The First Farcry Game on PC, Possibly the Hardest Too
I've seen footage of the first Farcry game on Xbox, though my first foray into the Farcry series would be much later. The standalone title Farcry Blood Dragon was pretty good, but it was Farcry 5 that really won me over. The guilty pleasure of sidequests and diversions coupled with satisfying gunplay was enough for me to forgive the over-dramatic cutscenes and annoying NPCs. Farcry 5 not only sold me on New Dawn, but piqued my interest enough for me to buy their first four games along with Primal. Plenty to play while waiting for Farcry 6 to slip into discount territory, assuming it'll be released someday. Going all the way back to the beginning to the 2004 game that started it all, Farcry 1. This relic from the past shares elements with the latest sequels, though it's not a carbon copy. Unlike the horrible mutating effect of the Trigen formula, time has subdued the craziness of Farcry storylines.
Just like trying to steer a conversation back on course, Ubisoft has made it's numbered sequels more and more grounded in terms of setting and narrative, saving the carnival sideshow for spin-off titles like New Dawn and Blood Dragon. This wasn't the case in 2004 where ubiquitous lead Jack Carver sounds like talent scouted for a 90's Ninja Turtle cartoon instead of an action hero. Our protagonist's hammy acting and cheesy dialogue compliment's the other characters too, some of which are actual mad scientists with warped views on the future of human evolution. The plot wanders further into Resident Evil when the solution to the mutant menace is a nuclear weapon, so nobody tell Capcom. This battle to stifle a madman's plot won't go without conflict, Farcry being an fps game involves actually shooting people. Serious gameplay time.
Farcry 2004 contrasts it's goofy premise and characters with dead-serious difficulty. Even the most budget-friendly mercs of the campaigns first area have the marksmanship to both see through and shoot brush and tents, even across massive distances. It doesn't get easier either, the entire game is a losing arms-race against mercenaries that keep increasing their firepower and armor to the point that even a single enemy can out-gun poor Jack. There were entire segments that had me crawling prone and sniping enemies like a desperate guerrilla fighter. So much for an action game, this felt more like Sniper Elite than Sniper Elite ever did. The increasing toughness of Scientist Krieger's hired goons ran parallel to the third faction of Farcry, the mutants. Mad scientist Krieger's future of humanity is the freakshow of mutant supersoldiers that range from the melee restricted monsters to bullet-sponge "fatboys" that shoot an endless stream of rockets at Jack and mercenaries alike. Not much of this is grounded in reality, but the gameplay sure is.
I had a hazy memory of the Farcry campaign coming in and was certain that Jack was supposed to get a trigen injection of his own, but my dreams of late-game superpowers were never realized. You could say that Jack Carver is a far cry from the typical gun-toting Austrian bodybuilder, Heck, even as the ex-special forces badass he's revealed to be, he doesn't have a discernible edge over the boatloads of mercenaries patrolling the island of Dr. Krieger. Modern elements like weapon inaccuracy, limited stamina and weapon slots make the game more "realistic" while shooting mutant supersoldiers in a volcano research lab. Whether Jack Carver is tougher or weaker depending on the version of Farcry is a whole other topic to cover, one that's beyond the scope of PC gaming. The pc version of Farcry made it past playtesting, so it met someone's creative vision.
Somewhere along the evolutionary path of the Farcry series, the games started getting easier, longer, and more distracting. There's a world of difference between Farcry 1 and 5, likely even greater with Farcry 6. Whether the changes between titles is gradual or hard turning points, I've yet to see, so next in the series is Farcry 2, so stay tuned for the sequel, assuming I can get it to run. Until then, Comrades.
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