Gameplay
From the off, Far Cry throws you in at the deep end. When you first get to shore you’re almost immediately confronted by some obvious bad-ass guys who are fairly intent on turning you into chopped liver. With the help of some useful cut scenes you manage to slip past them onto the island. The whole first section is actually the obligatory training level, but its pretty well disguised, and there are a few useful tips that even a seasoned FPS player such as myself found handy. As you get further into the game you uncover a plot involving a mad scientist, mercenary soldiers and weird mutated monster things that leap all over the place scaring the hell out of you and slicing up anything wearing boots and a cammo jacket.Its once you get into the game proper that things start to become interesting. Crytek, the developers, have given the FPS genre the same shot in the arm with Far Cry that Half Life did all those years ago. I won’t go so far as to say that this is the best FPS ever made, but its arguably the best FPS so far… the reasons are many and I’ll try and cram them all in as we go.
While reviewing this its obvious that a ‘What if…’ and ‘Why don’t we…’ and ‘Why shouldn’t you be able to…’ thought process has gone into the writing of the game. It’s the stuff that gamers have been screaming out for for years. Allow me to explain. Ever been playing a game and wondered why this particular barrel can be pushed around, but not any of the others that look identical? Ever play a game and wish that it didn’t feel like a game and you could do stuff that you’d want to do if it was real life? Far Cry comes pretty close to fulfilling those desires. Within (very broad) limits you can do pretty much what you want, to pretty much anything you want.
