Far Cry : Games : Web Wombat

In many cases it proves to be nothing more than a pipe-dream. Over the years, only a few select game houses (Id, Raven, Monolith and the powerhouses known only as Sid Meier and Peter Molyneux stand tall as brilliant examples to the rest of the industry) have succeeded in turning that dream into a reality, and I'm proud to say that we can now add small German developer CryTek to this elite list.

Detailing the story of Jack Carver, owner of a boat charter business and undeniable champion of Hawaiian shirts, and his fight for survival against mercenaries, scientists, mutants and some very tenacious palm trees on a remote Micronesian island-chain, Far Cry is, if not perfect, then very, very close.

I'll even forgive it getting a little too The Island of Dr Moreau in the final quarter.

Let's start with the visuals though. Arguably Far Cry's most obvious selling point: they're nothing short of gob stopping. Occasionally journeying into the realm of near-CGI clarity, from the crystalline tide to the gently swaying foliage and the sweat-sheen on the skin of a crouched mercenary as he draws a bead on your shambling figure, this is as good as it gets.

Indeed, the 'prettiness factor', as we like to call it here, is not restricted to the environs, no, for lips are synched, muscles are defined, animations are blended and explosions are volumetricated.

Two mercenaries talk about expressing
their feelings without losing their manliness

In Far Cry (FC from now on, folks), even the scientists get their own bump maps. It's an equal opportunity destroyer, you see.

Added to the above is the way in which FC's tropical setting is exploited: Using clever 'Level of Detail' meshing, the entirety of your surrounding is rendered at all times, allowing you to see for miles in any direction, sometimes with the help of your handy binoculars, from that observation post on the hill to a small island on the horizon and beyond.

This brings both yet another aesthetic but also tactical dimension to the proceedings, allowing you both to take in the scenery and plan for that ambush over yonder.

On par with all this visual splendour is the sound, which varies from merely great to amazing, with 3D surround sound put to good use as you hide amongst the ferns, so you now not only hear the tracers but also know from whence they came.

The music is a suitably tribal affair, with lots of drumming and bass that lets you get into the mood without being intrusive or irritating, and voice-overs are for the most part good, if a tad corny (Carver's voice actor in particular sounding like a reject from MacGuyver at times).

My only gripe in the aural department is the lack of taunts from the mercenaries.

We're talking about the roughest group of misfits and psychopaths this side of the American Army here, the least they could do is swear a bit more than they do!

I mean, Max Payne 2's mobsters get away with language that'd make Guy Ritchie blush, and all these gun-toting fruitcakes can come up with is the occasional use of 'arse'.

The Hummer can carry more troops than
the buggy and its got a rocket launcher

It's really quite disappointing.

I can live with it, though, because CryTek have seen fit to gift their debut effort with, if not the largest, then at least one of the more complete arsenals around.

Included are several high-power assault rifles, an incognito Desert Eagle pistol, a machete (for the Manhunt fans, all four of them), grenades, a rocket launcher, a bloody huge sniper rifle, two SMGs, and the Jackhammer semi-automatic shotgun, plus mounted Vulcan miniguns and mortar cannons scattered throughout the game.

To go with this fittingly hardcore armoury, there's the Cry Vision goggles (think night-vision squared), and a trendy-looking video phone to allow Jack to keep in touch with Doyle, an insider in the spooky saga being played out on the island-chain.

While some games go a tad overkill with the weapons, making the player almost invulnerable, Far Cry does the exact opposite, creating an environment within which the player can be killed with a few well placed shots and strategy is encouraged over all out gung-ho action.

This is something that is replicated in the firearms available; for instance, there are only two sub-machine guns, but they are meant for diametrically opposed situations, with one silenced but weaker than its noisier brother.

Wait, though, there's more!

Most of the locales through which Jack will fight are expansive to say the least, and while you can walk across them, you might not necessarily want to, which is where the vehicles come in.

Graphically, few games can touch Far
Cry, though Doom 3 is looming large...

From Jeeps with roof-mounted .50 calibre machineguns to rocket launcher-equipped speedboats, forklift trucks and even hang-gliders, there's always a handy mode of transport available if you look (or fight) hard enough.

Which brings us, finally, to the most important part of Far Cry, that which separates it from the crop of merely 'good' games and hoists it to the level of excellence: the gameplay.

Through the deployment of cleverly scripted set-pieces and dynamic AI that responds to your tactics, Far Cry manages to be as tight a first-person shooter as there has ever been.

Squads will move against you, reinforcements will be called in, helicopters strafe and gunboats patrol, and through all of this you can run or stalk, as either a Rambo or a John Matrix, or even a little bit of both.

Rag dolling and Inverse Kinematics bring a realistic feel to the combat as bodies flop realistically or float in a cloud of red on the water's surface, and you can't help but be engrossed by the sheer enthusiasm of it all.

Much in the same league is the multiplayer facet of Far Cry. Unfortunately, whilst it is playable on a dial-up connection, the sheer amount of data being transferred means that, unless you can find a really close server with high bandwidth, your best bet for low-lag gaming is either a LAN or a nice fat broadband pipe.

Far Cry could only have been a labour of love for CryTek. Unfortunately, there's one large problem (only one, mind) that could cause people to pause in their enjoyment of this largely perfect shooter. I mentioned, in my opening, The Island of Dr Moreau, and how Far Cry tends to follow in its footsteps a tad.

Well, see, that's the problem. What starts out as a Soldier of Fortune guns'n'ammo run through the woods eventually turns into a sci-fi horror romp to make any B-movie fan proud.

For those who don't mind a pinch of Doom with their Rambo, this won't cause much consternation, but any who want a serious take on the whole tropical warfare genre may be seriously turned off by the proceedings.

Still, monsters or no, Far Cry is a triumph, visually, aurally and logistically, showing the power that small developers can wield, even in an industry that relies so heavily on its giants to deliver time and time again, and as such, I'm giving it my shiny Golden Star of Total Approval. Dissenters will be fed to the mutants.

Game: Far Cry
Players: 1-multi
Online: Yes
Developer: CryTek
Distributor: Ubisoft

Rating: 95%

(Ratings Key/Explanation)

Far Cry is on the shelves now.

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