Posted October 12, 2009
Far Cry is among the worst PC shooters, if not THE worst, I have ever played. Never have I had the displeasure of bearing witness to such a clumsy sham of a game. Let's start with the incorrect "sandbox" tag this game receives. This is not a sandbox game, it isn't even similar. Far Cry is not composed of a single, giant world that you are free to explore like in a real sandbox game, it is made of a series of linear environments you progress through in a similar fashion to any other FPS. The only difference is that FC will give you larger, prettier places and every once in a awhile you will have the option from maybe two, or even three on one occasion, paths to take that lead to the same destination. This is a half-step from everything else, but it's no sandbox.
Then there's the issue of the gameplay mechanics, mainly the issue that they're all broken. FC, surprisingly, is mainly a stealth game. Which is too bad because the stealth is implemented in a amateur manner at best. Enemies can see you from all the way across any island, even if they're out of your level of detail sphere and you can't see them. Which means they can shoot at you with inhuman accuracy, sometimes killing you almost instantly. They can also see right through any tree, grass, bush, or shrubbery foliage, and shoot you with unadulterated efficiency which makes combat as well as stealth a chore. The best way to hide from anything is to just drop to the ground, which may or may not even work due to the random nature of the AI. Since stealth is everywhere in this game, they pervade ever corner of it's design, turning every moment of this game into frustration, tedium and trial and error.
Speaking of which, trial and error is the only way to get anywhere since you generally must die anywhere from 5 to 20 times to get past any battle. On normal difficulty, the enemies deal so much damage it only takes a few bullets at most to put you down. Don't even get me started on the monkey zombies that can kill you without even touching you, even if you're around a corner or behind cover. Which may have been fine, if the enemies didn't take 15 bullets or a head shot (unless they have a helmet)t to kill, and health packs are very poorly strewn throughout the game. Some areas have more than you might need, some have none. The sudden, constant deaths might have been okay with a forgiving checkpoint system or at least a quick save, but you forget about either of those. The check points are spread thin, and so poorly placed they often occur in mid-battle or in one case, less than a second before my jeep exploded. That was probably the worst of them.
Then there's the bland weapon system. In FC, you can carry 4 weapons. Okay, cool, except you will generally use the same 4 weapons throughout the entire game. You will have your choosing of a smorgasbord of generic assault rifles (all 5 versions of them) a generic pistol, a knife(useless), and a the obligatory sniper rifle and rocket launcher. The last of which is almost as useless as the knife. Any shooter you could possibly play has a more inventive selection than this.
The AI is strange, because the enemies are ultra-deadly, but terribly stupid and buggy. They will get caught on terrain, walk right off of cliffs and ledges, instantly forget where you are while staring at you, or pursue you half-way across the island, run around in circles, run back and forth, run at you then stand next you and yell at you until you shoot them but never fire a shot themselves, etc. etc. For a supposed "best shooter since Half Life", this is simply unacceptable, and hugely inferior to HL's AI in every way.
FC may be a gigantic, beloved failure, but it's still a decent first effort from CryTek, and it's certainly ambitious enough. At least it served as the technical benchmark for gaming rigs for years, most of the reviews don't even talk about anything past the visuals anyway. So if you want a pretty test to your PC's awesomeness go at it, just don't expect a good game along with it.
Then there's the issue of the gameplay mechanics, mainly the issue that they're all broken. FC, surprisingly, is mainly a stealth game. Which is too bad because the stealth is implemented in a amateur manner at best. Enemies can see you from all the way across any island, even if they're out of your level of detail sphere and you can't see them. Which means they can shoot at you with inhuman accuracy, sometimes killing you almost instantly. They can also see right through any tree, grass, bush, or shrubbery foliage, and shoot you with unadulterated efficiency which makes combat as well as stealth a chore. The best way to hide from anything is to just drop to the ground, which may or may not even work due to the random nature of the AI. Since stealth is everywhere in this game, they pervade ever corner of it's design, turning every moment of this game into frustration, tedium and trial and error.
Speaking of which, trial and error is the only way to get anywhere since you generally must die anywhere from 5 to 20 times to get past any battle. On normal difficulty, the enemies deal so much damage it only takes a few bullets at most to put you down. Don't even get me started on the monkey zombies that can kill you without even touching you, even if you're around a corner or behind cover. Which may have been fine, if the enemies didn't take 15 bullets or a head shot (unless they have a helmet)t to kill, and health packs are very poorly strewn throughout the game. Some areas have more than you might need, some have none. The sudden, constant deaths might have been okay with a forgiving checkpoint system or at least a quick save, but you forget about either of those. The check points are spread thin, and so poorly placed they often occur in mid-battle or in one case, less than a second before my jeep exploded. That was probably the worst of them.
Then there's the bland weapon system. In FC, you can carry 4 weapons. Okay, cool, except you will generally use the same 4 weapons throughout the entire game. You will have your choosing of a smorgasbord of generic assault rifles (all 5 versions of them) a generic pistol, a knife(useless), and a the obligatory sniper rifle and rocket launcher. The last of which is almost as useless as the knife. Any shooter you could possibly play has a more inventive selection than this.
The AI is strange, because the enemies are ultra-deadly, but terribly stupid and buggy. They will get caught on terrain, walk right off of cliffs and ledges, instantly forget where you are while staring at you, or pursue you half-way across the island, run around in circles, run back and forth, run at you then stand next you and yell at you until you shoot them but never fire a shot themselves, etc. etc. For a supposed "best shooter since Half Life", this is simply unacceptable, and hugely inferior to HL's AI in every way.
FC may be a gigantic, beloved failure, but it's still a decent first effort from CryTek, and it's certainly ambitious enough. At least it served as the technical benchmark for gaming rigs for years, most of the reviews don't even talk about anything past the visuals anyway. So if you want a pretty test to your PC's awesomeness go at it, just don't expect a good game along with it.