Edited on: October 18, 2025
Posted on: October 15, 2025
DudeWilson
Possesseur vérifiéJeux: Avis: 4
An important but frustrating game
Far Cry is an important game—it was the first of three major PC first-person shooters released in 2004 that would end up becoming a watershed moment in video game history, the other two being Doom 3 and Half-Life 2. All three of these games offered a different vision for the future of first-person shooters on PC, featuring impressive graphics technology on three different, brand new game engines. In some ways, Far Cry could be considered the most successful of these three games, at least in terms of its impact on the industry. Doom 3 would eventually become a contentious entry for its slower paced gameplay and survival horror-like elements, and the franchise would eventually reverse course and return to its roots many years later. Half-Life 2 is easily the most successful in terms of how the games were judged on their own merits, but that franchise has faded into obscurity after years of neglect by Valve and its most recent entry being a spin-off relegated to being a VR-exclusive showpiece. In terms of impact, Far Cry itself isn't the most celebrated game, but it's responsible for laying the groundwork for a highly successful series that would evolve under the guiding hand of new developers with Far Cry 2, and it also served as a prototype for what would eventually become the Crysis series, with Crytek perfecting their gameplay ideas from Far Cry with the first Crysis game. Far Cry does some things really well: It has a really unique and interesting premise, and there just aren't very many games that throw you into a tropical island hellscape infested with mercenaries and tell you to survive. There are tons of beautiful, wide open vistas as far as the eye can see that you are free to explore. At the time of Far Cry's release it was one of the most graphically impressive games ever made and it still looks impressive even by today's standards. Even just swimming around in the water in Far Cry is a special kind of experience as you soak in the beauty of it all. The sound design is very good, and the guns feel powerful and are fun to use. Some of the levels in the game are extremely good, and you can occasionally see the sources of inspiration that would later be used to evolve the series in future Far Cry games. The cheesy, 1980s style action movie story is fun and utterly silly in a Jurassic Park, oh no everything has gone wrong, kind of way and is sure to appeal to people that enjoyed Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon's intentionally campy story and characters. The theme of survival in Far Cry is persistent and strong; survive against all odds, even when everything is stacked against you. Yet, despite all of its strengths, for every thing that Far Cry gets right, it gets myriad other things wrong. Despite the guns feeling good and the sound design being great, there's always some kind of ridiculous moment waiting for you just around the corner, where a mercenary sees you from over halfway across the map, and outside of the fog of war, who then snipes you with rockets from an impossible distance. There's always that one last mercenary you missed who is stuck in a weird spot and kills you from behind while you scavenge the aftermath of the environment for weapons and healing items. There's those psychic mercenaries that can somehow see through walls and always know where you are, shooting at you the instantaneous second they walk or run around a corner. There's the fact that you cannot move while aiming with scoped weapons, because if you do the game will automatically zoom you out. This aspect is especially infuriating in a game where staying immobile for more than a split second is sure to spell instant death. There's the fact that stealth is encouraged, but rarely works. There's the seemingly endless amount of merc patrol boats equipped with rocket launchers that ruin your carefully executed plans. There's the super mutants that start appearing roughly halfway through the game with rocket launchers for arms that ambush you in tight corridors, and there always seems to be at least 6 more enemies than there needs to be in every damn encounter in the game. Every time you think you've killed the last enemy you should probably assume there's at least 3-4 more guys and then after you kill those ones assume there's at least 1-2 more. Sometimes it just feels like this game is misanthropic and utterly hates you, with unfairly designed combat arenas lacking meaningful cover and downright evil enemy placements. Overcoming these challenges never feels rewarding in a meaningful way, you're just glad when they're finally over. It was at this point that I realized I wasn't having as much fun playing Far Cry as I should be. It took me 13 hours to complete the game, but it felt about twice as long as that. I also distinctly remember feeling in the latter half of the game that I just wanted it to all be over. If I weren't stubbornly dedicated to trying to drag myself across the finish line, I very likely would have thrown in the towel long before the credits rolled across the screen. When Far Cry behaves, it's a blast. But it just too often enough interrupts the player's fun with meaningless frustration. Far Cry is the type of game where your enjoyment of it is going to entirely depend on your tolerance level for dealing with ridiculous BS, of which there is a large amount of it here. Far Cry is an important title in video game history, but it's also an incredibly frustrating one. I just can't see any reason why I would ever want to replay this when so many other, less infuriating games exist. Crytek would go on to learn some major lessons from their development of Far Cry and create a much better game with the original Crysis. Personally, I'd recommend playing that instead. I don't think Far Cry is a bad game—there are plenty of things that I like about it and it provided me with some really cool and memorable moments. There's one chapter later in the game where you travel around multiple islands blowing up radio towers and I feel like this level served as a major inspiration for future open world Far Cry games. I just wish Far Cry had more levels like that, and less levels that forced you into fighting rocket launcher mutants in tight corridors while wearing a wet paper tower as body armour. Far Cry's lack of focus on the things it does well throughout the mid to endgame, and its insistence on doing the things it does poorly, such as forcing the player into coverless indoor combat arenas and giant three-way skirmishes, is its greatest downfall. If you are interested in video game history, or you're are a big fan of Far Cry as a series, or maybe you just never beat it back in the day like me, then Far Cry might be worth checking out, but I think you should heavily consider how much BS you're willing to put up with before playing this game, and I'd also say you should come into this without an expectation that you'll actually have the patience to see it through to its conclusion. There are no quicksaves in Far Cry, as it uses a checkpoint system, and some areas are brutally difficult that will test even the most patient and skilled players. The end of the game in particular is notoriously ruthless, and I can't in good conscience recommend this game to most people because of how downright ridiculous some of its levels are. It's just far too frustrating to be worth playing nowadays for the average person when there are so many other less frustrating games out there to play. I suppose I'm glad that I can finally check Far Cry off my list, but I'm unlikely to ever want to play it again. The good content here just simply isn't good enough to make up for all the BS you have to deal with to get to the good parts. If you value your time and sanity, my recommendation remains to go play Crysis instead, or perhaps even Far Cry 2, and thank me later. If you're a madlad who still wants to play Far Cry after reading this review, then godspeed my friend. I'll see you on the other side.
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