Still one of the best shooters out there.
The game's plot is a letdown, for me anyway. Normally I don't care for a good story in an FPS, unless I'm playing Half-Life or Deus Ex, but I can't help but think that Far Cry could have been driven by a more intelligent plot. The gist of it is that you are Jack Carver, some boat skipper (who also just happens to be ex-special forces) who is hired to take a photographer, Val, around some islands in the pacific. There however, you are attacked by mercenaries who capture Val. When you wake up you find yourself in an old bunker and from there on you go about blowing stuff up and shooting mercenaries on the islands in order to escape, mostly for a guy named Doyle, who contacts you by radio. In my opinion, this, at first sounds like an alright idea, but everything gets out of hand fast. I will come back to this later however.
Gameplay-wise, apart from the dumb plot, Far Cry really is an excellent shooter. The biggest feature is, of course, the setting. You'll fight your way through many islands, jungles, beaches, rivers, and mountains etc, all of which are mostly BIG. The thing that really makes it interesting however is the option of taking different routes to reach your objective. Because the outdoor missions really are huge, they offer many different paths you can take, all of which have their strengths and weaknesses. For example, on many of the levels, you could go in all guns blazing through enemy bases or you could take stealthy option and go through the trees, and pick off the enemy from there. Or if you're running low on ammo, why even fight them? You can just go take the beach or swim down the river and avoid any confrontation. All the paths lead to different obstacles, but at the end, they almost always reach your required destination.
Getting around the islands is fun too. A lot of the time, you'll have the option to walk through the jungle and make little noise, or take a 4x4 and drive down the main roads, blowing away enemies in your path. As well as off-road jeeps and Hummers etc, there are also a number of boats to control, including rubber dinghies and full on mercenary boats with mounted weapons. And if that's not enough, there's also a hang-glider on certain stages letting you fly over the action.
Of course, Far Cry isn't always set outdoors, there's plenty of indoor levels too, which mostly take place in caves, labs, warehouses and bunkers. While these parts of the game aren't nearly as interesting or unique than the outdoor stages, there really isn't anything wrong with them either, since they just feel like indoor areas on any other FPS. Thankfully though, you won't be indoors too much as this isn't what Far Cry is about.
Combat in the game has its ups and downs. Mostly it's uphill. For me, just fighting on foot in the jungle is my favourite part of the game. The enemy mercenaries really aren't that dumb, and for the most part, the AI is decent. If they hear something suspicious, they'll go and investigate, and if they spot you, they'll try to flank you. The best thing about them is when they know you're there, but they can't see you, so they approach with caution and try to hunt you down. This makes for intense fire fights, and often gives you the chance to ambush them.
The downsides of the mercenaries aren't due to the AI, it's the fact that Crytek decided to program an unbalanced damage system. Headshots sometimes work, sometimes they don't, and for the most part, the mercenaries can absorb an alarming amount of bullets before dying. This is particularly annoying when you unload several magazines just to kill 2 or 3 enemies. While this is irritating, Crytek did a good job with the human foe, which leads me to the inhuman foe…
…the inhuman foe are mostly these weird, mutated beasts called 'trigens' (don't know how it's spelt). The only thing they remind me of were the fiend enemies from the original Quake. Sadly, trigens really just annoyed the hell out of me. When you first come across them, they make for an exciting enemy to fight, particularly on the bunker level, but soon they just become a chore. Mercenaries are challenging but fun to fight, trigens on the other hand, are challenging but frustrating to fight. They have even more health, but the worst thing is that they can jump about 30 feet in the air and kill you after clawing you twice. You'll die a hell of a lot, and it's mostly because of them. Later on in the game, they get even bigger and have guns and rocket launchers, which basically make things even more infuriating. It's also because of the trigens that let the plot down. They really just make the game a bit ridiculous at times. It's because of this that Far Cry is a genuinely difficult game to beat. On the plus side, mercenaries generally appear in most of the game, meaning it isn't all trigens once you see them.
Sadly, the trigens aren't my biggest complaint (they could be fun to fight at times anyway). No, the biggest problem I have with Far Cry is the pointless checkpoint system. As a PC game (a game that wasn't even released on any console either), you'd expect to be able to save anywhere you wanted, like your average PC game. Instead, Far Cry autosaves at certain checkpoints scattered around each level. Well, if they were evenly placed and appeared often, then I wouldn't be complaining, but the truth is, the checkpoint system is completely unblanaced and unstable. Sometimes you have to go for long periods of time before the game finally autosaves. Seeing as Far Cry is already a challenging game, the checkpoint system can be frustrating at times.
Back to the good sides of the game, Far Cry lets you carry 4 weapons at a time, which in my opinion, is a great idea. All weapons have the strengths and weaknesses, making them all balanced. They all fit different situations: The machete is capable of killing in one strike, but obviously you have to be quiet and get up close. The pistol is good for headshots and lets you run quickly, but is inaccurate. The silenced MP5 for example is the perfect stealth weapon when travelling through the jungle, but it's inaccurate and weak. The P90 has a high rate of fire and moderate accuracy, but again, is weak. The sniper is perfect for taking out long-range targets, but it's noisy and very heavy which means you cannot move quickly. The M4 is a great all-round assault rifle, with good accuracy and moderate power. You'll probably find using this gun often. There's a lot more weapons too, but you get the picture. Add to this, several different grenades and the fact you can throw an infinite number of rocks to attract enemies means that there's plenty of weaponry on offer in Far Cry.
Now that I've got round all that, it's time to move onto the graphics, which, for many, are the game's main highlight. Firstly, I'd like to say that when Far Cry first arrived in 2004 (a few months before HL2 and Doom 3), this was, quite possibly, the best looking game to date, and certainly the best looking FPS to date. Even today, Far Cry still impresses me. Crytek created one great engine here. Really, the game is a breath of fresh air from your average, generic shooter. The outdoor levels are full of lush jungles with more vegetation than you can possibly imagine, the beaches are white, the blue rivers and sea show some lovely reflections. Everything is just so colourful and bright and it makes a great change. Textures are mostly excellent too. And to make things even better, the CryEngine features a huge draw distance meaning you can see it all for miles.
It's not just the fact that the levels are so FULL of vegetation and colour; it's also the little things that make the game a better experience, visually. When swimming underwater, you see fish swimming about and sea weed moving around. On land you can see birds flying about, trees and grass gently blowing in the wind etc. Indoor levels can be nice too, with some excellent textures and effects to create an atmosphere. There's also some impressive lighting effects. While not as dynamic as some rival FPS's, the lighting is generally very well done too. When walking through jungles, you can see shadows from the leaves on your gun and even blades of grass.
Of course, by today's standards, a low-end PC could probably cope with running Far Cry on the higher graphics settings at a stable framerate. Even so, as I've already said, Far Cry still impresses me visually when at highest settings, despite it's age.
The sound effects and music aren't anything special, though they aren't that bad either. Sound effects are decent for the most part, and the music, while forgettable, is still well-suited. The voice acting however, is quite poor. While Jack, Doyle and Val are all fairly well done, mercenaries on the other hand leave a lot to be desired. You can listen to their conversations and when they spot you, their voices will change dramatically (!). In the middle of firefights, they like to shout dumb, but funny things at you like 'I've got a bullet with your name on it!' and 'DIE! DIE! DIE!'.
Far Cry also offers a multiplayer option, which is quite fun, but nothing special either. It's clear to see that Crytek focussed on the single-player game most. The multiplayer games are mostly your general FPS affair i.e. deathmatches and assault. Although the multiplayer is nothing spectacular, you will still get some enjoyment out of it. There's also a level editor included.
Overall, although Far Cry does have its issues here and there, it's really still one of the best FPS's on the PC. It may be a bit too difficult and unbalanced in places, but on the whole, it's got tons on offer from it's gameplay to its graphics. The single-player experience really is THAT good.