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Far Cry, released in 2004 by German developer Crytek, is an FPS that takes place on a series of lush, beautiful tropical islands in the South Pacific and features wide open environments, amazing AI and an unforgettable experience where paradise ends and hell begins.

The story centers around the main character Jack Carver and his exploits as he tries to save Valarie (your typical ‘damsel in distress’), outsmart merciless mercenaries and unravel an evil secret of the mad scientist variety. The plot overall is very simple and not very engaging (I had lost count of all the times I had to save Valarie). Needless to say, the plot (while decently entertaining at times) is just there to link together the action and amazing game play.

The first thing you will notice is the open ended nature of the game. Most levels allow you to explore wide open environments and permit you to tackle a given situation in any number of ways. For example, you could always go in guns blazing but the often times difficult (even frustratingly unfair) difficulty will get you killed more than most of the time. Instead you could throw a rock to cause a distraction and when the mercenary goes to investigate sneak up and kill them with a knife blow to the head. You also have flash bangs and smoke grenades as well as a variety of real world weapons with the same accuracy based crosshairs as seen in Counter-Strike.

This strategic depth would be wasted if the AI didn’t react intelligently and this is where Far Cry shines. Far Cry boasts devilishly perceptive AI foes that react and counter to any strategy you initiate in a host of intelligent and believable ways. They will try to outflank you, throw grenades, use suppressing fire and retreat if they take too many casualties. Crytek really outdid themselves here, it’s just a shame they didn’t put this much attention into the games other foes as well as later levels that become overly linear killing the strategic freedom seen earlier in the game.

A tropical paradise wouldn’t be a tropical paradise without lush visuals and Far Cry has this in spades. Every scene looks like a postcard with palm trees blowing in the breeze, waves crashing onto beaches and old WW2 Japanese bases giving an eerie contrasting backdrop to what is to come.

Audibly the game is just as great with weapons fire and other ballistic noises sounding satisfying and authentic. Voice acting on the other hand may be a bit corny and low quality for some but listening in on mercenary conversations is a must and very entertaining.

There is a nice arrangement of multiplayer modes and maps including Deathmatch and Assault. Unfortunately the games multiplayer component didn’t pick up and very few play online.

Far Cry is a unique title combining fast paced action, crafty AI all in a lush tropical paradise gone to hell and is easily a must have title for any FPS buff.

9/10