vehicles are driveable with crisp responsive controls and you may just have more fun on the driving sections over the walk and shoot parts.

One thing that makes Farcry special is the non-linear gameplay. You literally have a chain of islands to explore, and while it is mission goal oriented, you are rarely on a timer, so can wander, or swim, or boat, or drive around at your leisure.

I had only two problems with this game, the first of which is the voice acting. Not exactly a huge game buster, but when it sounds as if the actors are for the first time, seeing their lines and having to read them off a karaoke machine, it just get's a bit obnoxious. Especially when the mood before had been creepy and tense, only to have the mood killed by an over-enthusiastic tough guy line from your character.

The second problem would have been so very easy to avoid, and is a problem that most games over the last ten years have sidestepped without a problem. The achilles heel of Farcry is the pathetically outdated saving system. It is checkpoint based system, and not a very good one at that. You would think that in this day and age of gaming, most any big budget game would allow you, the gamer to choose where you save no matter where you are in the level. It is a huge inconvenience to say the least, especially when you need to do something else, like say, go to work, and you are between saves.

But hey, if you can't choose your midlevel saves, you would think that it would save for you before and after a firefight when you are ready for a break but usually, it doesn't. So, you are stuck having to replay engagement after engagement, having to take into account and memorize the location and pattern of every single enemy before you can limp from the area and see the godsend text "Saving Game" In fact you spend more time creeping through the game, hoping against hope that you hit an invisible checkpoint before you stumble across the next cluster of enemies for the start of the next set of frustrations.

I got well over halfway through the game, and in all my eight years of computer gaming, this is the first game that I quit on. It just became too tedious and obnoxiously frustrating to repeat the same fights over and over and over again.

I applaud the developers of Farcry for proving that games can look great and have stunning environments to play in however you want to do it. They can have brilliant bad guys who think tactically and really give you a run for your money. Unfortunately, they also proved that an amazing game can be ruined by a single problem that shows up as a minor annoyance, only later to be a gamebusting fault.

So, I say to the developers: Keep up with the amazing games, but get with the times with the saves. It's not like you are dealing with Super Mario Brothers here, I have 160GB of hard drive space. Let me use it.

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