Virgo’s Naive Stories

I’m sort of torn between Virgo who wanted to write it short and the other one who scents that I can’t make it short anyway. Hence I rather took four screenshots and here we go. Not long ago I could say “was one of those games I finished”. There are still jewels I quit – like Bioshock (not because it wasn’t good for me, it just happens when you stop playing a game that you sometimes never return to it). Now I finished more games and I still count on. I killed the last bastard in Far Cry literally few minutes ago. Why to do a review? Even without reading others? Why not… I like the game and I decided to write about it. It was also one of those reasons (aside from music, video editing, …) why I hadn’t written any post in April after all!

I got the game on Steam for 10 euro-bucks along with Il-2 Sturmovik in some Ubisoft pack I wanted in the first place. I knew there is some Far Cry, I played Crysis demo and I knew about Crytek. I started the game one evening and the game completely sucked me in. I liked everything about the game. Weapons – quite a big arsenal. I liked the meter showing if enemies know about you or not. I liked the feeling of gameplay, it really is great shooter where you can sneak around and snipe but also go aggressively into the battles. I picked third difficulty (and later I wished I picked something easier).

Nice open landscapes – especially tropical islands – that’s Far Cry

But first things first, right? It is FPS as you probably know. And the story is something about genetic tests of some crazy scientist you have to kill in the end. I don’t wanna spoil it out. You walk through a jungle, some interiors, caves, jungle again, catacombs, more jungle and some volcano in the end. Beginning is quite innocent but after you start to meed products of the genetic engineering the story (and especially the gameplay) heats up significantly. One thing that is extremely lovely about Far Cry is that the game doesn’t have bugs (at least version 1.4 that is on Steam). Well – it probably does some, even I noticed a few – but there are no significant, frustrating bugs. Here and there are soldiers who can see you through the tent or wall (especially those where you can fire through). Here and there some glitch occurs. But nothing that affects the very smooth flow of the game. Maybe I was just lucky, but this is simply something that the game should be – but often is not.

Unlucky… not only dead, but how he got there?

Checkpoints instead of ad-lib save is something that can ruin the game. Few save-points in Mafia for instance were quite annoying plus some videos could not be skipped. On the other hand the system also helps the story to be better experienced and you play simply in a different way when you know you have to survive until the next checkpoint. In Far Cry saving is generally on a right place – sometimes it could be closer to some final fight. When I blown up some regulator or what I found out that space key (or jump?) skips the video sequence, nice touch. Why I found it out after the blowing part? Well because check-point was before the detonation and many enemies after the cut scene. It was probably first of those battles I had to do on more than 10 tries. (And later I did some of them again and again innumerable times.)

Final (sort-of) boss responsible for all the mess

Trouble with difficulty is that it goes up insanely in later phases of the game. It’s really frustrating but some fights are 95% matter of luck and 5% matter of skill. I don’t wanna say that the skill doesn’t matter – it does, because without it you wouldn’t simply do it. But in many cases you’ll get killed even when you did more than your best. When you enter the same room again after reload it is never the same – enemies are standing on different positions, sometimes even the number of them is different. This is very nice feature but very big complications as well – in those frustrating moments. I nearly gave up. I play games for fun and not because I have to prove to myself that I can beat some final boss. When I felt I was going to write a review (a few days ago) I thought I will be very optimistic about the game but it’s perhaps a bit hard-core in the end. I had to replay many checkpoints in Mafia and maybe I don’t remember my frustration. Many of them was about luck there as well – but Far Cry has a few insane battles on 3rd difficulty from 5.

Still – play the game if you haven’t tried it yet. It is worth it. It is cool shooter with cool equipment like the binoculars that can tag your enemies on the radar or heat vision that is very handy in some of those most difficult battles (but not only there). Far Cry is a long game, it needs some time and patience. I’d rather play it with 2nd difficulty now but your skill can be better (or you’re masochist ). Anyway, play the game.

Don’t fire rocket into the face of the enemy standing so close

Wrap-up time! Cons? No subtitles in cut scenes, few extremely long runs between checkpoints, very frustrating (not only) boss fights, ugly cut scenes (Val could definitely act better in them ). Pros? Attractive gameplay, great landscapes, freedom within corridor-like gameplay/story, weapons and binocs, and heat vision! I wish you good luck with those fights where you will really need it. And here is the guide I used (and it helped) – it’s nice and funny here and there, especially talking about cliches of the game, so let me finish with a quote from it:

“Don’t blame CryTek, though: federal regulations require that all first-person shooters have a sequence wherein you become a passenger on a fast-moving vehicle, are unable to control your movement, and are tasked with shooting at other fast-moving vehicles. It’s the law.”