Far Cry (Xbox)

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R. Jones

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby R. Jones » January 18th, 2007, 3:00 am

Far Cry Instincts

 Microsoft Xbox

 4/10

 

To be honest, I probably had my expectations too high when I got this game.  A friend of mine and I were watching tv, when we saw an ad for it.  The ad portrays this man who gets stranded on an island controlled by guerillas and must use his wits and jungle-traps to escape.  This was a really cool sounding idea, so we're all impressed and we go look up reviews and video footage and decide to head down to the local used game store to trade in a bunch of old stuff for Far Cry.

 

We get back with Far Cry, and two other people that we've picked up since seeing the commercial.  We start up the game. There's an opening cinema where your boat is destroyed and you dive into the water.  After this, you immediately take control of Jack, the protagonist.  Under water, in the middle of the ocean, and being shot at by helicopters.  I swim toward this island and notice that the beach is crawling with armed thugs, so I decide to try and find an easier way to get onto the island.  No.  You can't do that.  The game forces to enter through Thug Beach.

 

Fine.  I get onto the beach and begin sneaking up behind one of the guerillas.  I shank him, steal his gun, and slip away into some bushes.  His buddy freaks out and starts patrolling trying to figure out what happened.  When Buddy leaves I begin to look around at my surroundings.  There's a trail leading off the beach between two mountains.  I decide to try and climb one of the mountains to get a look at the trail.  No.  Invisible Wall.  I try a different way.  No.  Invisible Wall.  I continue running into wall after wall until I get to the top of the mountain.  It's clear.  I try to climb back down.  Stuck.  I can't move.  My friends crack jokes about how ridiculous the game is.  I get mad and pass the sticks.

 

When I first started playing I thought, "This is so linear because it's the begginning.  It's like a tutorial."  But no.  The entire game is linear.  You keep getting more and more options for killing people.  But you never get any freedom to explore the island or impact the story.

 

Far Cry's single player has some redeeming features.  The enemy AI is good, so combat can be fun.  It has a few action movie style chase scenes.  But in the end it's far too linear, and the story was too bland to be interesting to me.  I wasn't able to finish the game, and I probably won't ever bother with the single player again.

 

One thing I liked about Far Cry is its level editor.  Far Cry has a built-in level editor to create multiplayer maps.  The level editor has a lot of features, it's pretty flexible, and very intuitive.  You can raise and lower land, add vegetation, add garbage, place building, place ammo, etc.  All of this is done using simple on-screen menus and the joysticks.  You can look at the map while you edit it, rotate it, and drop Jack anywhere on the map for testing.  The standard maps that come with Far Cry Instincts aren't very impressive, but the map editor lets you create some really interesting areas, and adds a lot of longevity to the game.

 

Far Cry is jungle-themed Quake game, with good AI, an excellent map editor, and the ability to stealth shank people.  I expected something more like Seven Cities of Gold, and was disappointed.  If you like Quake style games, and want to try the jungle flavour, then you may get something out of this.

 

Four Out of Ten.


Shawn

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby Shawn » January 20th, 2007, 10:02 am

Wow! Thank God you don't do this for a living. Your review is terrible. This game is amazing, 9/10. If you want to "explore" the jungle get an adventure game. What a joke.


sega saturn x

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby sega saturn x » January 20th, 2007, 11:04 am

Shawn is right, do dome research before you buy and then later trash a game.  Anyone with half a brain could have told you it isn't an adventure game, nor does it claim to be.


R. Jones

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby R. Jones » January 21st, 2007, 9:13 am

[QUOTE=sega saturn x]

Shawn is right, do dome research before you buy and then later trash a game.  Anyone with half a brain could have told you it isn't an adventure game, nor does it claim to be.

[/QUOTE] I didn't expect it to be an adventure game.  I expected it to be a game where you killed people in a jungle while trying to escape from an island. 

My issues with the game are:

- Limited sneaking.  The game doesn't really give you the freedom of being the boogeyman in the shadows that it seems like you're going to get.  There are certain areas where you're allowed to be sneaky.  The game prohibits you from being creative with your sneaking.  There are seven foot dirt mounds that the game won't even let you walk over to sneak up on people from behind.

- Which brings me to Invisible Walls.  The game has tons of places that look like they're accessible, but they're walled off with invisible walls.  Trying to find different routes, or sneak up on someone by going a long way, will often result in getting stuck in glitches.

- And to a lesser extent, I dislike the story.  It played a large part in the game, but it was generic, pointless, and you had no influence on it.

 

The best parts of the main campaign are in the camp and little town areas.  It drops all of the stealth/jungle/guerilla pretensions, and plays to its strengths.  It's Quake, with good AI and lots of debris to hide in.  There aren't a lot of those though.

 

Maybe I should have explained the towns in more depth (since they are the second best part of the game) or maybe my rating was too low (which is really what it seems like you both are most offended by.), but the game seems below average to me.  Maybe I'm being too harsh, and should compare it to my perception of what all games period are rather than what I have experience with? 

 

When I rated it though, there were two things in my mind:

"There are games I can play for free that I enjoy more than Far Cry," and

"This game doesn't accomplish to what it sets out to create."


bluemonkey1
Posts: 2444
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby bluemonkey1 » January 22nd, 2007, 1:09 pm

"It's Quake, with good AI and lots of debris to hide in." <-- What are you on?  Try playing it like Quake and you die, fast!  The first camp I cam across required a lot of trap setting and sneaking to get through.

feilong801
Posts: 2173
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby feilong801 » January 22nd, 2007, 5:52 pm

It sounded like he did his research to me, fellas. Hmm, he read reviews and watched gameplay videos. What more do you want from the guy? A trip to Germany to quiz Crytek?

 

So he's got a minority opinion. No reason to trash it.

 

-Rob


bluemonkey1
Posts: 2444
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby bluemonkey1 » January 23rd, 2007, 12:40 pm

Because he made an incorrect statement.  Regardless of whether he liked it or not he said something that was factually incorrect.

m0zart1
Posts: 3117
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby m0zart1 » January 23rd, 2007, 3:22 pm

[QUOTE=bluemonkey]Because he made an incorrect statement.  Regardless of whether he liked it or not he said something that was factually incorrect.
[/QUOTE]

It was a comparison.  As a result, all comparisons break down at some level.  Given the context of his review, he could have been comparing it for linearity, or for all the invisible walls.  The fact that you picked something that doesn't compare doesn't make his comparison incorrect anymore than any other comparison is incorrect.

 

Instead of assuming and making accusations (which always belies a hidden motive), wouldn't it have been better to just ask him:  "I don't see how these two games compare.  Could you explain why you think these two games are similar?"


bluemonkey1
Posts: 2444
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby bluemonkey1 » January 23rd, 2007, 3:55 pm

Quake doesn't have hidden walls.  Quake 2 actually does a brilliant job of appearing non linear.  And Quake 3 is solely multiplayer so linearity doesn't even come into it.

 

Anyway all FPS are linear to a large extent.

 

What exactly is my hidden motive?


m0zart1
Posts: 3117
Joined: December 31st, 1969, 7:00 pm

Far Cry (Xbox)

Postby m0zart1 » January 23rd, 2007, 4:58 pm

[QUOTE=bluemonkey]

Quake doesn't have hidden walls.  Quake 2 actually does a brilliant job of appearing non linear.  And Quake 3 is solely multiplayer so linearity doesn't even come into it.

 

Anyway all FPS are linear to a large extent.

 

What exactly is my hidden motive?

[/QUOTE]

If you're going to claim (as you have) that Nintendo fans here defend anything and everything with a hidden (or even a not so hidden motive) for coming to the defense of games that are made by Nintendo or appear on Nintendo systems, I will at least have to point out that you've yet to allow much criticism on almost anything 360-related, except for perhaps Sonic 360.  In that case, I think even Clarence Darrow couldn't have made a convincing case.

 

I am not telling you what the comparisons he intended are.  I threw out possible examples (very random ones, given that I am not an FPS fan).  I am simply saying that any comparison breaks down at some point.  I've heard many comparisons between games over the years that didn't make immediate sense to me until I had them explained.  Still, I didn't think to accuse the individual in question of factual error.  Until the comparison is explained, I have no idea what the similarities that someone has isolated on are to begin with.

 

So I am basically saying, instead of crying foul and calling out factual error, just ask him what similarities he's referring to.  It will at least give you some credibility in trying to understand the root of the criticism.



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