Far Cry

From time to time, some games revolutionize the genre and the industry itself, by setting new quality standards and coming up with brilliant new mechanics. Naturally, the other games in the genre must follow, since a comparison is bound to be made at some point and they would come up empty handed, whether it's graphics, gameplay or any other chapter.

Far Cry is a first-person shooter that managed to take the video games industry by surprise and deliver a truly unique and revolutionary experience, completed by stunning graphics, versatile gameplay mechanics and a challenging AI to keep you on your toes. It didn't not exactly amaze with the background story, however, since it barely made any sense at all.

Hence, the main character's name is Jack Carver and he's an ex-military man that retired and took on a job transporting tourists with the boat on the Pacific. One day, a journalist by the name of Val Cortez hires Jack in order to travel to a less known island in the South Asian archipelago, where the boat gets attacked by mercenaries and everything takes a very wrong turn. Beside the unforgiving jungle and the ruthless mercenaries, a couple of gruesome mutants make their appearance as well, in order to check every cliché in the book and just make it very clear that the plot gave up half way toward the end.

Far Cry shines in other aspects, however, such as the gameplay itself and the heavily improved shooter mechanics that govern it. To start off with, the island in question can be explored at will, whether by foot, swimming around it in the ocean, or using one of the many vehicles that can be found throughout the map, including jeeps and speed boats with mounted machine guns. The controls are very responsive, while the AI is capable of calling for support, taking cover and generally make your life more difficult, which really makes the entire gameplay more energetic and intense.

Lastly, the graphics engine must be praised as well, since it still manages to look phenomenal, even today. The first CryEngine is more than capable of rendering realistic water effects and waves, incredible vegetation, as well as convincing shadows and smooth character animations. The mutants are also nicely modeled, but their presence kind of ruins the game for a bit, especially since they are not nearly as smart as the human AI.

In the end, Far Cry managed to come up with the right combination of gameplay elements, graphics quality and level design, all of which make it one of the most representative shooters out there. There are, however, few flaws that cannot be ignored, such as the horrible plot and the addition of mutants in the story.