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Far Cry Demo Review January 27, 2004 Jakub Wojnarowicz |
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Summary: The Far Cry demo is here but you don't know whether you should spend hours downloading this half-gigabyte monster. Maybe you just don't know what Far Cry is and why Ubi Soft is sure it can compete with Half-Life 2 and Doom III. Bold claims, aren't they? Jakub checks out the demo and whether or not the Crytek engine really has "the minerals" - and we've got 27 screenshots to boot!
 Overview | Page:: ( 1 / 3 ) |
Pretty
The Far Cry demo has been released in all its half-gigabyte glory. Far Cry is, for some odd reason, one of the best-looking and innovative first-person shooters and has not managed to catch one ounce of hype. So here’s the demo, your chance to try the game. And we’re here to help you decide whether or not it’s worth downloading.
Far Cry takes the player to a remote island filled with enemies. Yeah, it’s you against the world – what’s new, right? Well, the difference is that the Far Cry island is literally island – it’s not a series of levels. For the purposes of the demo, the player is limited to a relatively small section of it, but that relatively small section is still huge.
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The lone demo mission has the player tasked with the destruction of a radar facility on top of a hill on the island. You start on a boat, approaching a smaller mini-island, armed with nothing but a pistol.
The immediate impression, even at the lowest graphics settings, is of wonder. This is a real island, it’s huge, it’s green, the sky is a bright blue, the sand is clean and the water sparkles. No game up until now has offered such an incredible sense of immersion thanks to its graphics and style.
After landing, it’s best to sneak up on your opponents, take aim and drop them from cover. Here, the first two small disappointments manifest themselves. The gun controls are somewhat sluggish, like in Deus Ex: Invisible War before the patch. There’s a feeling of mouse lag, and while it doesn’t disrupt gameplay, it certainly doesn’t feel as crisp as Call of Duty. We were also hoping that Far Cry might have “iron” sights, like Call of Duty, Vietcong or Operation Flashpoint. This small detail adds greatly to immersion, as you’re staring down the barrel of a gun rather than through abstract crosshairs.
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After picking up the weapons your enemies drop, it’s off to the next stage of the mission. The auto-save should kick in unless you skip its activation area – an unfortunate state of affairs because there is no manual save option. However, the autosaves are frequent and conveniently timed, and never left us feeling as if they were poorly spaced so as to increase the challenge.
Discuss Far Cry in our brand-new PC Games board over at the FiringSquad Forums! Your regular FS login will work, and if you don’t have one yet, why not? Registration is free, easy, simple and spam-free!
SIDEBAR: My favorite gun in Far Cry is the P90.
| Conclusion | Page:: ( 2 / 3 ) |
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Obviously the graphics are the highlight of the game, and if you’re looking to see just what your GeForce FX or Radeon 9700/9800 can do, Far Cry is the game to do it. The sound effects are solid, though as with control, we wish weapon sounds were a little crisper. We also noticed that the MP5 SD, the silenced variant, is a little too quiet – it seems to make no noise at all.
The AI is quite competent. Yes, it makes mistakes, but it’s no worse than Call of Duty, Half-Life, or any other game that tries to simulate human behavior. Enemy soldiers take cover, try to flank you, throw grenades, and say the funniest stuff in the world, such as “Hey, you with the shirt!” Like having a shirt was a distinguishing mark.
Far Cry has a physics engine, which works quite well with the vehicles but has little application outside of that. Boxes and bodies will float in water and barrels can be knocked over, just don’t expect to shoot wooden houses down to the ground (then again, I kinda doubt you’ll be able to in Half-Life 2 either. -ed.)
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Is it worth the almost 500MB download? Not if you’re looking for a lasting experience, for free gaming to hold you over for days. But if you want to see what DX9 level graphics look like, or need to justify your 256MB GeRadeon XT Ultra 5 billion, Far Cry is definitely the game to do it.
Discuss Far Cry in our brand-new PC Games board over at the FiringSquad Forums! Your regular FS login will work, and if you don’t have one yet, why not? Registration is free, easy, simple and spam-free!
SIDEBAR: It took a long time to take screenshots. Taking one slowed the game down and often lead to my death.
| Gallery | Page:: ( 3 / 3 ) |