Far Cry delivers an adventurous experience not forgotten by FPS fans.
In Far Cry, you venture into the island as Jack Carver, who is hired to sail a woman across the Pacific. However, your ship becomes attacked, and you end up stranded on an Island. Jack's main goal in the game is to adapt to his surroundings and rescue the woman by any means possible. Soon you find communication with a man named Doyle, who tells you where to go to survive throughout the islands. Throughout your adventure, you frequently encounter enemies, and with their intelligent AI and unexpected challenges you encounter, Far Cry is by no means an easy game.
The story in Far Cry isn't all too compelling, and defnitely isn't one of the game's strong points, however, towards the end of the game you will probably find yourself more into it. For instance, a few hours into the game you will find many mutant encounters, which is one thing that goes into the storyline. Due to their power, the mutants can be very difficult to kill. However, they are less intelligent than the mercenaries you will be fighting, so you can often find some rather simple ways of avoiding them. Many of these mutants are equipped with heavy weaponry, one of which being rocket launchers, and into a certain point in the game, you will come across lots of these monsters.
Often you will find yourself in points of frustration, so you will sometimes resort to more strategic methods than simply going out and shooting everyone you can find. Fortunately, Far Cry's environment is completely open, so you can explore wherever you'd like. This is one factor that sets this game apart from other's of its kind. Aside from that, its open environment can also provide you with new ways of getting to certain places, which is absolutely neccessary for many situations you will encounter. Although a lot of missions in Far Cry are pretty straight forward, such as get from point A to point B, there are a few that change things up a little bit. For instance, there are quite a few missions that require you to drive vehicles. However, during that time, there will still be enemies trying to shoot at you. This will leave you forced to simultaneously shoot and drive, and with ten rockets coming at you at one, this is a rather difficult thing to get past. You play alone through nearly all of the game, except for one part, where the woman you were trying to save helps you by getting through certain missions that are vital to completing the game.
The weapons array that this game has to offer is rather expansive, so choosing the right weapons at the right time is another thing that will sometimes help you get through certain missions much easier. Due to the fact that you can only carry up to four weapons at once, you must choose carefully. Alternatively, as you will find out in the beginning of the game, you can throw rocks at people... But obviously, this becomes basically useless very quick. Aside from weapons, there are gadgets you will come across that will help you through your journey. One of which is Night-Vision goggles (or in this game, CryVision) which are very useful, even at certain times of the day, because with the intense amount of robust foliage on the island, it will often be difficult to find some of your enemies.
Another thing that really sets Far Cry apart, is how immersive it is. As stated before, its open environment leaves players freely being able to choose which routes would be most suitable for certain situations. And thoughout the enviroment, the sound really can make you feel like you are in the game. For example, when a rocket fires a foot above your head, your character will black out for a second or two, and lose his ability to hear. As you're running through the jungle, its ambience will be very convincing. You will hear insects making noises, water rippling through the river, and of course, your enemies running to find a safe spot for cover. As I have said in the beginning of my review, this game is absolutely gorgeous. The incredibly detailed environments and characters will have you questioning whether or not this game was really made over 3 years ago, assuming you're still not drooling over it. However, the great-looking graphics do come at a price. If you have older hardware, you may have difficulties even running this game with stable framerates. Though if you have newer hardware, you will undoubtly have no problems running this game very smoothly with its maximum detail in perspective. One odd, but interesting this about Far Cry, is it can render in four different modes: Default, Paradise, Cold, and Cartoon. Paradise adds new levels of brightness, and makes it feel as though you're more on a vacation; Cold makes it seem as more of a Silent Hill game on a tropical Island; and Cartoon makes everthing look... Well, cartoony.
The most disappointing thing about Far Cry is saying good bye to it. You'll get a great feeling knowing that you have beaten such a difficult game, but after the campaign, there's really nothing left. The campaign fortunately lasts a while, about 17-20 hours for the average player. After you beat it , you will probably take a break and find something a bit calmer, but chances are you will eventually find yourself running back to Far Cry and playing it a second or maybe even third time. The multiplayer is very lacking, and it is nothing in comparison to single player. It has a few bugs here and there, and is highly underpopulated, and considering you are playing on big maps, a high population is something that is absolutely neccessary. In conclusion, Far Cry is an amazing game that shouldn't be missed by any fan of shooting games. If you haven't played it yet, give it a try. For $10, it's well worth the money, and you will see what makes this game such must-have.