Far Cry

Far Cry, electronic game released for personal computers (PCs) in 2004 by Ubisoft Entertainment SA, an entertainment-software company based in France. Far Cry enjoyed strong sales and impressed critics with its mix of stealth and “shoot-’em-up” first-person action. The game also was noted for its superior graphics, which featured realistic lighting and a highly detailed depiction of the game’s island setting. German developer Crytek created its CryENGINE 3D rendering technology for a number of applications, but its use in Far Cry allowed for the replacement of the dark, cramped corridors seen in many shooter games with an open lush jungle environment.

Far Cry’s story centres on Jack Carver, a former member of the Special Forces, who winds up stranded on an island in Micronesia searching for a missing journalist named Val Cortez. Krieger, a demented scientist who has been tinkering with genetic engineering, has let loose on the island mutated monsters that Carver must navigate through to rescue Cortez. Far Cry was praised for being unusually long for the first-person shooter genre, offering challenges that required more than point-and-shoot reflexes and featuring a wide variety of environments to explore. Because the artificial intelligence incorporated into the game was much better than that in comparable games, players had to find creative solutions in situations in which they were outnumbered or outgunned. The game also featured a checkpoint-saving system that eliminated manual saving, a multiplayer option, and a level creator (for users to add more content).

In Germany, the Federal Department for Media Harmful to Young Persons, a media watchdog, deemed Far Cry’s violence too brutal and demanded that it be edited. Even with significant changes to the game, it received a +18 age rating in Germany. Far Cry’s popularity led to the release of Far Cry 2, a sequel in name only that did not follow the original’s story, though it still earned outstanding reviews.