Take a look at this game from a 2004 aspect before you berate it from today's standards. Honestly

User Rating: 9 | Far Cry PC
If you had the ability to pump this game out on max in 2004 congratulations you had yourself one amazing rig. FarCry set the standard for any 64 bit operating system at the time and still quite frankly is a very stunning game to date. Yes where its bad acting and cut scenes lacked it made up for in a very experimental and gorgeous graphical effects that raised the bar for any fps at the time. Whether it was the ability to swim from island to island taking a look at all the aquatic scenery placed in front of you or picking the best spot to pick off enemies from literally any unbound distance FarCry satisfied where other fps's at the time could not. SO yes at the time of this games release if you were set out to experience PRETTY and a game that was very hardware demanding but could set aside the tiny flaws of a bad story line then this was the game to buy. As for future reference if you come across a game that is associated with the crytec or the cry engine expect a pretty game but one that probably lacks a lot of substance.