Imagine yourself on a tropical island, where the sun is bright, the sea is crystal clear blue, the sands are pure white and the lush vegetation are...as green as they can be. Now give yourself an M16, toss in a few grenades, a couple of mercenaries to play around with and you've got yourself the dream vacation! This is what Far Cry is all about.
Crytek showed a tech demo called X-Isle and it was meant to showcase the power of Geforce3 card. The demo shows you around a dense jungle and dinosaurs. This is the starting point for Far Cry. From a tech demo to a full FPS game. I heard about the game earlier before; the view distance was so long and if you see an island, chances are you can get to it. Pretty cool. Then there's the bad guys reinforcements by helicopters to your location. Now that's scary.
Far Cry does have those and a lot more. The graphics oh so beautiful, coupled with an awesome physics engine to give you those ragdoll physics. The island looks and feels real; i could just turn on the game, go to a quiet spot on the beach and just relax. Cool. And the foliages gives you cover and it's not just for show. The island settings is just what FPS needs, truly a breath of fresh air. There are indoors environments and it just look amazing as well; kinda have that Doom3 look here.
The AI in the game is above average. The mercenaries coordinate their attack military-style if they ever spot you. And if you gun their leader, the rest will scatter around for you to finish them off. They're also good at taking cover, behind rocks and trees. And the best thing about that ragdoll physics is that it is sweet here. This is one game you'll not see the bad guy's body half disappering into the wall like they usually do in other games. The AI's simply superb and a fun to play with.
This game has a very high replay value. Why? You can try so many different ways to approach your objectives. Whether you go in guns blazing or you could take the back route and pick off the bad guys unnoticed (if you've got a silencer). Perhaps that boat will ferry you around the island quicker or maybe take the buggy for a quick spin. But don't ever swim your way to a bad guy because you can't shoot in the water (that's my tip). You can try many kinds of tactics and if that doesn't work, you could try other else. Simply cool!
The story's pretty standard for a FPS. Nothing much here. You'll play through the game fine except if you try the harder difficulties. My advice: just play the game on the normal settings, the bad guys gives you more challenge than you need anyways. Towards the game's end, you'd feel hard-pressured not to swear at the near-impossible chance for survival. It's pretty tough and stupid. This is one game you'll need lots of patience or you could look up some cheats so that you can beat the game and get to see the most pathetic ending, heh! Otherwise the game's a blast to play. Give it a go!
My rating: 9/10 (One of the best looking FPS out there)
17 May 2004
08 May 2004
Thief: Deadly Shadows preview
This is one of the game i'm waiting so far. It'll be out officially 26th May. This is the 3rd installment in the Thief series. You play the role of Garrett, a master thief; you plunder the riches and take it for yourself. Not exactly Robin Hood is he? He's what you call the anti-hero. I played the first and the second but at that time i wasn't seriously hooked to it; so i never did finish both. But that's all gonna change with this one. I can't wait to play it! Shadows and lightings are gonna play a major role this time around. Even sneaking up behind someone is hard if the bad guy ever saw your shadow past him. That's hard! This game is made by the same people who did Deus Ex Invisible War and will use the updated graphics engine from it. So you see, lightings here are pretty well done and more advanced than in Deus Ex.
The 3rd person view implemented might just make the game a bit different from the series. The 1st person is still there; you possibly couldn't get a good aim when arrow'ing' in a 3rd person manner. In 3rd person you'll see Garrett move about, doing his stuff and the animations will be astonishing. You just got to see it. Here's the new trailer, check it out :
Thief: Deadly Shadows trailer
The 3rd person view implemented might just make the game a bit different from the series. The 1st person is still there; you possibly couldn't get a good aim when arrow'ing' in a 3rd person manner. In 3rd person you'll see Garrett move about, doing his stuff and the animations will be astonishing. You just got to see it. Here's the new trailer, check it out :
Thief: Deadly Shadows trailer
06 May 2004
SPLINTER CELL PANDORA TOMORROW review
The first game rocks! You are an agent, kinda like James Bond but without the girls. You'll mostly hide in the shadows, waiting for that moment to pounce on the bad guy. While the stealthy-hide-in-the-shadows won't appeal to you much, the gameplay and the atmosphere is right in there. This time around, you'll go undercover to take down an indonesian badass Suhadi Sadono, who was seen blasting the American embassy at the beginning of the game.
The graphics has gone up a notch and you'll sure need a helluva system to play it on. The game's pretty but since most of the time you're sneaking in the dark, well... Almost everything in the game cast shadows. There's this fishing net with the zigzaggy lines, even that casts shadow realistically. The shadows rendering's that's whats heavy. Switching to night vision (which you'll be doing most of the time) tones down the heavy stuff and looks great. I really like the thermal vision (borrowed the tech from Predator) which looks downrite cool. You control Sam Fisher in 3rd person view. The neat thing is when you draw your silencers, the view sort of got focused; as if a cam view from his right shoulders. Neat.
Sam's still got that cool moves like before and some more. There's a different kind of split-jump which you can execute in a tight space. From the old split jump position, you can lean left or right and from there you can get hold of a ledge high above you. An improvement, you can now open the door on the go while carrying a body. There's this new SWAT turn, which looks cool and gimicky. That move will make Sam completely invincible. The gadget you'll be carrying is the same as before, like the sticky shocker, distraction cam, the lot. This time you'll be given the whole thing at the start of any mission, neat!
The story is more believable this time around. You're up against a real threat and there's intense moments once in while. I liked the train mission, cool stuff. What were you thinkin' Sam, hanging on the side of a moving train? And the story seems to tie with the multiplayer aspect of the game. I haven't give it a try, but by the looks of it, i'll bet it's fun! It's like Counterstrike played stealthy like and alot more coop. My only thing about this game is how linear it is. There's really one route to move on but the execution is up to you. It does fit with this kind of game though. The multiplayer part is the king! The singleplayer...well...it will only hook you for so long.
Oh yeah, Michael Ironside (of Starship Troopers) does the voice for Sam Fisher. It sounds great with him, and the gruffiness of his voice can even match Solid Snake's. The stealth thing may make Splinter Cell a bit like Metal Gear Solid, but it is more realistic what with no radar and all.
My rating : 6/10 (the game is sooo linear!)
The graphics has gone up a notch and you'll sure need a helluva system to play it on. The game's pretty but since most of the time you're sneaking in the dark, well... Almost everything in the game cast shadows. There's this fishing net with the zigzaggy lines, even that casts shadow realistically. The shadows rendering's that's whats heavy. Switching to night vision (which you'll be doing most of the time) tones down the heavy stuff and looks great. I really like the thermal vision (borrowed the tech from Predator) which looks downrite cool. You control Sam Fisher in 3rd person view. The neat thing is when you draw your silencers, the view sort of got focused; as if a cam view from his right shoulders. Neat.
Sam's still got that cool moves like before and some more. There's a different kind of split-jump which you can execute in a tight space. From the old split jump position, you can lean left or right and from there you can get hold of a ledge high above you. An improvement, you can now open the door on the go while carrying a body. There's this new SWAT turn, which looks cool and gimicky. That move will make Sam completely invincible. The gadget you'll be carrying is the same as before, like the sticky shocker, distraction cam, the lot. This time you'll be given the whole thing at the start of any mission, neat!
The story is more believable this time around. You're up against a real threat and there's intense moments once in while. I liked the train mission, cool stuff. What were you thinkin' Sam, hanging on the side of a moving train? And the story seems to tie with the multiplayer aspect of the game. I haven't give it a try, but by the looks of it, i'll bet it's fun! It's like Counterstrike played stealthy like and alot more coop. My only thing about this game is how linear it is. There's really one route to move on but the execution is up to you. It does fit with this kind of game though. The multiplayer part is the king! The singleplayer...well...it will only hook you for so long.
Oh yeah, Michael Ironside (of Starship Troopers) does the voice for Sam Fisher. It sounds great with him, and the gruffiness of his voice can even match Solid Snake's. The stealth thing may make Splinter Cell a bit like Metal Gear Solid, but it is more realistic what with no radar and all.
My rating : 6/10 (the game is sooo linear!)
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