Sound: 10
Gameplay: 9
Value: 8
Reviewer's Tilt: 10
Overall: 9.1
The story
This game starts off unlike most games do. After an amazing yet confusing CG, you wake up on a desert island unaware of why you are here and the dangers that lie ahead. Pretty soon an entire platoon is after you and you start to realize what you are getting into. This game just isn't about fighting humans, of course. The game's plot quickly turns into The Island of Dr. Moreau and all sorts of unworldly mutants come after you. As you progress through the game, you will notice that the soldiers in this game are becoming mutants as well. Oh oh, an experiment gone completely wrong. Soon you realize that you must find the person responsible for this mess and end him. While of course being persued by hordes of mutant things and overly aggressive soldiers. Ah.
While Far Cry tries to have a plot, you soon lose all interest in it. So far I have seen this in almost every FPS out there (with Half Life and Halo being exceptions). I appreciate where game developers try to go, but we would rather be just shooting things. Thankfully, the cutscenes in this game are not required viewing, unlike some games out there (I'm looking at you, Unreal 2). UbiSoft tried their best to create something worthwhile, but the game still relies heavily on typical cliches of this genre, including double crossings and so forth. Of course, I'm an FPS veteran. Therefore I've already seen it all. The second the mutants started showing up early on, I already knew where this game was going. Still, the game has a story unlike most games these days, no matter how much it is lacking.
Oh, and I would like to personally thank the developers for not making this become another cliched love story. When you find Val in this game, I was pretty sure that you were going to fall in love with her...but none of this ever happens. It's actually refreshing for a game not to rely on such an old, uninspired cliche.
Gameplay balanced?
Far Cry is one hell of a difficult game, there's no beating around the bush. I said earlier that I was a veteran FPS player. That does not mean that I can just blow through this game. I know many people who can't even beat the demos. So it is an accomplishment to me to say that I have beaten the game because it was just so challenging. But is this challenge completely justified? Absolutely not.
The main problem is the balance of the game. It can basically be summed up like this: The first half is easy, the last half is cheaply difficult. It is easy to go prone in some nicely rendered grass and pick people off with the sniper rifle. Even when the guards are alerted, you can escape with your life...most of the time. It is the second half of the game that almost made me completely quit playing. I'm talking about the cheap mutants who jump on you, maul you to death, blow you to bits with rocket launchers, or who just seem to kill you instantly before you can even see how they did so.
This is one of the most frustrating experiences I have had outside of Ninja Gaiden (Xbox). It is almost impossible to clear out a room full of a bunch of people who have rocket launchers because they will hit you every time, and cause your screen to get all affected to the point where you will not be able to comprehend what the hell is going on! These people should not EVER be allowed to use rocket launchers. There are several moments similar to this that happen throughout the game, the worst was in the last level. I must have died 25 times during the last few minutes of the game.