Game breaking scripting bugs, poor weapon implementation, inferior graphics, not worth the money or hard disk space.
First off please note normally I would never rate a game as low as 1.0. But due to this piece of trash shipping with multiple game breaking bugs that get you permanently stuck and unable to finish the game (requiring a restart) I consider it not worthy of the store shelves. Were these game busting bugs not present, I would rate this game roughly 4.5, now on with the review.
For those that have played Far Cry #1 be aware this game is marketed solely off the name, offering *nothing* similar to Far Cry as far as game play or interest.
From the start, Character selection:
Over a half dozen mercs to choose from, (all are male btw so if you wanted to play a female merc you're out of luck) Each with a different background, appearance, and name. Sounds good right? Indeed, on the surface, unfortunately the reality doesn't even begin to live up to the hype.
No matter which merc you choose all you see of your character is from the elbows down. Also regardless of the hero choice all of them are mute (you never say a word in the game or even have text diolauge selections)and all have identical skills, health etc..
They could have done so much more with this, tons more, making each merc have a weapon area specialization
(sniping, assault weapons, demolitions/heavy weapons etc..)Instead char choice is nothing more than fluff. (Old nasty fluff from the bottom of the container I might add)
Next and most importantly is game play style:
They say in numerous ads the game is "open ended" with "a huge expanse to explore." Unfortunately this area is mostly uninhabited, aside from a few wandering stuffed animals they claim are "wildlife." (more on those things
later)
Missions are often deliberately placed on the opposite side of the map, requiring several minutes of tedious driving to reach. This monotonous driving is broken up by enemy spawn points dubbed "guard posts" that consist of little more than 3 shacks and a half dozen yogurt brained men.
These posts also respawn like bunnies in heat, full of bad guys about every 5-10 minutes, making them a never ending source of irritation.
Also along the road a reoccurring "assault truck" spawns regularly to chase you down and machine gun your vehicle. Amazingly whenever these trucks are piloted by the enemy they can outrun any and every vehicle you drive, guaranteeing they can over take your vehicle. Not to fear though, as even on the higher difficulty settings they can be easily destroyed in 30 seconds each.
In between these checkpoints and and enemy encampments off the road is nothing besides empty jungle. No wandering patrols, no deadly predators, nothing beyond trees, water (empty of leeches, fish algae or anything else of interest), and rock. (and the occasional diamond cache that's completely unguarded) Yay, you can explore lots of boring empty landscape, hurray!
The missions themselves are bland and uninspired, consisting of equally repetitive variations of kill everyone and occasionally retrieve an item or free a person.
After playing for 2 hours you'll have a good idea how the rest of the game will be mission wise. (Personally it reminds me of a cheap boring rip off of the GTA series, minus all the fun and variety.)
On top of this tedium is numerous game breaking bugs involving doors not opening to allow you access to the next mission, or mission critical npc's not activating to talk to the character. These bugs currently are unfixable and require you to restart from the beginning of the game. (they most often occur at 27% completion as well as 74% 88% and other points in the game)
Now on to all things that go bang and boom, Weaponry:
Like any other fps game on the market your char gets their hands on dozens of different weapons, from grenade launchers, sub machine guns and pistols, to assault and sniper rifles, each being somewhat different from the
others.
The downside to these guns is they all feel very vanilla. Not a one of them has a secondary fire mode (beyond aiming) or even the ability to set the weaponry to single shot or burst for assault rifles and sub machine guns. Also there is NO option to add attachments like silencers, scopes, or under barrel grenade launchers.
Add to this the irritation that these weapons degrade and break down faster than an acme product from Loony Toons and you have guns that feel more effective as blunt instruments then firearms. (Oh and no melee attack with guns, you need to pull out your machete for that)
Now onto things that bleed and go "ACK!" Enemies:
These guys are a huge step below your average AI, approaching the fencepost and box of hammers intelligence scale. Much like a fence post these guys tend not to notice much of anything, at night seeming to overlook you standing a mere 3 feet from them even while you unload a
shotgun, or assault rifle into their friends.
Also much like a box of hammers these men are nearly bullet proof, those wearing only t-shirts or no shirts at all able to survive an entire slip of pistol ammo or upwards of 15+ rifle rounds to the chest and head.
Top this off with the courage and stupidity to stand still and die in the middle of a raging fire. the uncanny ability to fire in the complete opposite direction they are facing without needing to turn or point their
weapon, as well as hear a silenced weapon from 2km away and you find yourself wondering if they are even human.
Now for the stuff we all love to destroy and explore, The Environment:
Most of the graphics in this area feels like a throw back to the original far cry, and despite their wooden and otherwise organic appearance are actually composed of titanium alloys and are otherwise indestructible.
Thin wooden shacks and mere wooden trees are utterly invulnerable to not only high speed vehicle collisions but also immune to grenades, rockets, machine guns, and even fire! Granted some of the small underbrush can be mowed down by a vehicle or on foot, but anything bigger is invulnerable to anything you (or the enemy) can throw at it.
Compare this to games like Crysis, with near fully destructible environments, and old games from the beginning of 2001 like Red Faction (which had fully destructible environments.) and this game seriously feels
like a predecessor to even Half Life.
Next would be those amazingly durable tin cans called vehicles:
There's really not much to say about these strange contraptions besides they seem strangely durable (bullet proof tires) and even after taking close to 100 rifle rounds can be fixed up as good as new by tightening the
radiator or engine bolt.
Now for the afore mentioned stuffed animals called tamelife, er Wildlife?
These things are pretty much stuffed animals, that aimlessly wander about, ignoring such trivial things as speeding vehicles, explosions, fires, and men unloading machine guns inches from them. However, as soon as they are touched by a single bullet, or are dumb enough to walk into the side of a parked vehicle they die instant soundless, bloodless deaths.
I'm not sure what they are supposed to be beyond some kind of freaky automatons in the shape of herbivores (no predatory animals out there) but the plant life has more intelligence then these things.
This review wouldn't be complete without covering your buddies:
These guys are kinda like disposable heroes, in that they give you missions, try to accompany you on them, and usually get themselves killed during them. (they will stand in the middle of a raging fire and burn to death while yelling for help)
There's NO way to give them any kind of orders such as "Cover me," "Attack my Target" or even to "Stay here" or "Follow me." The end result is they are mostly a lead shield and waste of your medkits.
On the upside, the game gives you the option to shoot them yourself if you don't feel like healing them. :) (seriously)
Now for a few other things, such as health kits, and civilians.
First off your char is sick, literally, with Malaria, meaning you need to pop pills like a health nut to stave off the symptoms. During a flare up you vision goes blurry, and you groan like you;re constipated, being pretty much helpless for the duration of the attack until you take some pills. (this can also happen in the middle of a firefight, pretty much guaranteeing your death)
Health kits in this game are a junkies wet dream. Your character even when burned, riddled full of bullet holes, or run over by a truck simply needs to inject a needle full of drugs and he's at 100% health again (oh and
rip bullets out of his body with a pair of pliers if he's at 10% health otherwise they don't matter.)
Civilians are pretty much non existent. Even in town you have enemies, but they won't fire first because of the cease fire that's in effect.
There's NO factions to join, NO npc's to have meaningful duologue with. None of that. It's more a place to get missions given to you, and pick up health kits/ammo/guns.
Conclusion:
All in all this game rates down near the bottom of the barrel for 2000-2008, and is nearly as bad as Turning Point Fall of Liberty if not worse. (the game breaking bugs making playing it a waste of time.)
My advice is to steer clear and by some other (any other!) game and save your money.