Far Cry for Windows

As far as graphics go, Far Cry is the new standard. The game looks absolutely gorgeous and there s nothing currently that can compare with it. Even when compared with Doom 3 and Half Life 2 I think Far Cry will be able to stand up to them in terms of graphics (for anyone who s seen the infamous Doom 3 Alpha, I would say that at the Alpha stage Doom 3 really doesn t have anything on Far Cry in the graphic department). Of course, if you want to play Far Cry in all it s glory you ll need quite a system. Thankfully my system is pretty decent and I am able to play with all the settings maxed. The engine is extremely scalable though, so even those with lower end systems will be able to play (although it will detract from the experience quite a bit). Some of the graphical goodies include specular highlighting, bump mapping, normal mapping, amazing water effects, and some of the best looking models in a game yet.

The storyline is fairly engaging, and the enemies are pretty smart for the most part. They ll hide behind cover, try to flush you out with grenades and attempt to circle around you. Of course you ll also encounter the times that they ll rush you, but for the most part they re decently intelligent. Another nice touch is that unlike many other FPSs, once you ve been spotted by an enemy it is still possible to run and hide from them. They re not permanently locked onto your position. And due to spending a good deal of the time outside you ll be able to hide in the underbrush.

I usually start out games at the normal (medium/regular) difficulty setting and then if it s too easy/hard adjust accordingly. Typically I don t have any trouble with the normal setting. Unfortunately, Far Cry is one of the most idiotically hard games I ve ever come across.

For the first couple hours I got along fine, and without incident. Plowing through amazingly articulated and modeled enemies and gorgeous scenery. But then the dream ended when I got to a research facility where I was introduced to some of the cheapest enemies in FPS history.

At the medium difficulty setting the hybrids (mutated science-experiment creatures along the same lines as those in System Shock 2), can literally leap from any distance at lightening speeds and kill you in two swift slashes (despite having full armor and health). As soon as you get hit the first time, the camera spins and gets fuzzy, making it almost impossibly to recover and aim before receiving the second (and final) slash. This makes the game a chore to play. I imagine that at the realistic difficulty setting you ll just die of a heart-attack as soon as you spot a hybrid.

Considering all the FPS games I ve played (and I ve played pretty much every major FPSs since Wolf 3D) the hybrids have to be the most ridiculously hard enemies I ve ever come across. I just finished playing for 20 minutes just to have a hybrid cheese kill me which put me right back at the beginning of the level. Really, the only way to kill the absurd creatures it to shoot them in the back when they re not looking, otherwise, if they spot you, you re all but dead already.

The game is brilliant as far as graphics and gameplay go, but it s a real shame it has to be marred by the console style checkpoint save system and a set of incredibly cheap enemies. Supposedly a quicksave feature is included in the 1.1 patch (there s really no reason this should have been omitted from the retail version quicksaving is nothing new, and any game that has ever omitted it has been harangued for it i.e. Hitman). Quicksaving should improve the gaming experience quite a bit, so you won t have to replay the same areas over and over again (most likely one of the reasons it s said to be a 20 hour game), but it still can t remedy the cheapness of its enemies.

I really want to like this game, and at the times I m not being killed in ridiculous ways I really do like it. It has some truly ingenious concepts going for it. I especially like the times when clever traps are set up (such as a pile of barrels at the top of a hill) waiting for you to set off on unsuspecting enemies. When things like that work out, it makes for an extremely engaging experience.

I would still recommend it, as it is an extremely beautiful game, and definitely has its moments of brilliance. It just doesn t quite live up to all the hype that some sources are attributing to it.