There's the biggest problem with Far Cry. The last half of this game is almost entirely uninteresting, in terms of both graphics and gameplay. It still looks pretty, but the best looking parts of the game are of course...in the first half of the game! I'm starting to sound like a broken record here. Let me break the game down for you:
First half of game: Fun, fun, fun! Outdoor environments make me drool.
Second half of game: Uninspired indoor frag fest...in theory. In reality, it's just an uninspired indoor get killed and reload last save.
Like I said, this game has its share of fun moments. But it also has its share of "can't I just skip this level" moments. It has far too many indoor night time levels for my taste. Almost a quarter of this game took place inside corridors that looked just plain drab. During these long and unlikeable levels, I kept visualizing the beautiful, sunny beach levels like Fort. I guess that was a demo level for a reason. These indoor sections are just plain boring, personally. They would be a breeze to go through also, if it wasn't for the unforgiving AI, which made these sections even more dreadful.
I feel like a jerk, but the nitpicking must continue. The movement speeds are way too damn slow in this game. You either get to crawl, or waddle, or walk. Running seems to have not been included in the final game.
Still, though. The last half of the game does have its amazing moments. The boat level was amazing. You go around destroying towers with some explosives, while engaging in small boat wars with some difficult AI. It's a lot of fun, and there is a bridge in this level with some parts that can be destroyed. I got all excited when I was crossing the bridge and decided to shoot the boards beneath me...and I fell through! And landed in the ocean....this is an example of good game development. There is also a level late in the game where you are out of ammo, stranded on a tropical island full of the undead. Moments later you are hurled down a hundred foot waterfall. It's moment like these where you forget about the subpar corridor levels and really become immersed in the game.
So real you could taste the dirt
Far Cry has visuals to die for. Unfortunately that is not an entirely false statement. The textures are among the best seen in PC games these days, and the lighting effects are definitely in the Doom 3 territory. Overall, Far Cry is one of the greatest looking games seen thus far.
The caves and labs in this game look completely surreal, but the outdoor sections really steal the show. Just look down at the beach sand. Or watch the ocean waves lap over the shoreline. Hell, the whole ocean look amazing with its pixel shading, unless of course you look at it from a high elevation where its repetitiveness becomes apparent. All of the vegetation looks real, and is perfect for hiding in because the AI actually does not see you when you are prone in it.
The game will require one hell of a PC to run it, though. I am playing on ultra high settings and I am experiencing barely any slowdown. Then again, I'm also on an Alienware with a 3.0 Ghz processor, a gigabyte of RAM and a Radeon 9800 XT. I played the game with 1024x768 resolution and got an average of 60 frames outdoors, but indoors the game decided to slow down a bit more to about 45 frames per second. It was when I turned on my flashlight that I noticed the game have a significant decrease in frames. With that knowledge, you should know what your PC can handle. The game has a variety of tweaking options to ensure proper performance on medium powered PCs.
Far Cry uses all the latest technology you would expect from a next-gen PC game. You can expect to see ragdoll physics, advanced pixel shading and bump mapping galore. The CryEngine allows the game to have the largest draw-distance ever witnessed in a game...we're talking 1.2 kilometer draw distances. Basically, from the highest point of an island, you can see the shorelines below, and even some islands out into the distance. This makes sniping an absolute joy. It's awesome being able to pick off people who are up on a hill while you are prone in the sand below. Far Cry lets you interact with virtually any object in the game as well, so you can walk into a chair and it will fall over realistically, or bump into a hanging light and see the real-time lighting effects that result.
Lastly, the load times are incredible. It will take about 45 seconds to load an entire map, and once it is loaded, you can instantly reload any checkpoint in that map. It is nice not to have to sit through the load screen each time you die. Which you will do a lot of.