Thursday, September 23, 2004
So pretty much all of last night was spent playing Farcry, and I have to say, I'm hooked.First person shooters have always come a distant second for me in terms of games, as I've always been a driving game nut, and the only time I've every bothered with one on a pc was with Quake3 Arena, and like now, that was just to see if my laptop could actually handle it. Apart from that one game, I've always used consoles to get my shooting fix, playing stuff like Doom on 32X and Medal Of Honour on PS2.
So why has Farcry got me so excited? Well... apart from the graphics (screenshots here) the playability, in-game physics and AI are utterly amazing.
You can hop into viehicles like jeeps, buggies, boats, and most amuzingly, a hanglider, which is always a laugh, especially when they have onboard heavy machine guns. The entertainment to be had from sweeping round the shores of a little island in a powerboat and shooting hell out of everyone on the shore with a heavy machine gun is second to non. Also, you'll never feel quite as vulnerable as when you get fired on from a black hawk helicopter while dangling from a hang glider.
The physics? Well, apart from how things get flung around by explosions in a realistic manner, what I like most is how you can push things around. If you can move something in real life, you can move it here. This may sound like no big deal, but there are occasions when it can be very handy, and even amuzing. How about blocking a doorway with a table and boxes? Or better yet, rolling a load of oil drums down a hill into a group of oncoming baddies?
As for the AI... well, things have come a very long way since the likes of Doom, or even Quake3. The enemies are smart, and only predictable in that they do the things you or I would do in a given situation.
If you go charging into a place all guns blazing, they run for cover and then shoot hell out of you en mass, from behind cover. If you try sneaking in through dense jungle, they'll just stand around wasting time and chatting, till they spot you. Its when they spot you that things get interesting. They dont just all come charging at you from one direction... they'll outflank you, slowly surround you, and then move in for the kill. If you manage to survive, they'll bring in reinforcements by hellicopter.
Now all of those things by themselves are very impressive, but what really makes it all hang together so perfectly is the non-linear, freeform approach it takes.
Yes there are certain objectives that have to be achieved, but how you go about achieving those objectives is totally up to you.
A good example of this is a scene on an old aircraft carrier. There's a boat up on the top deck that you have to steal, but when you finally reach that deck, you find yourself fired on from several directions, and worse... there's a back hawk buzzing around shooting seven shades of shit out of you. Now you could run around ducking for cover and returning fire whenever you get the chance, but I found an easier method....
I dived back down the hatch I'd crawled out of and went back the way I'd come, trying to reach the chain gun mounted on the lower deck. The plan was to reach that gun and blow crap out of the chopper. Things didn't work out that way in the end.
I found a spot on a walkway where I had just enough cover to duck down as the hellicopter fired on me, and then the second he stopped firing, I stood up and fired on the gunner. Much to my amuzement, he fell out, and left a very satisfying red stain in the sea where he floated. On a later attempt at the same section, I fired on the engine area of the chopper and the whole thing went down. Now it's not often I get *really* excited by an event in a game, but if my neighbours were awake, god knows what they'd have though to hear me shout (rather loudly) "HAH!!!" out of the blue.
Quite simply, there's this element of things just making sense.
Back up on the top deck, there's this big gap that's been spanned by a couple of bridges, these being held up by thin chains. Now in the firefight those chains got hit, and broke... hence no more bridges. When I finally realised I had to cross that gap, I had to teeter across on an rusty old girder. Not very safe, it has to be said.
So on my next attempt (yeah, I died rather a lot on that aircraft carrier) I made a point not to shoot too near to the chains, and was able to get across the gap far more easilly. This proved to be a double edged sword though, for in making it easier for me to cross, it also left the baddies with a line of retreat to much more effective cover. Shoot the chains and blow the crap out of the guards, or leave them and have a tougher fight on your hands before you can get across? It's your choice.... and it's choices like that which make this game so compelling.
Best game ever made? I don't know, never having played Half-Life or Doom 3, but it's certainly the best first person shooter I've ever played. Not sure if it beats Gran Turismo 3 for best game. If I'm still playing it in 3 years, then yeah. We'll see.
Labels: games
Steve 5:44 PM [+]
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