Far Cry

I called my friend in the evening with a classic question: "what's up?" "Oh, gosh," she replied, "it's pouring all day here" (it was about Szczawnica, one of the prettiest places on Earth). "How are you?" She replied. “I am jogging on some tropical islands. They all want to kill me, but I tell you how beautiful it is. She sighed, "you guys always know how to position yourself better ...". I find it hard to agree that playing computer games at my age is a positioning skill, but I'm glad I played them long enough for Far Cry to come out.

At the same time, I don't really play arcade games - shooters bore me to death after a quarter of an hour, no matter how pretty they were. Far Cry has eaten nearly twenty hours of my life and I still can't get enough. When I wonder what clever I can write about this unique game, it strikes me to say that it is a new quality in electronic entertainment. In Far Cry, all the elements that make life beautiful coexist: a beautiful and enormous world, freedom of action, extraordinarily intelligent enemies and a suspenseful story.

A bit from a different fairy tale - I remember with emotion the second part of "Gothic" and I look forward to the moment when I put my hands on the Polish edition of "Night of the Raven". One of the reasons why "Gothic" stole my heart was the game's fantastically diverse world. Running from one end of the island to the other took a good dozen or so minutes, on the way you could pass the city of Khorinis, an inn, a mercenary farm, a monastery, mountains and valleys, and on the way there was no mood-damaging plea for understanding while reloading another map fragment from the disc . And it was beautiful. From the time I wrote the Gothic II guide, I played nearly 50 other games before I found myself in a world designed with a similar panache - the tropics of Far Cry.

I think it will not be an exaggeration to say that the world of Far Cry is one of the largest that has ever existed in three-dimensional computer games. Maybe even the greatest. It consists of over a dozen groups of tropical islands, each of which boasts a different character, topography and flora. There is no point in moving around without binoculars. What's more, its 24-fold maximum zoom is usually enough to observe the immediate surroundings. Here, the player has practically complete freedom of movement and regardless of the mission objectives that show him the way, he can go wherever his eyes lead him - if only he decides that it is better to secure the area before reaching the designated place. The only thing that limits his freedom is the inability to make saves at any time - these are made automatically at designated (but unknown in advance) points and thus exploring the area on your own may end with an unexpected death and the need to return to the last checkpoint . Another thing is that such a solution fantastically increases alertness and integrates the player with the game world - the awareness of losing half an hour of time prompts you to take care of your own skin.

All this takes place in the amazing, beautiful, realistic, unparalleled, dazzling scenery of the tropics and the laboratory complexes built among it. You have to see it with your own eyes, feel the thrill of crawling through the thick bushes, when you hear the guards' footsteps around, and from behind the hill you can hear a helicopter growling. At the same time, there is no doubt in "Far Cry" whether the player is hidden or not. The perception works here without the slightest glitch in both directions. If the opponent is looking towards the player, then sticking his nose out from behind the tree will attract his attention. And the more a piece of that nose is exposed, the sooner the enemy will believe his eyes. Likewise, hiding in brush makes sense as long as opponents do not know that someone is there. Anyway, what can I say here - in this game everything functions as in life.

What completes the natural environment is people. At least that's what it looks like in reality, because in computer games we usually deal with silly and absolutely predictable puppets. Opponents either wait for the player in their designated positions, or hit them in crowds directly at the barrels splashing fire at them. It's different in Far Cry. It's like life, and maybe even better than life where people often don't have time to reflect on what they are doing.

Here, in the game, nothing happens schematically, every situation, even if it occurs in the same place and with the participation of the same fighters, is different. Computer opponents think. And how! They are perfectly aware of the surrounding area and use it cleverly. They strive to gain an advantage and are able to take advantage of it. Moreover, they can interact with each other. A single mercenary will usually not go deep into the forest where he expects to come across a crouching player - rather, he will find a convenient position to shoot and wait patiently there. However, a group of mercenaries is something else - they will start leaning through the bushes and hiding behind trees will scour the area. It's impressive. In certain situations, they will not hesitate to use grenades, and will hide behind obstacles while reloading their weapons. If they are too far from the player, they will get into the car and set off in pursuit - they will try to shoot him or run him over, depending on the situation.

But that's all nothing. Imagine a situation where we look into a room inside a large building and see four enemy mercenaries. One of them saw us. As a result, a few move around the stairs, even between the floors, to circle us. We hear their footsteps ringing on metal platforms, but we don't know how many steps there are - 6 or 8. For the sake of convenience, let's assume it's eight and go inside, and here you go! One was crouched with the door, rifle pointed at where he expected to see a head peeking out from behind the door.

Once alarmed, the enemy will not forget about the player's presence for a long time. For the most part, he will be remembered until he is killed. As far as possible, he will try to locate him, and he will take care of his virtual life with admirable attention. In times of need, he will not fail to summon his companions for help. His state of alertness reflects both his behavior and the color of the corresponding dot on the radar, as well as his statements to his comrades. If the mercenary shouts to his friend that he is running for help, the colleague stays at the station, and the latter rushes to call the others. If he says he has a ball ready with your name written on it, then he knows about your presence but is not sure where exactly you are. If he screams: I can see you! - it's over for you. :-)

While moving in vehicles, it can fire from the weapon with which the machine is equipped, or on its own - if steering does not require the use of both hands. Jumping out of a car while running, which with momentum bumping into opponents and confusing them for a few precious moments, can also be done. Holy shiet! you can do almost anything in this game. I threw grenades at off-road vehicles attacking me, eliminated helicopter gunners with a sniper rifle, took off guards from turrets with a rocket, ran over enemy jeeps with a truck, and even jumped over the land in a motorboat. And when something went wrong, I pushed the motorboat back into the water through several meters of sand.

Recently, there has been a tendency to shorten computer games. Erpegs can be completed in 30 hours of cities in 150. Action games offer a single player 10 hours of fun and go online to multiplayer. Also in this field, "Far Cry" stands above average by the length of the field - at the time of writing these words, I'm in the seventeenth chapter of Jack Craver's adventures, I have two laboratories blown up, a sunken ship, and Valerie saved twice by me is looking to plant an atomic bomb. Such a small, we will be fine - as she says herself. The end of the fun seems to be near, but it has been so for a long time ...

Although the combat technique that the player deems appropriate depends largely on his preferences and the specific situation, it should not be forgotten that in this game the opponents have the same chances. Up to the selected difficulty level, they are just as vulnerable to shooting as the player, which means that two opponents already have an advantage over the player. But only with the assumption that they realize where the player is.

Maybe this review is not particularly professionally written - the factual information shows emotions, the thought breaks ... However, I hope that thanks to it the uniqueness of "Far Cry" - a game that cannot be approached calmly - is visible. One of the best computer games that has ever seen the light of day. Initially, I devoted a lot of attention to jotting down trifles for which her judgment could be cut - not out of malice, but out of the pursuit of objectivity. I wrote down something about artificial animations in cutscenes and the inconsistency in the fact that some items are destroyed and others are not. But I forgave myself. I realized how irritating me is to forcefully cling, and that I am dealing with an ideal. "Far Cry" is a game thought out from the top down to the smallest details, and the precise design is followed by perfect execution.

A good plot, a diverse world, brilliant graphics, extremely intelligent opponents, great and functional sound, as well as music that goes hand in hand with it, a wealth of tactical options ... Simply: wonderful! I think I had something important to do today ... oh, there ...! I'm back in the game.

Shuck