Far Cry

The Good
This game makes for one long adventurous episode that takes persistence and good shooting to get through. It's nice that you improvise your own path and route to the objective and use the scenery for cover as you try to outflank your opponents.You also have the option to avoid enemies altogether. The binoculars and night vision goggles are particularly useful for stealth and dealing with hidden enemies. Even Valerie does her fair share of combat by your side.

Weapon variety is well-balanced, you'll want the scoped weapons for sure but its only worth having one weapon with the same ammo. Don't bother with the machete, as it doesn't get the job done good. When you're low on one type of ammo, just switch another type of gun. You can also sort your guns to correspond from 1 to 4, though it would have been nice to do it without having to drop the guns, then pick them up again.

The Bad
The controls can be problematic at times because there are so many buttons to press that you end up pressing the wrong one by accident in the middle of a fierce fight, costing armour or even health. If your moves could have tighter controls like crouch and prone using the same button dependent on tapping and pressing, then it would have worked better.

Gameplay mechanics also have a few issues. Traversing on steep ground leaves you no room to jump or run to safety, especially when the stamina runs out. Jack Carver is so sensitive to fall damage that you lose more health than you ought to. In some missions you'll have trouble knowing where to go to reach the objective and have a long walk unless you happen to commandeer a vehicle. Also checkpoints are sometime spread far or autosave when you prefer not to. Manual saving is preferable. If you familiarise yourself with the levels, items and enemies, the issues won't crop up at inconvenient moments.

The Bottom Line
This game sports a few reminders and similarities to the first Red Faction game albeit taking place in the modern times on Earth. The lush graphics, solid sounds and music, packed missions, great gameplay and intriguing storyline make for a fabulous FPS game. You can let the problem with the controls and mechanics slide. This game got a remake and a film and it is this title we have to thank for the equally appealing sequels that follow. If you've never played the Far Cry series before, try this one first. If you're accustomed to the later titles, take a nostalgic trip on this one.