The original Far Cry released in March 2004, the same year as Halo 2 for Xbox, Metroid Prime 2 for GameCube, and Half-Life 2 for PC. All three of the latter games are memorable first-person titles that have stood the test of time quite well. So being a new IP with no name recognition, Far Cry had some very stiff competition in 2004.
Far Cry received glowing reviews when it came out for its AI and graphics tech, and while still an enjoyable game, there are major issues in its presentation, controls, and level design that have not aged well at all.
Far Cry’s gameplay is generally solid. Its biggest strength is its enemy AI. It’s fantastic even by today’s standards. You cannot run and gun your way through, as you will die repeatedly. This can’t be stressed enough, as it is the key to understanding the gameplay.
Far Cry’s pacing and difficulty balance are good. Enemies can be annoying in how smart they are. Stealth and patience are important elements. Your character is basically taking on a whole army of mercenary soldiers, and these soldiers aren’t your typical assault rifle fodder. They’re very alert, they all recognize you on sight, and they’ll use strategy to try and take you down. This causes you to have to take a slower pace, using your binoculars and night vision to scope out an area before moving forward. You can choose to play on easy mode right from the beginning, but normal provides a healthy challenge. You will die, but not so much that it’s frustrating. Nothing seems insurmountable.
The setting plays a big role as well. You’re on a tropical island with lots of water and greenery. The greenery adds to the gameplay, as you’re using it constantly as cover to hide and carry out ambushes on the enemy. However, the greenery can actually block your bullets when you’re in a firefight. While annoying, it’s excusable given the technology limits of the time.
The whole game has an open-world feel to it. Unlike FPS games like Half-Life and Call of Duty, which are much more linear and constricted in where you can go, Far Cry’s outdoor environments let you go almost anywhere you want. If you see an island way out in the distance across the water that is in the complete opposite direction of where your next objective is, you can go there if you want. That doesn’t mean you necessarily should, as you may get gunned down on the way, but it’s possible. There really isn’t anything to do in those out of the way places other than look around, but you can tell what developer Crytek was going for. Far Cry is more free and explorable than a lot of its contemporaries.
However, Far Cry overstays its welcome. Halfway through the 20 levels that you fight through, it feels like any fresh ideas from the developer have run their course. You’re still having fun, but nothing new is being introduced. The last level is basically a short series of very difficult kill-rooms, which is completely inconsistent with the slow-paced, somewhat strategic gameplay of all the previous levels. It almost feels like Crytek had made up their mind beforehand that their game was going to be 20 levels, even if that meant adding kill-rooms as filler at the end. It feels very tacked on and unnecessary, since it’s already an adequate length.
Also, though you’re playing as a trained special agent, apparently physical conditioning was not part of your training. You can only run for about 10 seconds at best before you get winded and have to slow to a walk. Your character moves like a tank, and his lack of stamina is a constant annoyance throughout. Since the level design is structured accordingly, the slower pace is mostly not an issue. However, towards the end, when the enemies are more difficult and ridiculously agile, it becomes a big problem. Meanwhile, by the time you get to the last level, the enemies you’re fighting are literally flying from one end of your screen to the other in one jump. It’s ridiculous, and you may not even bother finishing the game because of this.
If you’re wondering why you’re taking on a whole mercenary army all by yourself, that leads to Far Cry’s biggest weakness: the story and presentation are awful.
The actual story premise – told through cut-scenes and in-game dialogue – is somewhat interesting. A group of scientists are doing experiments with humans and apes to make a type of super-soldier. However, the way it’s presented makes it feel like you’re playing a game version of a movie made for the Sci-Fi channel. Much of the voice-acting is horrendous, including your character and the enemies you’re fighting.
‘OH, YOU WANT SOME OF THIS?, YOUR ASS IS GRASS!, COME GET SOME, MO-FO! RIGHT BETWEEN THE EYES!’
It’s so bad it almost feels intentional. It’s hard to imagine even a German developer like Crytek listening to this and thinking this is quality voice-acting and how Americans talk. Maybe it’s supposed to be some kind of homage to ’80s American action flicks. Suffice it to say that it’s bad. Comically bad. It would have been nice to have a story and characters to actually care about. Especially towards the end when the difficulty ramps up significantly.
VERDICT:
Given that there are several far superior sequels out in the Far Cry series now, there’s not much reason to go back to the original. It’s a good game to play to see where the series started, where Crytek as a developer started, and how far they’ve come since, but the franchise has seen vast improvements in almost every area in the sequels.
Also, given how laughably bad the story and characters are, Far Cry limits your reasons for multiple playthroughs. The game is challenging, and has harder difficulty settings for even more challenge, but that’s about it. Despite its flaws, the original Far Cry has a core and a soul that are promising. However, its contemporaries and PC sequels are far superior.
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