Far Cry ranks right up alongside Half Life and Doom as one of the best shooters ever made.
Far Cry centers around an ex-US Special Forces operative named Jack Carver who was either discharged or left the military. Now he is a tour guide and ferries people around on a boat he owns. But when he takes a journalist named Valerie out to a mysterious island things quickly take a turn for the worse as his boat is blown up by a rocket and Jack barely escapes the hordes of mercenaries that come after him. Now with the help of a scientist named Doyle, Jack has to survive against the mercenaries, rescue Valerie, and figure out what the hell is going on and put a stop to it. For those who haven't played the game (where have you been?) I won't give away much of the plot. Though it is actually one of the weaker parts of the game since it's rather unoriginal. Simply put it's one of those mad scientist and government genetic experiment gone wrong plots.
My favorite thing about Far Cry is the lengths it goes to ensure that this game feel very realistic. Unlike most FPS protagonists, Jack can't take very many hits before dying. Just a few good hits from an assault rifle and he's done for. Because of this and the fact that your enemies are quite intelligent and heavily outnumber you, you're greatly discouraged from just running in guns blazing as it often means certain death. Instead you have to use your head and outsmart the enemies rather than overpower them. Sneaking around and avoiding detection for as long as possible is absolutely essential so you can figure out the best strategy to defeat the mercenaries. Luckily the jungle environment offers you plenty of ways to conceal yourself and the game has a meter to let you know if you're drawing any unwanted attention. Weapons also behave realistically as well. As you aim down the sights your rifle gradually sways back and forth since like any human, Jack can't hold it perfectly still. Naturally crouching or going prone reduces the swaying but doesn't eliminate it. Your accuracy is also heavily affected by the recoil so you have to remember to control your fire and avoid "spraying and praying".
Far Cry still does have you getting from beginning to the end of each level but save for a few areas, you're given a wide array of options on how you will finish each level. Every map in this game is massive and nearly all of it is open for you to explore. If you'd prefer not to fight close quarters just pull out your sniper rifle or scoped assault rifle and pick the enemies off from afar. If you like fighting close quarters you can sneak in close with an assault rifle or submachine gun and fight toe to toe with the enemies or you can attempt to just bypass them all together. It's completely up to you to decide.
Far Cry not only pushed the single player portion of the game to new heights, it also set new standards in the graphics department. To see what I mean, climb to one of the high points on a jungle map and take a look around at the landscape. I guarantee you're jaw will drop. While playing Far Cry with the settings maxed out and the resolution at 1920x1080, I'm absolutely stunned at how beautiful this game looks. Everything is so richly detailed. Water behaves and looks incredibly realistic. The jungles with their thick foliage and varied plant life come to life. Weapon models feature an adequate amount of detail as well. Admittedly though some enemies do seem to have a slightly unnatural glossy look to them (mainly the Trigens) but it's almost unnoticeable most of the time. Overall it's very hard to believe that this game is several years old now as it can put even some current generation games to shame in the visuals department.
The game's sounds are definitely hit and miss. While some weapons sound good others sound more or less like air rifles which I absolutely hate. When I fire an assault rifle or sniper rifle in a game I want it to actually sound like it has some power behind it. There are fan made sound modifications that you can download but I really expect the developer to get things right when they ship the game not leave it for the consumers to fix themselves. Luckily they did do better with the voice acting. Every character's voice fits them perfectly. Jack, like any good action hero has a nice grisly tough as nails voice while the scientist Doyle keeps a very calm demeanor about himself and you've just gotta love the mercenary's wanna be tough guy voices. The sound effects also help increase the immersion such as when you're out in the jungle and all around you can hear the various birds and animals all calling out.
Far Cry easily set new standards for shooters when it was released back in 2004. It's incredible visuals, massive environments, and unparalleled level of immersion have helped ensure that it will join games like Half Life and Doom as one of the major landmarks of the first person shooter genre. Sure it falters in a few places but then again, how many games out there don't? Besides, when a game is made with this level of quality such little nuisances are easily overlooked. So if you haven't played Far Cry yet you really need to get yourself a copy as soon as possible. It's one of the best video game purchases you'll ever make.