MaximumPC 2004 06

Reviews

A

fter playing the surprisingly
entertaining demo released
a few months ago, we had
a hunch Far Cry would be decent.
But none of us expected the final
release to be this good. And by good,
we mean it’s probably the best first-
person shooter we’ve played since
Half-Life. Yes, that good.
Like most genre-toppers, Far Cry
excels in not just one category of
play, but practically every category,
thanks to its incredible graphics,
interesting plot, and appealing
level design. Even more amazing,
Far Cry comes from a previously
unknown developer, Crytek, which

created its own graphics engine,
the Cryengine.
This is the first game we’ve seen
that takes advantage of the gorgeous
effects made possible by DirectX 9
and shaders. For example, when
you’re looking down a hallway
that’s being pumped with vapors
from a heat pipe, everything behind
the heat blast shimmers realistically
like hot asphalt in the summer.
When set to the Ultra High graphi-
cal setting, the game’s water reflects

everything

around it,

including moun-

tains, stars,

and the sun

or moon.

Additionally,

every object casts

a shadow. And

this effect is fur-

ther amplified by

the fact that

almost every object is dynamic; if

you shoot a hanging light, its shad-

ow dances around the room like

that of a real-world moving object.

Obviously, all this 3D-shader glory

requires a heavy-duty graphics

card—even our Radeon 9800 Pro

was spinning its fans so loudly after

a few hours, there was probably

sweat dripping off the AGP slot.

As impressive as the next-gen

graphics engine is, the team-based

AI is easily the most intelligent

we’ve seen to date. If you snipe

someone from a kilometer away,

nearby squad mates will brandish

their weapons and scan the hori-

zon while taking cover or calling

for reinforcements. Which leads to

another interesting twist: Because

the enemy AI reacts dynamically to

situations, you can play the same

level repeatedly with different expe-

riences and outcomes every time.

And you’ll have plenty of

chances to replay missions— Far

Cry is extremely challenging. Even

the most hardcore PC gamers’

skills will be tested in this game’s

final levels. Thankfully, the trials

are immensely rewarding given the

well thought-out level design and

realistic enemy combatants.

Our only beef is with the game’s

vehicles. Car controls are twitchy,

and the various vehicles’ velocities

alternate between feeling too fast

and too slow.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get

a chance to test the game’s mul-

tiplayer mode before press time

because it wasn’t ready, but Ubisoft

assures us it will be working by the

time you read this review. We love

the single-player action so much

that decent multiplayer is just icing

on an already tasty cake.

—JOSH NOREM

JUNE 2004 MAXIMUMPC 

It’s not often

an unknown

developer

comes along

and moves the

goal posts in

the FPS genre,

but Crytek has

done just that

with Far Cry.

A few console commands

allow access to some very nifty

features.

Far Cry

Oh, far crying out loud, just buy this game!

Awesome graphics, superb AI, fantastic weapons

and intense gameplay.

PALM TREE

PALM HAIR

Wonky vehicle controls, and multiplayer is as

yet unproven.

$40, http://www.farcrythegame.com

MAXIMUMPC VERDICT 9

VERDICT

TECH TIPS

Increase Your Far Cry Performance

Far Cry should be called “PC Cry” because it takes a tough PC

to survive the game’s visual demands. Whether your system is

high-end or rear-end, these tips will help you find its sweet spot.

SPECIAL EFFECTS: The two most demanding video

options are anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering. Setting the

water detail to “ultra high” will also cause a major frame hit

(because it reflects everything), and setting shadows above

“medium” is costly too. If you’re running a GeForce FX card, set

the lighting quality to “high” rather than “very high.”

VIDEO SETTINGS: The video settings for low, medium,

and high generally use Pixel Shader 1.1, whereas settings “very

high” and above use Pixel Shader 2.0.

CUSTOM CONFIGURATION: Use the nifty configuration

tool named FarCryConfigurator.exe within the game directory in

the “bin32” folder to examine and tweak all the game’s settings.

SPECIAL CONSOLE COMMANDS: Our two favorite

console commands are “\r_displayinfo 1” to see the frame rate

and polygon information and “dumpcommandsvars” to create a

text file of the game’s numerous console commands. Also, if you

add “-devmode” to the end of the target line of the shortcut’s

properties, you can enter the game, hit the console with ~, and

type “\ca_drawbones 1” to see the skeletal animation system.