Have to admit: I was a little underwhelmed with Far Cry. I think the setting and graphics are a great step up, but the gameplay just wasn’t that exciting and, of course, the story blew. I didn’t find the AI all that impressive, and it’s glitchy in just the way that makes it often annoying no matter how good. The game REALLY needs what No One Lives Forever 2 implemented: a “hidden” GUI that lets you know when you are properly concealed. Sneaking up on grunts is not easy, and you often fail for unknown reasons when they suddenly catch on to your prescence. In addition, even with all the options and weapons, the gameplay doesn’t really throw that much interesting stuff at you that’s new or creative. The MP isn’t all that great.
That said, it’s a solid FPS, one of the best in awhile. You will be having some great battles from time to time, and there is lots to explore. And, if you have a decent system, oggle at. But me, I’ll wait for Doom3 and HL2 to get some real “next-gen” action/graphics on.
There are two Far Cry demos out that you can download and try though, so give those a shot before buying. They aren’t quite what the full game offers, but they are a fair representation of what you’re going to get.
I think Unreal2K4 or whatever you want to call it is the real “new school” FPS buy to have currently. Onslaught is the absolute bomb, and you’ll get tons of MP fun out of this game. It’s really well put together, works without a hitch, and while I’ve never really liked or gotten used to the Unreal universe weapons as much as other big name FPS games, the vehicles maps and game designs really make it fun.
I also second Natural Selection, the free mod for Half-Life (well, nowadays, for Steam too). It’s probably the best FPS MP teamplay game out there: at least in classic mode you HAVE to play as a team (a mic is a real feature) or else you’re screwed. It’s very “deep” as FPS games go, in part because it’s built with RTS-style games as an inspiration, with the marine team having a commander with a top down RTS view commanding his troops, building structures, teching up, etc. The maps are fantastic, the gameplay is suspenseful and very story-like (impressive for any FPS MP game) with all sorts of final stands and footholds and sneak attacks and such. And if you don’t like the RTS framework, there’s now a new combat mode that’s fast and a blast where you can spend team kills on upgrades to evolve to higher lifeforms, abilities, and/or equipment. The price (even if you don’t yet own Half-Life) is ultra-cheap, the system requirements laughably low so they have a wide user base, and for all that it actually looks fairly decent (it’s somewhat upgraded from HL1 days): while you won’t get the shiny bells and whistles of newer games, the graphics are solid, artistic, and won’t detract from the action or the atmosphere.
