by Igor - April 25, 2004

Jack Carver, a retired Special Forces member, thought his life finally calmed down; working as a tour guide in the Pacific was as safe as it could get. But then Jack met the beautiful Valerie Cortez, a reporter, who wanted to an escort while �touring� a few nearby islands, and he agreed. From that moment on Jack�s life wasn�t as placid as he hoped it would; his ship blown up by enemy mercenaries, he was left for dead, and now he had to not only rescue Valerie but also get off the hellish islands. The mercenaries, however, weren�t the worst part as Jack was about to discover -- Project Far Cry was.

Paradise in Hell

As you take the boots of Jack Carver, you will start out in a small mini-tutorial level in the sewers teaching you to climb ladders, lean, crawl, and throw rocks (which are very useful for distracting enemies). When you are about to leave the sewers, you find a cellphone with which a mysterious man named Doyle contacts you. Doyle is a scientist at Project Far Cry and he wants to help you rescue Val and get off the islands.

Most of the game takes place on the islands, which is where you end up after exiting the initial sewers, at which point you realize the grandiose of the game. Initially armed with only binoculars, a Desert Eagle, and a combat knife, you have (or not) to overpower a mercenary or sneak into an armory to get your first M4 rifle. Doing the first will be quite hard; as soon as you shoot a mercenary, all his buddies will come raining down upon you and ensure you a quick reload.

To help Jack in his task of finding Valerie�s whereabouts, you have to do what Doyle tells you. The catch, however, is that the traditional �go from Point A to point B� means that you can go from point A to point B � but in any way you want; so you could go straight, take a detour around the island, or crawl through the jungle; pretty much a very non-linear game. Helping you navigate on foot are the binoculars, which have a motion detector, automatically pinpoint enemies that emit sound (which means your sight isn�t blocked by massive objects), and actually let you spy on the enemies� funny conversations (the sound is augmented on whichever place you zoom in). In addition, Jack is also armed with a passive �sound detector,� similar to the Thief stealth indicator, which will warn you whenever an enemy is notified of your presence or if there is a firefight going on (and did I mention firefights do happen between NPCs?).

Speaking of firefights, whenever a big one happens between you and the mercenaries (or any other enemies you are bound to meet), it�s usually very hard to win � for this reason, Far Cry puts an emphasis on stealth. As I mentioned earlier, Jack has a stealth indicator, and you can use it to full advantage by hiding in the bushes, behinds trees, or crawling in the grass, just like you would expect in real life, the enemy does not see you (though their hearing is superb, and they will notice you when you fire with an unsilenced weapon). Throwing rocks (which use the same key as throwing the various frag grenades, flashbangs, or smoke grenades) is also distracting � the mercenaries always go to investigate the spot the rock hit (but if you throw a rock too short, you will cause your own undoing!).

If you can�t tell already, the mercenaries are very smart. Not only do they behave like real people by not magically seeing you through the thick bushes, or by investigating peculiar rock sounds, but they also utilize real formations, try to flank you, and run away and call for help when outnumbered. Sometimes, using the simple in-game physics which lets you push certain things around, the enemy will even push a barrel down-hill in hopes of it running you over (I only realized this after they successfully killed me using this trick). In the same manner, however, and resembling the Half-Life 2 movies, there are quite a few places where you can shoot down a heavy crate (or any other big object) held down by a chain and crush the enemy underneath. Then, the game gets better. You find out that it has vehicles which seamlessly integrate into the gameplay. There is a buggie, a 4-wheel drive (Hummer), a Glider, an inflatable boat, and a motor boat (with a turret). Just like you�d expect in the real life, you can run people over, and the enemy does try to run you over. When I thought I could run away from a mercenary encampment by stealing one of their Hummers and driving real fast, I was wrong � the mercenaries got into the Hummers and started chasing me while trying to shoot me down with the machine gun/rocket launcher that the Hummers had. In cases where the enemy did not have a vehicle available, they would call for air support, and a Black Hawk would come out of nowhere, its machine gunner raining bullets upon you.

The vehicles have everything a good game would expect too � to get rid of an enemy vehicle, you don�t have to completely destroy it, simply shoot the exposed driver or gunner (which goes the same for the boats or the Black Hawks). But even if you do successfully get rid of an enemy Hummer, you will cause such a big ruckus that an Osprey will come and gladly airdrop 5 or 6 mercenaries with armor (though you can shoot it down or damage it enough with a rocket that it will retreat before it drops the soldiers). Likewise, when navigating through the open seas, you can shoot down the driver and the gunner of a motor boat and commandeer it for your self use. The best part is, the Hummer and the motor boat are both armed with rocket launchers (though only 30 rockets), so once you have one of those you can easily shoot down any vehicle coming at you with suffering minimal damage.

Adding to the excitement of the game are also little details which end up making a huge difference; similar to no other game I can think of at the moment, Far Cry lets you carry only 4 weapons at once (though you can drop an existing weapon at any time). That means that the Knife and the Desert Eagle will be the first to go, but making the decision whether to trade that awesome Sniper Rifle for the Rocket Launcher will be a hard one. Additionally, when Jack starts encountering the more well-trained mercenaries, he is able to pick off a tool called �CryVision� off their dead bodies, a rechargeable night vision goggles that serves double as a heat detector (and thus proves very useful in noticing the enemies in the dark jungles).

The Lush Tropics of Far Cry

As if the gameplay being outstanding wasn�t enough, Far Cry also has the best graphics of any other game out there right now. By using bump-mapping and shaders to full effect, what looks like a flat plane is instantly turned into a 3d shape. To be more specific, the player and enemy models look very detailed, their armor and clothes protruding as one would expect, and the ground is realistically non-flat.

The environment, however, is the real eyecandy in my opinion. The islands are filled with dense jungle foliage, the trees wavering realistically in the wind, and everything casts a dynamic shadow. Derelict Japanese fighters or tanks are lying around the islands, beautifully rusted and broken down just like a real 60 year old unmaintained vehicle would be.

Beaches are bright white, and act almost as a mirror; the water is bright and realistic like in a paradise. Down below, there are oceans of fishes (which can be shot too!) and sharks to add to the feel of the game (though only on Very high graphics setting). Heat waves from steam will distort your CryVision, and the really hot ones will distort your vision completely, producing an effect similar to looking down the street on a 100 degree day.

Sound, the Big Gameplay Factor

I�ve mentioned sound before, and I�ll say it again: sound is the big stealth factor. By crawling slowly even through an open field you will be able to get so close to the enemy (provided he doesn�t turn around) that you will easily be able to knife him without any other enemy noticing. For that same reason, the silenced MP5 submachine gun plays a huge role � a headshot while hiding in the bushes leads you to be able to take out quite a few mercenaries (though they will start running around looking for you) before they finally see you and converge on your location.

Then there is the standard ambient sound, such as the background noise, or the music. The environment is enriched by sounds such as hissing steam pipes, running footsteps from the mercenaries, or a conversation between two mercenaries (which happens quite often and sometimes clues you in on the plot). The music seamlessly transitions from something peaceful and relaxing to fast and action-paced when you encounter an enemy and a firefight erupts, likewise transitioning back to relaxing mode when the firefight is over. Sometimes the music may even clue you in that you are about to enter a dangerous situation.

Multiplayer, the Downfall of the Game

I must say, Far Cry is superb in its sound, single player gameplay, and its graphics. The multiplayer, however, in my opinion is its �weakest link� so to say. Though it comes with three game modes, Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Assault, most of the time will be spent playing Assault (since we always have UT2004 for the former two). Assault at first seems very similar to Enemy Territory, though I came to realize that it didn�t include any of the good parts Enemy Territory had. Let me elaborate: there are two sides, an assaulting team and a defensive team. Each Assault map has three flags, and the Assaulting team must capture the three flags in succession to win the round (at which point the teams switch and the same thing must be attempted again).

To make things more like Enemy Territory, you are able to pick out of three classes: engineer, soldier, or sniper. Each class is then able to be customized a bit farther: the engineer can pick between the M4 rifle and the Medkit, the Soldier class between the AG36, the OICW, and the M249 (and the Shotgun or P90 for the secondary weapon), and the Sniper between the Sniper Rifle (which suspiciously looks like an Arctic Warfare Magnum) and the Rocket Launcher. All classes also come with a Desert Eagle pistol and a Knife. Sadly you cannot drop your weapon and pick up an enemy�s to become an ultimate class.

Right away, there are a few downfalls with this loadout. First, let me talk about the engineer class. The engineer always has a wrench that can construct or repair friendly structures (walls, sniper towers, bunkers with machine guns, and that�s pretty much it) around the map. The problem is you can only built structures in specific places, which means they are pre-assigned, and on some maps there are barely any structures like that. To make things worse, the Medkit that the Engineer can pick instead of his M4 Rifle will leave the Engineer with only a Desert Eagle and a Knife; though sometimes it would be nice to serve as a medic the catch is that the Medkit acts like a weapon � you only have 4 of them and then you need to go back all the way to Headquarters to get more, unlike Enemy Territory or Battlefield 1942 where the medkits use a rechargeable �mana� bar. Thus, the Engineer picks the M4 instead of the Medkit, and the Medkit is virtually unseen in real games. If the Medic was a separate class with a rechargeable bar and a silenced MP5 the game could�ve actually been far more fun.

Then comes the soldier: this class is actually balanced; however, out of all the weapons that he has people tend to go for the OICW. With 40 bullets before reloading (and a 1-zoom scope function), and a secondary grenade launcher which holds 5 grenades before reloading, the OICW is superior to the AG36 which only has 30 bullets before reloading, and 2 grenades before reloading (although the AG36 has a two-zoom in scope function). Last but not least is the M249 machine gun, which does not have a grenade launcher but makes up for it by being able to shoot out 100 bullets before reloading. The secondary weapons, the Shotgun or the P90 are self-explanatory: the Shotgun should be used in close range situations, and the P90 when you run out of ammo for the primary weapon.

At last, the sniper class is the biggest and most unbalanced class of the game. Though the sniper rifle, the first primary weapon of choice, is very balanced, it�s counterpart, the Rocket Launcher isn�t. First, the Sniper Rifle � its scope glints off the sun, which means you can see a sniper across the map if you look closely enough, and even better, every shot is accompanied by a tracer so once the Sniper misses his first shot you will be able to pinpoint him and take him out with a well shot grenade. Then comes the Rocket Launcher; as you would expect, it has a great deal of splash damage and kills in one (direct) hit. To make things far worse, the Rocket Launcher is able to zoom in many times just like the Sniper Rifle (but has no glint, though the actual Rocket does move slower than a bullet) � the downfall is that when moving the cone of fire does not get very big as you would expect. Not only that, but the Rocket Launcher can shoot out 5 rockets before reloading. So that means you could easily kill 5 people (and maybe more thanks to the splash damage) before having to reload. Perhaps if there was only one shot before reloading, a bigger cone of fire when moving, or a very slow movement rate when using this weapon, it could be balanced. Thus the Rocket Launcher remains the most favorite weapons of the newbies and can unbalance maps quite easily (did I mention it destroys walls in a couple of shots too?).

But what about the actual feel of the multiplayer, disregarding all the classes? Now that you know what each class can do, let me tell you more about it. I mentioned earlier that the assault needs to take the flags in order to win. Unlike in other games, in Far Cry you must touch a flag in order for the countdown before the flag is taken to begin. To stop the flag from being conquered, the defense team must run up to the flag and touch it before the four seconds are up. Thankfully, the maps are so big, and the countdown is so fast, that most of the time unless you are standing right next to the flag it is impossible to prevent it from being conquered once the flag is touched. Perhaps if the person had to be in its near vicinity to be conquered, it would be better, or if it would require more than one person (like in Day of Defeat). Once again, making things worse is the fact that you cannot reclaim a flag once the assault team has taken. That means your whole team can be spawned around the flag (yes, you only spawn at the flag which you are currently defending, not wherever you want) and you will not be able to take it back no matter what. The run-down is that one solo player can sneak behind the defense and claim a flag leaving everyone on assault in a bad position since the next flag is several minutes away.

Then there are vehicles. Actually, it feels like they aren�t there. Though most maps have either inflatable boats or buggies, most people do not use them � both can be destroyed by a Rifle in just a few shots, and the loud sound that they make gives them away quickly. Hummers can be found in a very few maps, but they don�t help either since the vehicle is open and you can either be shot out of the seat or blown up by a sniper with a Rocket Launcher. Sadly, the Osprey to drop off friendly troops into the enemy territory, or the Black Hawk to rain death upon your enemies is just as absent from the game as it is from being used in single player. Adding to the frustration, the vehicles can run over friendly players even when friendly fire is off, resulting in a buggie or Hummer causing more friendly casualties than enemy casualties.

The multiplayer is therefore the biggest disappointment of Far Cry. Though every map is big and the ability to customize a class makes each player more unique than in other games, the downfalls such as the classes being unbalanced or the flag being too easy to capture greatly brings down what could�ve been a rival to UT2004�s Onslaught mode or BF1942�s Conquest mode. As for resembling Enemy Territory, my opinion is that it doesn�t resemble it enough (where is the experience, akimbo pistols, or campaign mode?). Maybe in a patch these problems will be fixed (as I addressed it on the official Suggestions forums to get numerous replies), though I very much doubt.

Everything Else

Though the multiplayer does detract a bit from the good feeling, Crytek has made most of the other aspects of Far Cry superior. To run the game, you can use even a 32 MB video card and be able to get very nice frames per second (though you will have to tone down the graphics to Low, losing many of the eyecandy and most of the impressive environment). Personally, I was able to run Far Cry on �High� on a four year old Athlon (though I do have a Radeon 9700 Pro) and easily beat the game in single player without suffering from any frames problems.

Then come the little bugs that struck out at me once in a while. First of all, on the older Radeon cards (8700-9200, which includes the 9000) there is a bug in dynamic lighting which caused my laptop (more on why I used my laptop instead of the desktop later) to stutter and almost freeze when a vehicle appeared in the game. Only after I beat the game did I find out this can be rectified by turning off the dynamic lights (though that ruins a huge part of the experience).

Bigger bugs existed as well, for example, before the 1.1 patch my desktop would almost constantly crash to the desktop when I had a firefight inside a building while playing Far Cry (which affected almost all Radeon 9700/9800 users). After the patch, my sound mysteriously broke (everyone else on the official forums with this problem also had an Audigy) and for the rest of the game all the dialogue that went on between Valerie, Jack, or Doyle was barely audible (and there is no way to fix it last time I checked). Little things like this kept me from fully enjoying the endgame since almost the entire plot was conveyed through the dialogue between the characters.

In a Nutshell

Though Far Cry comes with a weak multiplayer, and a few bugs for the Radeon/Audigy users, in the end the single player portion of Far Cry will leave you wanting for more. With over twenty hours of almost completely non-linear gameplay, Far Cry pushes the envelope in terms of graphics, gameplay, and sound like no other game before. For only $39.99, a price cheaper than most other games you can enjoy the best single player game that 2004 has to offer. My suggestion: if you�re waiting for Doom 3 or Half-Life 2 to get you back into playing single player, buy this right away.