Product Description

A tropical paradise seethes with hidden evil in Far Cry, a cunningly detailed action shooter that pushes the boundaries of combat to shocking new levels.

Freelance mariner Jack Carver is cursing the day he ever came to this island. A week ago, a brash female reporter named Valerie had offered him an incredible sum of cash to take her to this unspoiled paradise. Shortly after docking, however, Jack's boat was greeted by artillery fire from a mysterious militia group swarming about the island.

With his boat destroyed, his money gone and the gorgeous Valerie suddenly missing, Jack now finds himself facing an army of mercenaries amid the wilds of the island, with nothing but a gun and his wits to survive by. But the further he pushes into the lush jungle canopy, the stranger things become.

Jack encounters an insider within the militia group who reveals the horrific details of the mercenaries' true intentions. He presents Jack with an unsettling choice: battle the deadliest mercenaries or condemn the human race to a maniac's insidious agenda.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3977 in Computer & Video Games
• Brand: UBI Soft
• Released on: 2004-03-26
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows Me, Windows XP

Amazon.co.uk Review
There isn't a lack of first-person shoot 'em-ups for the PC, but Far Cry looks like it could well be up there with the best of them. It's got a lot of competition of course, from the likes of Doom III and Half-Life 2, but Far Cry has got something they haven't: brains. Although the graphics in Far Cry are some of the best ever seen, with amazing island vistas that look straight out of Pirates of the Caribbean, the most impressive technical achievement is the artificial intelligence of its bad guys. Enemies in most games seem to have the attention span of a goldfish and rarely seem to be able to see or hear more than a foot in front of their faces. This is not the case in Far Cry, although when you've been chased by a gang of professional bounty hunters through a rusty World War II aircraft carrier and back again, you might begin to wish they were still deaf and dumb.

For pretty much the first time Far Cry makes you feel as if you are fighting against a real foe, with real intelligence. And if that's not enough to impress there's the aforementioned amazing graphics, seven different vehicles to pilot (including a hand glider), tons of different weapons and really realistic looking bushes. That last may not sound that impressive, but the game's recreation of a real jungle environment is quite outstanding and the real icing on the cake of this top-notch shooter. --David Jenkins

Customer Reviews

Far Cry
Excellent. You need a fairly high end system to enjoy the best of the beautiful graphics etc (I have a P4-2.8, 1Gb RAM) but i think it runs ok on slower machines too.

Atmospherics are amazing and attention to detail is incredible. More importantly though it has hours of first rate gameplay and some rather scary moments thrown in for good measure. You also get to drive some pretty cool vehicles like boats, buggies and forklifts. There is a good array of weapons as you progress through the game and using them is fun as you can shoot or blow up most of the in-game objects. The in game objects by the way, are really cool as the developers have applied the laws of real physics so things bounce, roll and can be pushed...

The missions (there are 20 huge ones) are not too linear, i.e. you can go almost anywhere you like.

The only bit i found annoying is that the AI enemies spot you too easily, e.g. if you are half a mile away and crouching in the shadows, the mercs can often spot you.

Well worth the money though. Buy it!

The Future Is HERE
You won't believe what people are saying about this game until you see it for yourself.

Technically, this game is awesome. The graphics are jaw-droopingly stunning. The amount of detail in the environments is incredible, which goes from ultra-high resolution textures to dragonflies, fish and bubbles in the water. The water itself is photo realistic, the reflections look unbelievably real.

I have a Radeon 9700 Pro, and I can play the game smoothly at 1280*1024, with all settings on max (except Anti-Aliasing) and it looks beautiful. Make sure you set the render setting to 'Paradise' :-)

Now ask yourself... games like Max Payne 2 also had incredible graphics, but why are they sitting on the shelf unused?
Answer - because they don't have Multi player.
Far Cry has an EXCELLENT multi player mode, which is thoroughly entertaining. The multi player levels are smaller, but sill allow you to ride in Boats and other vehicles, retaining the uniqueness of the game.
It's hard to say if this would be 'The Game Of 2004,' with upcoming releases such as Half Life 2, Stalker and Doom3 around the corner. BUT... It's definitely the best game I've ever bought.

--- WARNING TO USERS OF LG DVD DRIVES ---
If you own an LG DVD Driver, you may experience problems when loading the CD. Your drive may even refuse to read the cd all together. Don't panic, there is a fix available but it's difficult to install, as it involves updating the firmware of your DVD drive. May I suggest that if you own an LG DVD drive that you visit the official UBI Far Cry forums, where the issue is discussed and resolved. As of now, the direct link to the thread is,
http://ubbxforums.ubi.com/6/ubb.x?a=tpc&s=400102&f=452106891&m=930108703

Far Cry: What You Need to Know
This game takes a 4 gig installation, but, once installed...
Boy, does this game deliver! The opening cutscene is one of the best I've ever seen. Not that that is important, but it sets the scene, and the pace. This is another of those games that reeks of high quality. So much for first impressions. Does it deliver the goods?

The gameplay is FANTASTIC. The key bindings are the best I've ever encountered. The gameplay is balanced in terms of pace, tension, variety, difficulty, and in indoor and outdoor locations. While playing, one rather gets tired than bored, which is great, because after a brief nap, it's back to the PC for some fun fun fun. Well, isn't that what gaming is all about?

The indoor levels reminded me of Quake 2. Very tense. The outdoor scenes, as you probably know by now, cannot be compared to anything out there - they are nothing but AWESOME. Beautiful and totally immersive!

There are reviewers who claim not to be impressed by this game. I cannot understand how someone can't be impressed by this game. In that case, nothing will impress them, as this is a title the developer may justly be proud of. Nevermind Halflife 2. Get this.

The gameplay can get challenging at times, but not in an overwhelming Serious Sam sort of way. You will often find yourself in situations where you have to stand back, get the big picture, find an alternative way, and get on with it. Lateral thinking stuff.

One last thing: I've read that the game is a resource hog, and that levels take long to load. Not true (apart from the 4 gig install). The game runs smoothly on my Athlon 2200 with only 256 Meg RAM and GeForce 4. Load times are equal to Raven Shield load times.
To summarise: what a game! What a trendsetter! Well done to Crytek! My ratings for this game:
Graphics: *****
Gameplay: *****
AI: *****
Fun Factor: *****
Sound: *****

Get it, you won't be disappointed!