Far Cry Preview

Setting a new pace with their high-tech in-house engine, Crytek Studios, a small German company founded in 1999, has begun work on a project called Far Cry. Actually, this first-person shooter was initiated as tech-demo for Nvidia's third generation of GeForce graphic cards - which, as you all know, were a huge buzz at the time. The demo was named X-Isle: Dinosaur Island and its purpose was to demonstrate the powers of the newly developed engine and use the unique features of the GeForce 3. After showcasing Far Cry at the E3, Crytek decided to keep things quiet for a while, so we had to wait until the GDC (Game Developers Conference) to find out how their technology is progressing. Crytek's presentation at the GDC easily drew the attention of all present. Amongst numerous features of this next-generation engine, the designers also revealed a couple of features that are similar to id's DOOM III technology; which was truly exciting news and more than enough for us to initiate inquiries about the game. Thanks to our friends over at Ubi Soft we got our mitts on a batch of beautiful screenshots that will give you a perfect idea of what the team at Crytek is working on.

Far Cry will take us on a thrilling and perilous trip to a picturesque tropical island sometime in the year 2020. The main character is actually a ship captain whose hobby is cruising around his favorite archipelago. Things were fine until a sudden wave of suspicious military types started to invade the nearby islands. Curious activities began to take place in this steamy tropical paradise, so you decide to sally forth and find out what the hell is going on and why a bunch of bad-ass troops want to get rid of you. Eventually you'll start to uncover a secretive plot involving clandestine research facilities constructed for the purpose of crafting a genetically superior military. Soon, you find out that the military personnel are actually a "security" force of highly trained mercenaries, equipped with deadly next-generation gear and weaponry. Being as pissed off as one would be in such tight and frustrating situation, your character resolves to reclaim his cozy little vacation spot, and attempt to stay alive. As you can already tell, this sounds a lot easier then it is.

For a while it was uncertain what type of gameplay we'd we experience in Far Cry. The developers have classified the game as a tactical action shooter, which emphasizes skirmish warfare. Players engage in extreme combat with highly skilled and well-armed teams of mercenary soldiers. For the time being, we still don't know exactly what type of weaponry and items will be available to you - except the Rocket Launcher of course, which was demonstrated at the last GDC. Progressing through the game allows your character to operate various destructive and less-destructive weapons, as he struggles against increasingly intelligent opponents.

Crytek Studios clearly decided to rely entirely on the powers of their CryEngine. The abilities and features of this engine have broadened the borders of gameplay, giving programmers the freedom to manipulate with the AI and build on its characteristics. With a fully enhanced and well-balanced AI, Far Cry received another unique and commendable gameplay facet. CPU-controlled opponents were endowed with the ability to recognize and discern different objects and characters - a rather innovative and well-incorporated attribute that supposedly improves the cooperative play of the enemy. This unique AI modification could bring an interesting and challenging atmosphere during combat, with players facing multiple opponents left and right and witnessing them acting and reacting both as a team and skillful individuals. We'll see how far the developers mean to go with this, but it sounds pretty good so far.

Now as for the technical stuff, much of the seasonings and effects will depend on how well the developers have optimized the code of their new-fangled engine. The CryEngine exhibits a few components that can also be observed in the upcoming next-generation DOOM III technology. Throughout the history and development process of John Carmack's highly-anticipated FPS, a certain unusual but very effective model-building technique was employed for a true depiction of some of the in-game characters and monsters.

Most experienced gamers know that each model will look more and more realistic with an increased number of polygons. The new wave of polygon throughput in DOOM III and Far Cry will use models with a considerably reduced polygon count, but simultaneously containing a great number of details. Here's how the system works: character models are generated with an exceptionally high level of detail, approximately 250,000 polygons per character. Subsequently, the models are converted to a less demanding 1500 polys... apparently, with no particular loss of detail. Thanks to this particular technology, the 3D animators and model designers claim to have achieved brilliant results, which is indeed correct as you can see on the 'shots. Conveniently, this method also allows for an impressively increased draw distance of about 1.3 miles, which is quite a breakthrough from today's FPS standards. In addition to these cool features, Far Cry is going to take us throughout a variety of delightful tropical settings ranging from dense forests and jungles, to lavish tropical coast lines, and other exotic exteriors (and even some claustrophobic indoor locations); all of which are fully rendered and abundant in various background detail.

Also, Crytek Studios have made the environment deformable and destructible, apparently in a far greater degree than in say, Red Faction. Earlier in the text, we mentioned that the game was shown at the GDC. This presentation proved that destructive weapons, particularly the Rocket Launcher, will cause significant damage to the environment, leaving huge craters on the ground and of course displaying detailed particle effects on impact.

The development team of Far Cry insisted on enhancing the physics just as much as the visuals. Although many features of the physics engine were tweaked for the purpose of proper in-game realism, some aspects were made to be more lenient so that players can enjoy a trouble-free gameplay. Vehicles, for example, use a slightly less realistic, but very straightforward control system - which is certainly something that was considered as an important aspect of gameplay by the developers. Finetuning the in-game physics even further, the designers of Far Cry have also simplified the performance of the sniper-rifle. Again, we salute such efforts.

With a unique AI-driven gameplay concept and aided by a truly promising technology, Far Cry may turn out to be in the very top of approaching next-generation action games. Overall, until a playable version of the game comes our way, we cannot offer any further info - multiplayer aspects, diverse weapons, other unique gameplay elements, etc. Suffice it to say more details and media on the game will be available shortly after the E3 2003. So, we hope this nice little preliminary and screenies will keep you guys occupied for the time being.