It has been awhile since I sat and wrote a review. ESPN Hockey on the XBOX and Call of Duty have occupied most of my time until just recently. I downloaded the demo and received the exclusive demo from PC Gamer but was underwhelmed by the game initially. I decided to purchased it all the same due to mass love from the gaming commumity and must say at the 50% finished mark that I can basically agree.
Graphics/Sound - Max Payne 2 had been my PC high water mark but if this is a sample of the next gen games for the PC then watch out world. The graphics are simply unreal, the detail the light the shadows.... it is easier to moan about what they got wrong: 1) Enemies shooting at the ground 2) No animation for pushing thru the jungle just the graphic dissappearing in front of you 3) Not optimized as of the current release 1.1. I am sure people have other complaints and issues but those are the first 3 that strike me. The sound is very good but I am very dissappointed that it also seems to be the root cause of the stability of the game itself (more on that later). Overall 25/25 (would have been 30/25 if it wasnt for the sound issues)
Gameplay - So far so great. I has been very tense up to this point and is getting more difficult by the save point. This ranks as one of the more difficult games I have played ever, the Trigens are just nasty and the soldiers fend for themselves just fine. It is a shooter, I have read that people think that sneaking around might work but I haven't had any success. I have found that you can be sneaky but not stealthy, that is to say that if you are going to play this like Splinter Cell good luck but if you want to find your spot pick a few off, move and repeat it can be done but ultimately I haven't to this point left a soldier or other standing. The weapons feel great maybe a little to accurate but considering the enemy is deadly and will in fact flank you hide from you and generally play more like a real human than most AI, it is good that you have a steady hand and an accurate shot. Overall 27/30
Bang for $ - The single player experience is almost assured to clock in at 20 hours for regular gamers and likely a great deal more for people who like there games easy. Every level I have played to this point has been exciting, tense and tough. Every level has has been different enough that it doesn't feel like you are playing the same level over with more enemies with better aim, it feels if overly movie like, that you are a one man army facing not one but two great evils. I don't expect to play a minute of multi but I have been informed that it is fun if not revolutionary. Overall 23/25
Personal View - Far Cry would amazingly enough score even higher if it wasn't for the one glaring problem that I can't overlook even after I have solved it. I spent way to much time in getting this game to run well, I tweaked prodded and kicked my PC until I felt I was getting the performance that I think I should be getting in this game. I know it is a next gen game, I understand that it takes power to have decent AI but still if you tell me on the box that a 2 Ghz P4 and a GeForce 4 card are recommended and I exceed those specs then my experience should follow suit. I would like to see a Co-Op ability in a patch possibly, the game begs for two players to play in the chaos. The game is tremendous even with the system tweaking, heck if it wasn't great I wouldn't have bothered, this game is a MUST HAVE. Overall 18/20
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