It gives you almost complete freedom in a very large map with quite varied terrain. It gives you complete freedom to choose your play style. It gives you fellow mercenaries to cultivate friendships with. It gives you complete freedom to play as a silent assassin, a principled mercenary, or an all out bloodthirsty killer. And then it ruins it with completely insane respawn rates, indistinguishable factions and a horrible ending. You play as a mercenary sent to assassinate an arms dealer. You end up working for one of two factions vying for control of a small African country. The first problem pops up right here. It's practically impossible to tell the two factions apart. They're completely forgettable, and there is absolutely no consequence to taking missions from both sides. Once you get through the opening tutorial, you have almost complete freedom to take whatever jobs you want and can perform the jobs in any way you like. Take out a convoy? Snipe the driver, throw a grenade, set up an IED, drive up along side in your own vehicle, stand in front of them with a belt fed machine gun. Choice is yours. The two problems are that the respawn rate is insane. If you kill all the guards at an outpost, travel out of sight, turn around and come back, the place is completely restaffed with guards. This makes getting around the map a bit frustrating. The second problem is that despite a large number of silenced weapons it is almost impossible to actually be stealthy throughout a mission. Almost every job turns into a blood bath. The final--and to me--most unforgivable sin is the ending. Much of the game is spent cultivating relationships with other mercenaries, and it doesn't matter how good or bad you are. It doesn't matter how many missions you've completed with a buddy, the ending never changes and feels completely "out of character." The final ending tries to be edgy in a kind of "Blood Diamond" way but ultimately falls a bit flat. All of the freedom you've had along the way evaporates. So close to being awesome that it's frustrating.
Far Cry wasn't the first game to give wide open expanses and freedom, and it wasn't the first to look good. But it was the first to do both at the same time. Far Cry marks the beginning of a new era graphically. It started out as a tech demo for the Cry engine ultimately to be used in Crysis. To be honest, I've always liked it better than Crysis. Far Cry puts you on a tropical island and lets you figure out your optimum way through to the other side. Sometimes it's loud. Sometimes stealthy. Sometimes you just commandeer a boat and sail around the bad guys. About halfway through the game, the difficulty ramps up significantly as you begin to take on mutants as well as human enemies. The game doesn't take itself too seriously. It's one of the few shooters that I've played through more than once.
These get a 5 star from my memory, although by today's standards, they'd probably only be 3.5. Of the series, 3 was my favorite because of the absurdly high level that your characters can become. All except 6 are tile/turn based, meaning that the world consists of a grid, and every turn you can move one space (like the recent Dungeons of Dredmor). 6 is 360 degree freedom of movement. Interesting stories, and each town has it's own intrigues. Although supposedly set in a world of magic, it's actually sci-fi. These games were always at the forefront of video technology. Lot's of great touches, such as damage dealt being represented by the size of the blood splash rather than numbers. The condition of your characters represented by expressions on their faces rather than icons. They are far more accessible than the Wizardry and Ultima series (although perhaps a bit more shallow). Just a couple tips: -Make sure you don't forget to equip the new equipment you buy. Everyone gets a bow. Don't run up to enemies. Shoot them while they come to you. -Resting, if successful, will heal all wounds (but not disease or aging) and restore all mana. The spell that ensures safe rest is the most powerful in the game. -The buff spells are the ultimate key to success (heroism, bless, aid, etc.). -If your character keeps dying unexpectedly every turn, check their age. Some enemies age your character, so he's dying because he's 130 year's old. Aging can be cured unless it's your natural age. If it's your natural age that's affected, you'll either have to reload or retire that character in favor of a new recruit.
This game has only two flaws. 1. Fixed low resolution graphics 2. There's no sequel. This game is probably the truest to the original idea of Dungeons and Dragons as story telling and role playing rather than number crunching. Don't get me wrong; the number crunching is important, but the star of the show is YOUR character's development through the narrative. The author's determined who you were, but you get to determine who you are. Are you a kind, wise soul who helps people? Or do you use your knowledge to use people or worse simply to crush them? Are you beyond redemption? Who are you when you have no memories? Who are you when you remember who you once were? Your choices decide. The major reason to play this game is for the story and characters. They are quite simply phenomenal. To this day, the best game, I've ever played.
