FarCry

Farcry has got it all, monsters, mayhem, and personality. Unlike the usual mute superhero Jack Carver talks, and has plenty of sarcasm to dish out. But what makes this game stand out from the others is the setting. Most FPS games are either based on real life warfare or grim and gloomy sci fi. A case in point is Doom III, where you get to spend 12 hours wandering around dark corridors. Farcry is set on a series of tropical islands, and it's amazing simply how beautiful it all is, brightly colored and radiant, except that people are shooting at you. Later on you get the dark and scary stuff, but it doesn't take up the entire game.

Farcry also mixes very well military combat with monsters. The mercenaries are only slightly predictable, usually when a scene stretches on too and long and they start looping voice commands or actions, and the trigens are downright scary to face off against. This was also I think the first game to introduce a realistic looking water, which now is a requirement for every new game.

Playing the game will take up the better part of a week, and that's before you start tinkering. There's a few different rendering modes to use, and Nvidia 68X0 series cards can enable a primitive form of HDR lighting, which makes things substantially different. It may not be obvious at first, but most levels have a few different ways they can be played, whether you prefer stealth, sniping, or up-front and personal combat.

The only flaw Farcry has to me is it's already starting to age. Half-Life 2 brought us synchronized lips and facial expressions, and some things like twisted metal pipes look very blocky, being made out of low-poly count shapes. Still, I can't wait for a sequel.