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A far cry from pretty, but nails fun right on the head.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 27 / 27
Date: January 03, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The Nintendo Wii isn't even two months old, yet many gamers including myself have gotten a grasp on which types of games play well and which ones don't play so well. So far, the first-person shooter genre has been the target for a lot of controversy; some Wii gamers love stuff like Call of Duty 3 and Red Steel while others complain that the games are unplayable. I fall into the former category, and thus decided to give Ubisoft Montreal's Wii iteration of the Far Cry series a shot. Far Cry: Vengeance has its ups and downs but altogether is the most playable Wii shooter yet.

Far Cry: Vengeance won't win you over with its story. Jack Carver gets caught up with a busty arms dealer named Kade who gets him into all sorts of trouble with a crazed madman named Semeru, his mercenaries, the military, and a man in charge named Kien Do. I've never really liked Carver, even in the series' 2004 PC debut. Vengeance does nothing to change that, with poorly constructed cinemas and the worst voice acting since...well, Elebits, which came out the same day. I'll just say that December 12th, 2006 marked the day of all days for awful voice acting. As a result, I couldn't find myself caring much about the story and just wanted to shoot some thugs in the jungle.

Far Cry: Vengeance uses familiar Wii shooter mechanics but does everything better and smoother. Aiming around the screen works well and the aiming/turning "box" feels more natural here than in Red Steel or Call of Duty 3. Ubisoft Montreal added an extra helper by letting the player prevent the camera from turning by holding down the A button. This allows for super-precise aim and severely limits missed-shot frustrations. Jumping with the nunchuck (flick up) works well, and I personally think that reloading (C button) is much more natural than flicking (Red Steel) or pressing the super-small Minus button (Call of Duty 3). I can't say enough how much more I enjoyed playing this game just because of its intuitive controls. Ubisoft Paris and Treyarch, grab some paper and take notes

There are definitely a lot of guys to shoot, too. I am somewhat disappointed, generally speaking, that Ubisoft Montreal went away from the original game's stealth-centric style. This style, which forced the player to scope out an upcoming area with binoculars to pinpoint enemy locations and other points of interest, took more time but ultimately provided more depth. Far Cry: Vengeance is much more run-and-gun, which is still pretty fun, but admittedly shallow. As I said, there are a lot of mercs in the lengthy single-player campaign to shoot. There are also a lot of guns to use, like standard pistols and submachine guns as well as high-powered sniper rifles, chain guns, and rocket launchers. The guns are all pretty useful in their own unique ways; the pistol isn't too weak and thus is handy throughout the game while the sniper rifle allows the player to stay back and pick off thugs from afar. You'll also drive vehicles like ATVs, patrol boats, and licensed Jeep trucks (strange use of licensing, but whatever), but after a while I preferred to walk and shoot because the vehicles didn't handle as easily as they should.

Jack's predator powers, which were made familiar in the Xbox release, Far Cry: Predator, are put to good use in Vengeance. By killing a lot of enemies and busting skulls with headshots, Jack will fill up a Predatorine meter that allows him to utilize some of his powers. Jack initially unlocks a super-fast running speed that can be activated by holding down the A button. He also has a health-regenerating power, done by flicking the nunchuck to the left and the right. This was obviously the most useful power throughout the game. Soon afterward, Jack will be jumping 20 feet into the air, using enhanced senses like sight and smell, and climbing up walls with his bare hands. The predator powers are all a lot of fun to use and open up the gameplay for more possibilities. For example, there's a sequence about halfway through the game where a player is running across bridges and through the jungle surrounded by snipers. One could either take it slow and pick off the snipers with his or her own rifle or run and jump at mad speeds through the entire area to avoid their gunfire. I personally took the latter approach in this given situation 1) because I'm an awful sniper and 2) I was running low on health and didn't have enough Predatorine to regenerate my health manually.

Unfortunately, not all is smooth sailing. Despite my enjoyment of most of the game, I'll gladly tell you that Far Cry: Vengeance looks like piss. It is easily the worst-looking "next-gen" game I've ever seen. Nintendo can walk the "gameplay over graphics" line all they want, but when visual factors look like they came from the Nintendo 64 (textures) or Dreamcast (character models) era, the line has been crossed. I'm really not being sarcastic, satirical, or unfair: this is a pretty awful-looking game. The frame rate doesn't even hold up very well in some sequences, either. I've seen bugs like enemies walking into walls and tree bases floating three or four feet above the ground. What happened to the dynamic lighting and water effects, detailed character models, and pretty cinemas? What's the deal, Ubisoft? The Wii is clearly capable of visuals that are better than this. Look at games like Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, hell, even Red Steel This is an embarrassment. Other than feats like an impressive amount of vegetation, large levels, and the fact that the game runs without freezing, there isn't much to compliment. I'd have much rather had small levels with better graphics and effects.

The sound effects aren't much better, but they work. The music is appropriate for the surroundings, but I found it odd that intense jungle beats would sometimes play while I was simply strolling through the harmless jungle, far away from any sort of threat. And what's with the insults? Ubisoft Paris threw shockers like "Moron " at me with Red Steel, and I'm still hearing "Coward " in Far Cry: Vengeance. What's the deal? This is an M-Rated game made in 2006. I'm not asking for gracious, unnecessary amounts of derogatory swearing, but when a man is jumping 20 feet in the air towards me about to dice me up with a machine gun, the last thing I'm going to yell is, "You are afraid of me "

There are a few factors that will ultimately determine whether or not you enjoy Far Cry: Vengeance. First, do you like how Wii shooters handle? Second, do you like run-and-gun shooters with little to no required strategy? Third, are visuals and sound effects important in any way, shape, or form? If you answered yes, yes, and no, you'll agree with me when I say that Far Cry: Vengeance is an enjoyable game, if not a great game. Otherwise, you'll say, "This game plays as poorly as the others," "This game is shallow and stupid," and "This game looks like dog crap," respectively. Think about it clearly: Vengeance has great shooter mechanics and a fun campaign but almost totally lacks any impressive superficial values whatsoever.

BAD....very bad

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: January 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Ok the graphics on this game look like something from the nintendo 64 system.... really really really bad. Find and enemy up ahead??? Great, just shoot ANYPLACE in the general area and you will kill him. If you want feel free to just walk up to them, they wount shoot at you (they just stand around.) I found the way you interact with the game to be the only "cool" feature. The game is so easy and boring to look at, I lost interest and went back to WII sports instead.

Buy the pc version of this game instead. Not only does it have nice graphics, but it plays like a GAME with a story you care about beating.

Awful, awful game. A disgrace to the Wii

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 7
Date: February 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

First of all, let me say that this is an awful game. I'll say that straight out. The story is boring, the settings are repetitive, and the controls are absolutely god awful. The reason I gave it two stars is that the premise is OK: if the execution was good, the controls might work. But, alas, the execution is not good. Whenever you want to turn you have to aim the Wiimote off screen, it moves very slowly, and you'll find yourself doing this when you want to aim. Worse, the Wiimote is too precise, and thus, shaky, to aim well with their set up- your target shifts everywhere. Also, the whole game is very repetitive: kill bad guys, run around, find the secret entrance, etc. Even the Wii's uniqueness failed to make this game a shred of fun to play.

Firing blanks

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 6 / 8
Date: February 12, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you've never played Far Cry before, then I recommend you play it for the PC. If you have played it for the PC and were just as disgusted as me with the ports to the Xbox, then stay away from the Wii sequel because this is worse.

The first game of Far Cry pushed the PC graphics of its day to the limit. The shading was spectacular with lush jungle environments, shading and character design. The Wii game looks like Turok from the N64. Not even game cube quality. The movies look worse then the game graphics which I didn't know could be possible and the graphics look very polygonal.

The AI in this game is dumb. I don't need to sneak up on any of my enemies because all they'll do is stand there and wait for me to change my weapons and shoot them while they're right next to me.

The controls are the toughest parts to define. If you've played Red Steel then you know how bad the controls were. This is better but only works half the time. You'll still do the occasional spin and your arm will get tired from time to time.

The story is clichéd and boring. You have no idea what's going on except it's you verses the bad guy and you have this annoying girl with you all the time.

Upside:
Lots of weapons
Down side:
Lame story
Shady controls
Ugly graphics

Disappointment

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 22, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I enjoyed FarCry on my PC.. so this was one of the first games I bought on the Wii..
1. Farcry is a good multiplayer game on the PC.. on the Wii there is NO MULITPLAYER (except a two player one on one)... so kind of half the fun of the other Farcry games is gone.

2. single playe mode.. the clumsey controls and poor camera work make game play confusing and just an exercise in frustration...

Clunky Graphics but Fun Gameplay

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: December 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Far Cry Vengeance is yet another part of the continuing saga of tropical shooters. We've played this on many platforms and found the Wii to offer new challenges.

The basic gist of the game is that you're a lone fighter trying to survive in tropical terrain. You're surrounded by palm trees, thick grass and wooden huts. You've got a variety of realistic weapons and have to snipe, bash and shoot your way out of situations.

A lot of this game involves stealthily sneaking through thick stands of grass, watching for enemies, keeping an eye out for signs of movement. Graphics therefore can be extremely important here. The Wii gives you reasonably good graphics, but definitely not up to the quality of PC or current-gen systems. This can make some of your sneaking a bit challenging. Also, there's no wide screen option, which I find quite odd. I realize it can't be high def, but other Wii games do offer the wide screen mode.

The sound is a mixed bag. When you are sneaking around, it does a great job of giving quiet bird calls, your footsteps, ocean noises and such to immerse you. You can throw a rock to make a distracting noise. However, sometimes you get a blaring rock-music overlay which completely destroys all of this :)

I like how the Wii controllers work here. Throwing a grenade, jumping, it is all pretty intuitive. However, when you point your controller off-screen, instead of "turning faster", it just jams and shows an exclamation point. Maybe these developers weren't quite used to this new control system yet to understand how to best implement it.

The AI is a bit odd. Let's say you're standing behind someone and try a few times, unsuccessfully, to thwap them. They just stand there until you do connect! Don't they hear or feel all those near-misses?

There's in-home multiplayer with a split screen option which can be quite fun, if you've got friends around to play against.

All in all, the graphics aren't stellar, but if all you have is a Wii in your home, the game is pretty fun.

Quick and dirty port for Wii falls short

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 06, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Not worth the $20 unless you're a fan of previous versions of the game.

I picked this up with the idea that it would be a good demonstration of the Wii control interface and found the port to be virtually unplayable.
Yes, the idiosyncrasies of the controls can be learned with time, but the point of the Wii is to provide an intuitive interface that anyone, particulary casual gamers, can just pick up and play.

Directional movement with the analog stick does not synch well with the sensor based aiming. Visual field (FPS viewpoint) has a tendency to drift when holding the controllers stationary. Often, I found myself inadvertently staring at the ground or sky, tilting and gesticulating with both controllers to reorient my field of view forward. There is a very obvious lag between player motion inputs (for slashing, jumping, punching, etc.) and onscreen output. Standard button inputs would be faster. Aiming with firearms is jumpy. Virtually every IR based light gun game I've used implemented a better aiming interface. It would be easier to play this port with a standard stick and button set up.

Graphics as widely mentioned, deserve mention for their subpar implentation. They are suitable for 5th generation consoles, which would be the N64 for Nintendo from about ten years ago.

Casual gamers, steer well clear of this one. While the developers made a decent effort to translate button/keystroke commands into gesture commands, the lag as well as inaccuracy make this port harder and less enjoyable to play than with a traditional input system.

Well...the deathmatch concept is cool!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 15, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I just bought this game today. I anticipated it's release eagerly. And now that I own it, if there's one thing I can say above all else: rent this game before you buy it. There's a good chance you won't feel it's worth the money.

Without doubt, the first thing you'll notice in this game, before you notice the clumsy (at first) controls, before you notice how dumb the enemies are, before you notice how the music and sound effects cut in and out poorly, the first thing you'll notice in this game is: the graphics. They are BAD. They're stunningly bad. They're mindbogglingly, laughably bad. Now of course anyone that knows the next-gen understands that games for the Wii aren't trying to set the standard for graphics, the machine simply doesn't have that kind of processing power. But this particular title...it looks like a GameCube title. In fact, it's on par with Time
Splitters 2, a game that came out 4 years ago...and even THEN the graphics weren't cutting edge. It is impossible to ignore how poor this game looks.

That being said, the next thing you'll probably notice after spouting out a few expletives about how the games looks would be: the controls. They're awkward...but if you can get past the graphics, don't worry, you'll warm up to the controls after an hour or two of playing. The jumping feels good, the grenade throw feels good, and the aiming is pretty good. They feel more intuitive than Red Steel's, which still feel a little ineffective to me. However, there are problems with the controls too. If you sit any further than about 4 or 5 feet away from the Wii sensor bar, the gameplay stops and a message pops up telling you to wiggle in closer. No other game for the Wii has this short range and it's annoying to have to adjust my living room just for it. The other problem I had was the zoom/scope, which is used by shoving your Wii-mote forward or backwards to zoom in or out respectively. It just doesn't make sense to me and feels weird. If anything, if it were trying to be realistic, you would have to pull your Wii-mote gun close to your shoulder to zoom in, like one would do with a rifle to see through the scope. Instead you shove out your controller, and that will never make sense to me. I feel there should just be a button for zoom for ease.

Enough critiquing though right? On to the good! There was one thing that kept me from kicking myself for buying this game, one thing that made me smile like the Nintendo-loving kid I used to be. The deathmatch! You can play standard ho-hum shoot-at-each-other deathmatch, OR you can play predator mode. In predator mode, one person gets to play as the standard, gun-wielding character in the game, and one player gets to be his scary-looking, biological-experiment-gone-bad alter ego, the predator. The predator can't wear armor or heal, but he moves twice as fast, jumps twice as far, and can maul you to death with one bloody swipe of his claws. Also, the predator is just plain scary to defend against. When you manage to shoot down your predator opponent, you become the predator and he becomes the gun-wielding guy, running around frantically trying to escape the wrath of the predator. It is incredibly fun to be the predator and chase down your bullet-spraying buddies and intensely scary to be the hunted. I played this for a few hours tonight with a friend and we were fully entertained. I can assuredly see myself playing the deathmatch quite a bit, even though graphically, it makes me sad.

My final thoughts: this game was either rushed into production, or not given enough attention/money by the developer Ubisoft to make it a Wii-worthy title. Sure, the deathmatch is a lot of fun and the controls are the best for a Wii first-person-shooter so far, (come on Metroid, impress me!) but there are scores of GameCube titles that look a lot better than this, and that's inexcusable. Put this title back in the oven Ubisoft, it's not even close to being done.

Reviewers Got this WRONG!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: December 27, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I admit that when I first fired up this game, I was disappointed! But since this was a rental I continued to play. I was more disappointed when it seemed to be nothing more than an ugly Xbox version. I am wrong. There are similarities but this is NOT the same game. The graphics are bad when compared to the PC or Xbox versions but they SERIOUSLY will not bother you after play for a while. I'm having more fun with the Wii version than the others because I enjoy the Wii mote controls and the ability to run and gun more. Granted, It's only because the AI of the Wii version is not as intelligent as the others but the others required a more tedious slower pace to beat the game. I play my games on Hard difficulty. The only problem I have with this version is that it at times drops in the frame rate.

PLEASE DON'T BUY IT!!!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: November 25, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is terrible. The graphics are appalling, even going by GameCube standards. At times, some of the environments make it feel like an N64 game: sparce, flat, pixelated land hemmed in bluntly and artificially by foliage with dull-looking buildings composed with only a handful of textures. The AI is terrible. Don't expect exciting gun fights unless this is maybe your first shooter. The enemy will often just stand there and shoot until dead or get caught on a building or props. Fact is, I would probably be impressed (though maybe a little annoyed) with this game as an N64 or PSX effort. Playing on those consoles is the last time I remember shooting vaguely in the direction of a misshapen lump of pixels, realizing that that's how the game represents a far-off enemy. As one of the first Wii shooters, I can respect its position as an early example of the potential the console has to become a great 1st person shooter machine, but little else beyond that.
It seems like most every motion-oriented gameplay element they tried to implement they just did wrong. The grenade throwing feels kind of nice, but that's easy. For some reason, the developers decided that to zoom you should jerk the remote horizontally forward or backward. Of course it is not implemented in a way that makes it possible to do this effectively without completely loosing your place on the screen with your reticle, so forget about shooting at an enemy that may be running away then zooming in to make a satisfying kill. Situating the zoom like that makes zooming feel less like a helpful shooting tool and more like an altogether separate shooting mode which you must decide wether or not it is safe to be in at the time. Also, you are supposed to "attack" by doing some sort of side-swiping forward slash. This feels alright, but again disrupts your reticle which, if it travels close to the edge of the screen, will start turning you, often causing you to miss your target in CLOSE-RANGE COMBAT! "Broken" is the only way to describe that.
It's games like this that really make me worry about the console. It always seems like we're getting good games for Wii when in actuality, this is what turns out. Hopefully in the future, Wii developers will stop dumping this excrement on the public in lieu of developing an actual video game. But the more people buy these atrocious games without spending some time finding out if they are worth buying, the more of these games the developers turn out because they know they can make an easy buck on the game's initial release, then an extra buck from bargain-bin sales.

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