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With Doom III and Half-Life 2 both on the horizon and looking great, any new PC first-person shooter has its work cut-out to try and make an impression on this already saturated market. Fortunately, though, Crytek studios have more than a few tricks up their sleeve to make sure that their latest game, Far Cry, gets the attention it deserves. Firstly, the game sports some of the largest environments ever to be seen in a first-person shooter; we're talking bigger than those seen in Halo. The game world, which is set on a tropical island, stretches out into the distance and is complete with mountains, forests and rivers to be explored. However, while usually a long draw distance means little close-up detail, Far Cry looks just as good close-up as it does from afar. As you get closer, trees flesh-out into 3D, grass sticks up and shrubbery appears, giving everything a very busy and realistic look.
The graphical trickery doesn't stop there either, with the engine also featuring a range of neat rendering effects that allow rain, smoke and fire to all be recreated nicely. Lighting effects are also evident, including realtime shadows, accurate reflections in water and 'polybump' technology which acts like a form of bump-mapping to make textures stand out and react to light more. Last but certainly not least, the game also makes use of a realistic physics engine, so that when shot enemies fall on top of objects and map to the surface of the terrain, rather than fall 'through' things like in so many other games. Basically, all these features combine to form what is looking to be a very tasty gaming experience indeed.
Away from the technical aspects, the game's storyline stars a freelance mariner called Jack Carver, who has been hired out by a journalist named Valerie to take her to a paradise-like island in return for a hefty sum of money. Naively, Jack signs up for the job, but upon arrival his boat is besieged by a mysterious militia group swarming the island. With Valerie taken captive, Jack must both explore this strange island, fight for his survival and uncover the intentions of this cryptic group.
We're expecting big things from this game when it hits stores this Winter, and hope to have more information on it soon - in the meantime, check out these tasty-looking screenshots!
Marc Hull
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