Far Cry Hands-On

As I arrived at the location of the Far Cry event, I was awash with a strange sense of nostalgia. The chosen venue for this event was an eclectic 1950's issue hotel with a courtyard filled with ancient date palms and saw palmetto trees. The entire place had certain grotesqueries about it that were hard to shake and I was both amused and appalled by it all at the same time. Later, I would more fully comprehend the significance of the choice of venue, but at first, high technology was not what came to mind. As I watched the set up for the event I saw more of what was usual for me, but not much could prepare me for the game itself, which can only be described as amazing.

I don’t think this is the time or place to err...

I’ve always wanted to be a botanist.

The first thing I felt I needed to do for this was rectify an old mistake I had made two years past. At that time I inaccurately reported the hardware requirements of the Doom III demo. Not wanting to make the same mistake again, I hovered around the engineers setting up the demo boxes until I saw some of what I needed to see. The rigs were running Athlon 64's for certain, the speed I was not able to find out, but knowing the minimum speed for the proc is pretty fast, I can only assume that they were top of the line. The video cards used for the game were also top notch, GeForce FX 5950 Ultra's, though it seemed that they were having problems getting the game to run smoothly on them.

I wasn't really able to dig up much on the plot or the story of Far Cry. Really all I can tell you is that it's set on a tropical island and there are mission objectives to complete against elite military commandos. (Be sure to check out our interview with the developers for a more detailed look at the plot and the game's main features. - 2Lions)

The graphics on this game are nothing short of phenomenal. Lacking the sinister edge of Doom III, I would say that Far Cry has an engine at nearly the same level. The backgrounds for Far Cry are masterful and deep, taking you right inside the game from the very first frame. The detail level of even the foreground stuff such as obstacles and buildings could only be described as nearly perfect. I also noted that the excellence did not stop there. The water effects of the game were superb, the rippling of the water as well as the reflections were masterfully done. I also was very pleased with the sky backgrounds as well. The game had great modes for nighttime, rain, overcast and clear. I noticed only some slight lag and chop in the graphics as play commenced, but overall the engine looked fairly sound. I can only speculate on what resolutions the game will support, but the demo boxes were all running 1024x768. The character models looked decent, if a little contrived. I am not certain how much customization there will be, but I would say there will be a good amount, simply from the attention to detail that the developers have shown.

As for sound and music inside Far Cry, I was happy with it overall, but the music at least lacked a bit for my taste. The ambient sounds in the game were fairly good though, and the designers obviously spent a lot of time perfecting the sounds of each firearm. One thing that looked promising was that Far Cry seemed to have microphone communication built in, similar to Xbox Live. So you can actually talk smack to the people you are playing against rather than typing it in yourself. Of course, I can only guess that will take most of the steam out of the more hardcore flamer n00bs.

Just wait ‘til I floor this baby!

Damn, there’s a weird scent in these bushes.

Then of course, there is the gameplay. For a FPS, the gameplay was standard but smooth. The standards of FPS logic are all in force of this game, and the controls are FPS standard. The game itself features a fairly well put together AI as well, though to be honest, I only got one opportunity to play the single player mode. I did notice that, well, the guys kept coming. Normally, when you run from the bad guys they will only follow for a short distance, but not in this game. In Far Cry, they keep on coming, which leaves only two options - shoot or hide. And as we all know, hiding isn't easy in an FPS game, so be prepared to kill everyone you encounter. Also, the game will send in reinforcements by way of helicopter if you get really caught out there.

Tempering your gameplay with some sneaking around will get you to the objectives in one piece. The game also features some great vehicle play - in the single player map I played you could use a hang glider to cross a ravine. Rather than having a built-in gun while flying on the aforementioned hang glider you could whip out your own guns and use them against the ground troops, who would naturally be trying to pick you off from the ground. The game of course has a multiplayer mode, and with the excellence of the graphics, this one promises to be a LAN party favorite. The multiplayer itself has the standard fare, deathmatch, COF, and the like. Also, the game will ship with a fully functional editor that will allow players to make their own levels.

So, for a preview build of the game I was nicely surprised how much I enjoyed it. Of course, I'm not the biggest FPS fan in the world, and that may speak more for the game than anything else. If even a non-FPS nut like me can find it fun, then it will probably be a godsend for real FPS fanatics. (Indeed, Petro! - 2Lions) I would say that, with a bit more testing and ironing out the bugs, Ubisoft has a major winner on their hands.