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Trouble in Paradise...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 03, 2005
Author: Amazon User

The first thing you notice about Far Cry is the startling graphics on the back of the DVD case. At first I thought they were movie section screenshots, but no, they are the actual playing graphics. From here, you realise you will need a supercomputer to get the best out of this game. Even so, it can be played on a fairly cheaper/older PC but with the quality settings turned right down (the graphics may not be as good but for the sake of decent frames per second it is worth the sacrifice).

The tropical environment is beautiful with rich lush colours, and if you are lucky/rich enough to have the latest Geforce cards (6800 GT, Ultra, 7800 GT) you will gawp at the realistic sparkling water and the detail of the ground (leaves, stones, etc). Even on lesser cards, the graphics are rarely matched by any other game.

The plot is slightly simple (a sort of game version of The Island of Dr. Moreau) but the main two character are solid enough to give the story some substance. The game story changes half way through (won't give away how and why).

The game is hard (for me anyway) and to save your latest progress you need to pass a checkpoint which can be frustrating. However, this makes the game more intense (you learn from your mistakes more rather than blasting your way through blindly).

Vehicles are a fast way to get around the vast landscape (and fun to use - like Half Life 2). The game is not as open as, say, Vice City, but you can free-roam (though to hit the save points you need to follow a more limited path).

The weapons are great and each one has an advantage depending what environment you are in. If you out in the vast open then the rocket launcher and sniper rfile is the weapon to use. Inside, in the dark damp corridors, shotgun is better suited.

This game is overshadowed by the more popular DOOM 3 and HALF LIFE 2. But if you like to add another First Person Shooter to your collection, then you can't go wrong with this game.

Yawn

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 21 / 45
Date: August 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

"Far Cry" is another entry in the hype-over-substance market. Like a number of recently released games, the developers pat themselves on the back and call themselves "revolutionary" when they are just spitting out the same tired formula.

The major selling point for "Far Cry" is supposed to be its visuals; and to be fair, they are quite nice for screenshots. But when one gets inside the game, they will probably find that the graphics are neither significant to the gameplay or even consistent. Yes there are some nice, lush forests and the water looks good (for computer-generated water; it looks nothing like real water). But blended right in with these graphical niceties are the same old blocky object models, square rooms, and chunky character models. The rock/cave areas in particular look awful, with visible sharp edges and flat, lifeless textures. The aforementioned characters seem to not share lighting with the world, and in general are very polygonal (will we ever see real curves?). The whole thing doesn't work well together, and what the game ends up feeling like is a lazy amalgam of something old, something new.

Even the integration of the Havok physics engine feels half-done. For each shelf you can knock over there are ten flat-looking, boxy objects that you can't move or adjust. And again Havok is just window dressing. You can't significantly affect the gameplay with it. The biggest thing you can do is - if you are lucky - roll a big cylinder onto some guys or something similar. But usually the AI will just see you from 1000000 yards and rush at you, forcing you to resort to the usual shooter tactics.

The physics are also poorly tuned. There appears to be no friction in this game world. Shoot a guy on a hillside and he will slide down, gaining speed, until he gets stuck somewhere. When you are driving a car it will drift backwards down the hill unless you keep pressing forward. Car driving is pure frustration - the camera is so twitchy and sensitive that it is very hard to steer the car at all. I don't understand why people have to keep reinventing this kind of stuff - it's been done well in a number of games. There's no shame in mimicking a system that works.

Even the vaunted AI is less than stellar. AI "hear" and "see" you so easily that it is impossible to avoid a firefight. Some of the cheats are obvious and irritating - for example, given the wide open vista it would be cool to be able to lay down in grass and snipe targets far off. But the AI seem to magically know where the shot came from and will very quickly converge on your position. And even on full auto these guys are excellent shots. I guess we should be thankful for the rampant cheating, because without it the AI is the same old stuff you've always seen. They blind rush you when you've got great strategic position, allowing you to pick them off one-by-one. They don't run from grenades, or dive low to avoid them.

Putting aside the visual so-called technological advancements, the gameplay itself is tedious, frustrating, and overall extremely boring. It is nothing more than another iteration of run forward on a linear path, shoot, find key, repeat ad nauseum. This game is so linear and scripted that it hardly feels as if the player needs be present. And at times the game world just contradicts itself. For example in many areas you are given control of a heavy jeep, with perhaps a rocket launcher. Yet you cannot get through the flimsy fence that's ahead of you without the keycard? The story made no impression on me whatsoever; I wasn't even sure why I was running forward half the time. Something about genetic experiments and evil, I'm sure.

I just don't think there's enough compelling, new stuff here to warrant buying this game. If I could do it over I wouldn't pay for it. Unfortunately there is no real channel for renting PC games, which means generally the PC consumer gets screwed.

A lot of people don't feel there's any problem with seeing the same shooter over and over. There is a statement attributed to John Carmack that basketball hasn't changed in over a hundred years, and people still play it; thus, there is no need to change video games to keep people interested. However the difference is that basketball is a very nuanced game, while an FPS shooter is not. And I'm tired of playing the same game over and over.

If you like the by-the-numbers, rote FPS formula, then you'll probably like "Far Cry". It doesn't stray from that formula one iota. But don't be fooled by the hype, there's nothing revolutionary here.

Awesome!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: August 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I have played numerous PC games for many years and this game is simply AWESOME! A high end gaming PC is a must to get a full appreciation of the amazing graphics this game has to offer. I have a p4 2.53 512MB RAM ATI Radeion 9600 pro which was decent but when I put in a brand new NVIDIA 6800GT by BFG the game really came to LIFE! The AI and phyisics and story are all top notch. The graphics and game play make for one addictive game!

-Dave

Far Cry... FPS game of the year

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: December 07, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Having played and finished all three of the most system demanding FPSs of this year, that being Doom 3, Half Life 2 and Far Cry, I have to give FAR CRY my unequivocal vote for the best of the best award.

Why this game over the rest you ask? Fair question, let me explain...

There is one thing they all have in common and that's outstanding graphics: on that point there is no question. Where Far Cry has a slight advantage is in its enemy AI that makes it a challenge to play against and to defeat (maybe a little too hard towards the end, even on easy). However the one thing Far Cry has over the other two notable candidates is its nonlinear game play. You can, in this game get directly from point "A" to point "B" if you want to, but you may be able to accomplish the same task easier and at less risk by getting to point "B" by going to point "C" or point "D" first. There is just so much more choice and in turn just so much more fun. It simply has a replay value that the other don't have.

That is not to say that Doom 3 and Half Life 2 aren't great games; they are and then some.

The other thing besides the linear game play that took some of the edge off Doom 3 for me, was the relentless darkness and gloom. True, this initially added to the super scary atmosphere, but I found that this effect started to wear off about 1/3 of the way through.

To some extent the same held true with Half Life 2. The facial features and lip sync were fabulously done. The air-propeller driven water buggy and the dune buggy episodes were really fun, but I found the long segments through bombed out apartment buildings and parking garages somewhat repetitive and tedious after a while.

All in all a great year for the FPSs if you have the hardware and the system to play any of these three games as they should be seen. Far Cry just has that little bit extra that makes it my choice for game of the year..

A landmark first-person shooter

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: April 26, 2004
Author: Amazon User

FAR CRY
*****
"A landmark first-person shooter"
While the gaming world is eagerly awaiting HALF-LIFE 2 and DOOM 3, the two guaranteed best-sellers in the coming months, it has just witnessed a landmark first-person action game that is sure to become one of the best games of the year. Made by a German developer called Crytek, FAR CRY offers single-player action that is packed with excitement and ingenuity. Even with the lack of a save-game feature (the game auto-saves for you occasionally), the superb level design, strong AI, the detailed and realistic graphics, and the perfect combination of stealth and action make FAR CRY the best actioner since DEUS EX and HALF-LIFE.

The story is just an obligatory pretext for the gameplay -- mad scientists, ruthless fighters and mercenaries, scientific experiments gone awry, and a tropical paradise becoming a living hell -- the kind of storyline that any casual sci-fi fan should be intimately familiar with, right down to the surprising villain at the end. Much of the action takes place in a sunny tropical archipelago. You play an ordinary guy named Jack Carver who is trapped on the islands and must fight his way out, with occasional help from two people, a scientist working on the islands and your female companion, Val, who is abducted at the start of the game.

The first striking thing about FAR CRY is its immensely large exterior locations. Each map spans up to 1.2 km (3/4 mile), according to the designer, and much of it is accessible, from underwater to mountain tops, from one end of the map to the other. The large exterior is also highly detailed, notably the jungle, the foliage, the tall grass, right down to the insects and birds. And the water is the most realistic-looking I've ever seen. There are many indoor locations as well. Sometimes interior and exterior locations coexist on the same level -- you enter a huge exterior location, then go inside a building, then come back out to the same huge exterior. FAR CRY has the most realistic and detailed game world I've ever seen.

To be sure, you need the latest and fastest PC and video card to see all the details. With my P4 2.4 GHz and aging GeForce4 Ti4200, I have to set graphic details to medium to allow a playable frame rate of 20-40 fps, and that eliminates much of the environmental details, such as grass and insects. Note that FAR CRY is only compatible with GeForce and Radeon video cards (it states so on the box). One can download the playable demo from various sites, such as gamesdomain.com, to test your PC's ability. The demo contains the entire second level of the game. While FAR CRY is a game that is definitely worth upgrading your video card for, those who consider buying a GeForce4 FX or Radeon 9800 may want to wait a few weeks for a new batch of video cards, the NV40 from NVidia and the R420 from ATI.

The game also sounds terrific. It supports quadraphonic (4 speakers), surround (5 speakers), and Dolby 5.1 (6 speakers) setup. EAX (environmental audio effects) is also supported for Creative Audigy sound cards. Basically, EAX is way of making remote audio sounds realistic. For instance, when you eavesdrop someone in another room, his voice sounds a little farther away and also a little muffled or echo-y, depending on the distance and the acoustics of that room. When you are underwater, you hear muffled sound from above the water. Such audio realism helps you determine where the sound comes from.

The single-player portion of the game has one of the best AI I've ever seen. In many ways the enemies are almost as smart as I am. They can sneak up behind you, ambush you, snipe you, hide from you, run for cover, and alert others. I detected no scripted AI, which means enemies don't behave the same way every time. They can spot you from REALLY long distance, the same way you can. Enemies range from the weak mercenaries, the sharp-shooting elite force with shields, to the tough, mutated animals called trigens. Occasionally, you have to shoot down helicopters and other vehicles as well.

Given the strength of the AI, it is often best to surprise your enemies, and the game provides many means for stealthy gameplay. You can use the surroundings to conceal yourself, such as crouching or lying prone behind bushes or tall grass. You can use binoculars to spot enemies from hundreds of meters away. You can use heat-sensing night-vision goggles to spot enemies (some of them invisible) in dark places. Not to mention, you can engage in long-distance sniping -- and three of the weapons, thankfully, have telescopic view. Refreshingly, the game only allows you to carry four weapons at a time. So, be sure to keep one for sniping.

Of course, you can use brute force as well, especially in the later levels, when you are being hunted and have to engage your enemies head-on. Two of the weapons can fire very damaging rockets and grenades, and they come in handy. Not too surprisingly, these levels are the least interesting, and are unlike the earlier levels where stealth plays a bigger part. With the lack of a save-game feature and a scarcity of health medikits and armor, you have often to die and replay the same level over and over. The last level, in particular, is ridiculously difficult. Interestingly, there are cheat codes available on the Internet that let you freely save your game. That means the save-game feature is there in the game, but the designer chose to not let you use it.

But in spite of it all, the superb design of FAR CRY makes it a strong contender for action game of the year.

Truly Awesome

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: June 18, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've been into RPG's for a while, so this is the first pure FPS I've played in several months. I'm impressed! I mean really impressed! The graphics and huge maps for each level are mind boggling. I haven't been this blown away by a game's design since Tron. FarCry is a linear shooter without the ridiculuous puzzles and other garbage (like "secret areas", etc.). It's a little like a version of Soldier of Fortune that's finally been put together correctly. The replay value will be great because of the overall design. For example, the level I'm on has at least two ways to get to the final destination and three way to make it into the compound. The first try was a bit too hard (enemy firepower), so I backed off to try something else and ended up hang-gliding into the area. Each level is like this -- more than one way to accomplish the objective -- either on foot, by buggy/Humvee or boat. You can shoot from any position (even leaning), go prone, crouch, crawl through beautifully rendered jungle and other terrain. All the vehicles except helicopters are usable and well thought-out. The available weapons are well balanced, and the number you can carry is limited to just four which calls for decisions (good). And the AI ranges from good to incredible. On several occasions, the NPC's acted exactly like I would expect from a live opponent online (especially good is they way they'll try to flank you). The only glitch, and it's a big one (loss of a star), is the checkpoint gamesave system. This often seems arbitrary and is frustrating. One some levels you seem to go for a very long time through many difficult encounters with no save-game. On others, the going is relatively easy and there are several, almost unnecessary save-games. This has caused me a lot of frustration and curses yelled at the screen. They could have a least put in a quicksave feature. (I know there's a way to do it through the console, but it's just not the same). I have actually had to dial the difficulty back from challenging to medium because of this. You also need a pretty decent system to run FarCry properly. I have a 3.0 GHz P4 with 1024 MB RAM and a 9800XT. It has run flawlessly at high detail (there's a setup program that detects what settings you should use). I'm only about 2/3 finished with the single player game and I haven't tried the multiplayer. I understand there were initial issues, but a patch (27 MB) has been issued which is supposed to fix most of the problems. Even better, the gaming community is already coming out with mods and new maps (and there is a 64 bit version with even larger maps in the works). If you like straight FPS games, this one is a must have.

Immersive, engrossing--but make sure your system is up to it

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 14
Date: August 06, 2004
Author: Amazon User

FarCry does something that no other FPS game has ever done: it draws you into the world in a way that is extraordinary and, in some respects, disturbing. There are jump out of your chair moments here, folks, all the result of what may be the most visually impressive environment I've ever seen in a computer game. (Now, I've seen some complaints about "blocky graphics," etc. Trust me. It isn't the game. It has to be a graphics card that simply isn't up to the challenge. With a Radeon 9800 Pro with 128 MB of memory--what I would consider to be the minimum to experience the fully beauty and immersiveness of the experience--the detail and realism are simply staggering.)

What about the game? After all, visuals are just part of it. The game is fantastic--enemies that react and strategize in a way that makes you shake your head. They're gunning for you, watching your tactics, learning from them--you simply have to adapt and evolve to get through this game, but never in a way that's inherently frustrating or artificial. This game isn't tough for tough's sake.

An immersive game like this gives you a sense of the terror of falling from a rain forest catwalk into dense underbrush--confused, half-blind, and with the grunting and growl of fierce mutants, and the chatter of mercenaries all around you. Just watch your survival instincts kick in! And, most of all, remember to save!

Game won't install

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 8 / 12
Date: March 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Far Cry might be a great game but I'm only giving it 1 star since I haven't been able to install it after several hours of trying. I've tried everything short of uninstalling Nero and XP SP2 (Which apparently worked for some). I even updated my Installshield drivers, uninstalled DVDClone, shut down all startup programs, tried safe-mode and every time I try to install the %$#@!&* game it installs all 5 cd's and then tells me that the wizard was interrupted before the installation completed. WTF? At least ID provides manual installation instructions for Doom 3 as a workaround for their buggy install software.

Get the 256mb series of cards or else experience less

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 10
Date: October 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

While waiting for Half Life 2, you just might want to see a good reason why Valve would have hit enormous competition if it was released the same time as this vehicle that came in completely under the radar. FarCry is best played on the generation 256mb cards. If you don't have one well between this, Half Life 2 and DOOM 3, you really should or else you are not going to really experience this games are you?

FarCry makes use of everything your machine can throw at it. On top resolution the grass, trees, textures, maps, animation, shadows, gun fire, zooms, explosions, water are virtually unparalleled in terms of graphics except for DOOM 3 which beats it in lighting and story although FarCry can certainly holds it on for some time to come.

What makes FarCry so good is the endless size of the tropical islands, with the mercenaries running around the place looking for you. The game works on the bases of save points which activate a save for you. This is a type of saving the game that is turning some people off, but it does increase suspense dramatically and you should at least try and use it to improve the enjoyment you get from the gaming experience.

Really FarCry is a first person blast em up at its complex and detailed heart. There is no real content to review except go blast your way into becoming a hero and experience a type of world design not seen before. You get to drive, walk, run, swim, battle beasties, run through swamps with an M60 and night vision, blasting the baddies all night long. Its graphics make it well worth playing however it is not a wholly original experience - just a damn good that pushes a RADEON 9800 256mb to see what it can do and it is pretty impressive making the XBOX and PS2 look like a gameboy in comparison. Start the 256mb revolution with this, DOOM 3 and Half Life 2 when it comes out. You can not go far wrong with these three and that card for a revolution in the gaming experience.

not as good as demos, but worth the dough, for the outsides

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: March 29, 2004
Author: Amazon User

got full version on thursday (25th). played about 18 hours since then. on level 14 of 20. I LOVED the demos, played them for hours and hours. the full game has alot of linear indoor stuff as well though (just move down a tube). sometimes there may be 2 routes, but that is not nonlinear. it's still just shooting what ever pops up (attacks you). i hate that. and the monsters. nothing moves like that or ever will or should! i hate the monsters. i don't like panic (sure death mostly to 'learn' the combo) situations (makes me feel like a monkey). i like to be able to plan a strategy...gather intelligence, and employ a tactic i come up with (among several possibles) that is effective (or not). some of the maps allow this. though mostly (in middle of game) there's only 1 way possible tactic (shoot your way through)

also the AI 'alert' system needs some tweaking (eg alerting before i come through a door.."there he is!" the door's still closed and locked. they have a big shoot out without me (and die). other 'unrealistic' alerts as well.

some weapons (granade launcher) behaves differently at different points in game.

sometimes the game limits movement (aiming, squatting, leaning, for no apparent reason (ie not consistant))..you don't know when this will happen (needs to be consistant). there are a few collision points in empty air (can't go under desk, vehicle, between machinery rows).

a few times i've heard a voice (like it's near) and gotten killed while never seeing my attacker.

on training level, i ran into the chief merc on a helipad (after clearing most other mercs. i emptied clip after clip into his face, grenades, machete. not only did he not die, he didn't fight back, and he complained and called me names.

i had one message (critical cryengine error "accept") crash to desktop.

the outdoor levels provide more nonlinearity (enough), impressive graphics, remarkable AI (replay is key i think, they 'learned' to not allow me to use sniper spots over and over.)

my game runs fine at high-very high settings (p4 1.4, 1G rdram, 9700pro)

game is worth it, but not as good as the demo's throughout. for $39 bucks, it's worth it i guess.

perhaps, for the money it's too hard to produce a whole game like the demos, or perhaps they thought a mix of elements was appropriate (though it wasn't marketed that way, was it?)

still i like it. a good value, better than a max payne, but less than gta vice city. IMO

Cartoon Corpse

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