The AI

The AI is remarkable. Mercenaries work in teams to smoke you out and take you down. Mutants suss out your position and try to ambush you, with shades of Half - Life thrown in. Even on the easiest settings, the mercenaries and mutants are formidable opponents, and any miscalculated actions WILL result in your demise.

I bet those soldiers didn't think of this when they got up with their buddies this morning.

Those so far, are the positives. The downsides? The AI, whilst being one of the game's strengths, can border on omniscience. So too the game balancing. There are some ridiculously difficult scenarios and situations, with over-the-top odds stacked against you. Example : You're out in the open with no obvious cover. Suddenly, you're ambushed by three attack helicopters, and 2 VSTOL (Vertical/Short Take-Off & Landing) V-22 Ospreys drop two squads of mercenaries in and around you. And this is on EASY. This can get extremely frustrating as you reload the game from your last save for the 25th time. Not like you can save anytime you want.

The Save System

The save system in Far Cry is based around a sequence of check points, rather reminiscent of console games.

Herein lies the problem. Picture again the above scenario. After you've seemingly cleared out all of the enemy forces, you can't save! And all it takes is for a hidden sniper to tag you with a head shot from a hundred and sixty yards, for you to have to replay the entire 22 vs 1 scenario. Oh dear...

There's a lot of danger in that jungle. Right after this, two helicopters pop out of nowhere to attack you.
How unpleasant.

The gripes don't end there. The radar doesn't show ALL your enemies. Although earlier on in the game you are led to believe that all mercenaries will be visible to you, it is rather different in practice. There is that dreaded 'Did they just spawn out of NOWHERE?' syndrome, when previously unseen/unheard mercenaries suddenly converge on you out of the jungle undergrowth.

Experienced FPS players will merely view these gripes as 'features' that lend the game extra 'character', just more difficult challenges for them to get their heads, hands and hearts around. Fair enough. It's kind of like flaws in a Ferrari. If you're lucky enough to own one, would you really care that it can't make it over MPPJ speed bumps? So what else is there for the casual gamer to enjoy? Eye Candy!