Hi. I've played this game for a while now and find it quite fun if you know what you are doing. So, here are my tips:
1) When outside, hide in the bushes while crouching or in prone position. It makes you invisible and a smaller target.
2) Always keep a pistol and machete no matter what! The pistol is able to take down any organic enemy with a few bullets ( I somehow get a one-hit kill when aiming at the chest, maybe they die from being shot in the heart.) and the machete is perfect for sneak attacks and a quick butcher.
3) If you need an automatic weapon, consider this:
Assault Rifle
Pro: Great zoom, ammo is common among soldiers.
Con: Loud, slower than SMG.
SMG
Pro: The most silent gun, quick rate of fire.
Con: Ammo isn't common, spread is really big for a machine gun.
P90
Pro: Strongest machine gun, spreads out like a shotgun so it's perfect indoors.
Con: Ammo is scarce, misses at long range, uses ammo fast.
4) Be stealthy. Use binoculars to track enemies (Press B). If you must use a flashlight (L), be careful of patrolling units. Use Crytec goggles when needed (c).
5) Look for alternative pathways. For example, when you get to the level where you must travel across small islands that are too close for comfort, hide in a bush and pick the enemies off. When no one is looking dash underneath the floorboards and shoot through the holes. Or you can just use the boat as cover, whatever works.
6) ZOOM ZOOM ZOOM only when not in close quarters, other wise you aim slower.
7) Use grenades tactically. Use flashbangs when in large rooms, fragmentations when indoors or near a patrol group, and smokes when there is no cover or you are hiding. Also, remember that rocks are free and make distractions when needed.
8) Watch out for those mutant gorilla things. One well aimed pounce and you are f*&^#%...you know what I mean. I find the pistol works best because it has amazing aim. If you see more than one, run like hell, don't look back, find the nearest turret, group of enemies that aren't mutants, or cover, and lob a grenade.
9) Walk slowly and quietly. This will help minimize your chance of being heard and allow you to examine your environment.
10) Lie in a prone position when sniping enemies or firing a machine gun. It increase accuracy and makes you a very small target.
Thanks for reading and good luck!!! YOU are going to need it! Note, I didn't add the other weapons because this is for the first few levels.

Great tips. I absolutely loved the stealth element in this game when I played through it last year.

Yeah, for some weird reason my game will lag or have a graphics hiccup. Is this common in the PC version? Also, I got the Xbox360 game Far Cry Instincts/Predator. Friggin Awesome!!!

Great tips Rohan thanks. When fighting the mutants, grenades do work best. In "control", you go through a door and there are a couple of mercs fighting the mutants, I wiat till the mercs die then lob a couple (more like 4) nades out the door. Then I back up and wait. If the door opens up I toss another nade. Then all that's left is the rocket dude. I put the game down here and never picked it up again for some reason. Fighting mutants is my lest favorite part of Far Cry.

Wow, been forever since this got a reply. Anyways, does this game lag when you play, because i can have it on very high because I figure Hey, if I can run Guild Wars... and it will lag only when I shoot.

I run the game smoothly with no problems or glitches whatsoever. It is similar specs to Guild Wars though, so it's not clear why you'd have issues.

I could run this game on my 3 year old laptop. Hey the laptop also had thermal damage. It is broken now :(, but it had a 2.0ghz processor and an Nvidia 7700 GO VGA. Far Cry relies more on the videocard so I had decent framerates. I'm guessing because I don't know for sure but I think that I got about 50fps. I put it down at the Control mission and got into other games, but sometime I probably will return to finish it. It's a cool game though. Not to mention it's scary.

great tips rohan +1
its also very effective to raid a place !after scouting! using a jeep ;)

Gracias dude, I haven't played much due to dead mouse.

Nah, I keep it in motion. ;)
Stupid fuckin triple a batteries.
and mutant thingies...

yeah , that's why i never , ever , ever will buy another mouse with batteries.
I've bought on some years ago and id decoded to die on me during the final match in a CSS competion. I created 150 little rodents out of that 1 mouse.
I still got a prize for bad luck but i coud've won dammit.
So now i only use the mx518 and logitech G5.
Tiny wire , no batteries , excellent performance
already my 2nd one this years because of L4D
*sry for the off topic part*

Unfortunately this forum is almost dead, but I think this was a good post so it was worth to bring back up so others can see it too.

I have gotten past a few missions now and will probably have to fight those pesky mutants next, which I recall was a massive pain when I tried the game when it came out. However, I have a question about weapons. I've held onto the rocket launcher since I got it and had to engage a chopper. But it's kind of useless as it's empty. Should I just drop it and pick up the M4 or something, or is it best to hold onto it for next time choppers are around? I just got out of some power station and can see some hanging bridges at the start of the next mission.

You don't "need" a rocket launcher to deal with choppers. All you have to do is shoot the guy inside the chopper who is shooting at you. Easier said than done, but it's not necessary to take down the chopper.

That said, there is one particular encounter with a chopper where a rocket launcher is handy, but I think you get one in that area as a weapon drop from a bad guy that you'll bump off before the scripted chopper arrives.

Thanks. It was a pretty cool moment when I managed to one-shot the gunner in the head while the chopper was moving - the chopper that came after me before going into a research lab in, I think, mission 5. Pure luck, but bragging rights :D

Tough to know what weapons to carry around though. Reckon the pistol can be handy in a pinch, and I quite liked the silent P5 (seemed useless against mutants though). Loving the sniper rifle (but a shame it's hard to find bullets), which only leaves one other weapon. Have taken the M4 atm, but the P90 could be good too, I've heard it's stronger in some ways. The shotgun is supposed to be good against mutants, but not run across it yet.

Very, very tough game though. Spent an hour crawling around on my belly, watching the meter in the bottom left, and dragging out the binoculars every now and then to try and pin down where enemies were. Suddenly some punk sniped me in the head and it was game over. Bah. No idea where he was. Frustrating to put in an hour or so and have to redo the whole thing. It's *far* from a walk on the beach on Easy ;)