Strangely enough, i wasn't impressed by Far Cry's graphics at all, and i have a GeForce 6800 GT. Graphically, Doom 3 was the most striking to me. Far Cry had some impressive open areas, but nothing leaped out at me outside of the nifty water and some of the foliage. I never felt Half Life 2's graphics were anything special, except for the character models.

I picked up HL2 for some friends since i can get copies cheap at work, so i'm trying to replay it and give it another chance, so we'll see.

So far, i've liked Chronicles of Riddick more :)

Like I mentioned in my last post in this thread, I was playing HL2 for the first time and will have my impressions up soon. Well, that time has come and here's my take:

Half Life 2 has a great script. The story was executed very well which helped me get into character and helped me believe "I" was Gordon Freeman. I thought it was a good idea (just like in the 1st installment) to have the NPC's calling out your name and also having them look around the room and back at you once in a while. Because of the story design, you're forced to perform several things most of which showcase the awesome physics engine of the game.

The scare factor is there at times, especially in Ravenholm. The dark atmosphere is also represented in rooms and alleys where your flashlight becomes more of a necessary tool and not just graphical eye-candy. Neither the scare factor or darkness was overdone.

The weapons are typical which you'll find in almost all FPS nowadays, namely the pistol, automatic rifle, grenade, and RPG. The Gravity gun was a nice addition. I felt the developers had the right idea with this: force the player to use it in certain scenarios but don't make it mandatory throughout the game. Also, if you had the ability to pick-up enemies from the start, that's all you would have been doing and it would get old quick. Saving it for the final chapter was a good way to have you revisit the weapon and have you learn how to use it in a different way.

Enemy AI, well, that could use some work. At times, I found it easier to show your position to the Combines, hide behind a corner/wall, and have them come to you or at least come closer to you where you could just open up guns blazing. Yes, the same is true on the most difficult setting. I did, however, enjoy how the AI would lob grenades to flush you out. I remember this from the 1st installment and glad to see it still utilized. The scene where you have the ant-lions assisting you fight-off the Combine I think was ridiculous. The idea of having the wild animals your enemy, turned friendly, was lame.

All things considered, the game was a blast to play. I'm going through it another time on the highest difficulty (I now, there's only 3 settings :)) and the game is a little more tactical in that you have to reserve more of your ammunition. But like I mentioned, the AI remains the same unfortuneately.

I'm not talking about graphics since HL2, D3, FC, and Halo2 are all impressive in this department, but if I had to choose (the only other I've played is Halo 2) I'd go with Half Life 2.

Next on my list will be Far Cry and it's price has already dropped. I saw it at Fry's for $30. However, if I get my hands on Unreal Tournament 2004 Editor's Choice, I may never get to FC or D3. I gots to have me some bots! :D

I've heard that about Riddick as well, when compared to the other 3 we're discussing. I'm trying to get it at the $.01 eBay auctions, but keep getting trod upon by by $.06 bidders. :)

I've been slowly playing through Far Cry for a couple months now and still feel the same way I did before. While it is a fun game, the lack of saving where you want kills this game for me. Last night was a perfect example. There is a level where you have to cross a bridge to get where you want to go. There are guys on the other side as well as to the left in the jungle. I have tried a few times to Rambo across the bridge but ended up getting taken down. Next I tried to go around through the jungle. Made it pretty far but ended up getting pinned down and shot from long distance and died. I then tried to sit back and snipe guys across the bridge before crossing. I slowly took my time and killed everyone. Took me a good 5-10 minutes to slowly take people out while I avoided any damage. Finally got across the bridge and boom, get hit by a long-range missile/bazooka shot. Shit. So while all of this is fun, it just gets old having to replay the same part over and over until you get it exactly right. It does at the realism and does extend the game play, but overall it just kills my enjoyment of the game. I want to be able to reward myself for all my tactics that end up taking a long time by being able to save my progress instead of having to go through it all again b/c I didn't see that one guy that ends up sniping me. In areas like this, I end up doing a lot more sprinting as fast as I can in hopes to find the automatic save area. I usually end up quitting after a couple of tries if I get to a hard area b/c I get frustrated by having to replay an area that involves a lot of stealth. People who don't mind replaying an area multiple times and those that love realism should really like this game. I just think it is a good game that my only goal right now is to get through it so I can move on to something else.

Has anyone looked around for mods that might add a save anywhere feature? I know there was things like the duct tape mod for Doom 3, seems like some sort of save mod would be perfect for Far Cry. I also hate not being able to progress in games, I only have so much time to play, I hate spending a half hour playing only to end up right back where I started.

EDIT: Did a google search and found some info on how to quicksave here. Does this help?

http://www.tweakguides.com/Farcry_11.html

I know what you mean. When you find yourself changing your objectives from completing the game to 'see how the story unfolds/beat the challenge' to 'I just want to get this game over with', then you know the game developers went wrong somewhere.

For me, it's when games get repetitive. The same thing over and over again (i.e. Halo's Library level) for no good purpose.

To follow up with another example along the same lines as my previous problem. So I did get by this area last night. I sat back and killed everyone(been doing this level so many times I am actually getting good at it) and have full health and ammor. The guy that killed me previously with a bazooka was on top of a silo so I think might as well climb up and get ammo before I move on. Guess what, I get up there and then as I am getting back on the ladder, I fall off to my death. Shit, I have to do it all again b/c of my stupid mistake. So yeah I suck, but I would have normally saved after I cleared everyone out, but instead I have to do it all again. Of course the next time I am so pissed that I don't take my time and though I get through the area to the next save point, my health is low with no ammor b/c I just wanted to move on. Of course, made the next area a little more difficult being low on health so again, multiple attempts to move to the next area before I cleared it.

That sounds funny.
Sorry.
I'm laughing only because it reminded me of a scenario in Half Life 2...

The part under the bridge (I believe the chapter is called 'Highway 17') I've fallen to my death several times. Twice while the scene was quiet and twice while trying to get back and avoid that damn chopper).

It seems that falling to your death is a pretty stupid way to die in a "shooter". :lol:

Ketamine---why don't you try playing on an easier setting? That might be part of the problem.

Just a thought.

I guess that I could do that but I tend to pick the middle difficulty level on each game and go with it. Don't get me wrong, I don't want to walk through this game with ease but at the same time, when I do die, I don't want to have to go through a bunch of stuff I have already been through (especially in a game like this that may involve walking hundreds of yards just to get to the next area). I guess that is my biggest complaint. In my specific example above, you have to run down a long corridor just to get to where the action is taking place. I wish I didn't have to do that each time. Also, when everything is clear and I want to do a little exploring before moving on, I don't want to worry about a stupid death by fall or unexpected bad guy sniper. I don't think easier difficulty would help me there. I think I am actually a good (not great) FPS gamer so don't think I need to take it down to the easy setting. I just get frustrated with this game b/c I may do everything right for 10 plus minutes only to be killed unexpectedly. No big deal if you can save, but having to do everything again up to the difficult part which may take multiple attempts is just not fun. As a result, I get frustrated with this game and stop playing where in games like HL2. Doom3, etc, I can just make small advancements in difficult areas and save when I need to instead of getting killed and having everything be very repetitive.

Add a save feature and this game would be close to the HL2 single player in quality. Without it, it is just frustrating.

Heh. Are you sure you weren't playing Half-Life?

Gordon Freeman vs. ...
...headcrabs and barnacles: no problem.
...black ops agents: piece of cake.
...an occupied planet Earth: not even a challenge.
...a common ladder: OH GOD RUN AWAY!

- David Stein

Half Life 2 solves this problem in that your game is automatically saved at each 'Loading' screen. These typically occur right after a huge battle anyway.

Ketamine have you tried that quicksave thing I linked to?

I tried it last night and it didn't work. Have you tried it? I will look at it again today.

Edit: Looking in another thread you say that you can't wait for a new computer to play this game and others so you obviously haven't tried it. Anyone else able to save where you want to on this game?

I may have mentioned this earlier in this thread or in another, but Far Cry can now be had for $19.99 pretty much everywhere. Saw it at Fry's and Best Buy for this price.

Tried to pound this one out over the weekend but the wife was a little unhappy with me being on the computer so much so I have a little way to go. Of course, I get to the part where you meet Crow for the 2nd time and he is a no-show. Of course I don't know what is going on and keep running around the area trying to figure out what I missed until I finally read through a walk-through and see what I am doing wrong. So great, I had to go back to a previously saved game and continue. Needless to say, I wasn't happy since I already have issues with lack of saving in this game plus all the time I wasted running around trying to figure out what was next. Still the last few levels have been beautiful and very fun. The river chapter especially was photo quality. I still like HL2 better but Far Cry is a great game overall. Hopefully finish it in the next few days.

To beat a dead hose ...

While dvdtalk's DNS was down I was over at hardocp and anandtech. Anandtech had a thread comparing the three games, and Far Cry was ahead of D3 and almost even to HL2. On hardocp, anticipation of the far Cry expansion and the D3 exansion were being compared. Hands down, the Far Cry expansion was being looked forward to y almost everyone, while almost noone cared about the D3 expansion.

I expect the HL2 fanboy excitement will die down in about 6 months, at which point similiar threads will have Far Cry and Hl2 swapping places.

To continue beating that hose, I just saw an ad on Gamespot for the Doom 3 expansion. It goes something like, "Tougher Demons. More Weapons. New Multiplayer." That doesn't sell me at all. "Less repetitive gameplay," however, and you might get me to think about it.

Ketamine, try this:

1. Make sure you are running V1.3 of Far Cry. If not download the patch:

http://www.ubi.com/US/Downloads/Info.aspx?dlId=691

2. Right click on your Far Cry shortcut and add "-devmode" to the end of your target path. For example I have:

C:\Games\FarCry\Bin32\FarCry.exe -devmode

3. While in game, use F9 to quicksave and F10 to quickload.

Note: It somewhat works. :) At times, after a quickload, enemies I had killed had been rescucitated. Also, do not quicksave while in a vehicle. Get out of the vehicle, then quicksave. At times, after a quickload your vehicle has vanished. So, it's not perfect but generally speaking, it works alright and I find it's still better than nothing.

Funny thing is I also fell off that silo. A friend who was with me and had done exactly the same thing, said "errr don't go up there", but I went anyway. :lol:

Thanks for the info. I am on the last level right now so will try to do without the save but will look into it if I have problems. Funny to hear that other people had problems the same place I did.

OK, I just beat Far Cry tonight.

Thoughts
Positives: Overall a great game. Beautiful visuals. Non-linear with a great mix of stealth and action with huge maps. Good variety of enemies. Long game.

Negatives: No save feature. Non-linear which limited in-game cut scenes. Little difficult to see out of vehicles. A few obvious bugs. Extremely abrupt ending with little playoff for all the hours of game play.

Overall:
Very good game, but as I have been saying, frustrating as much as it was fun. Give me the ability to save where I want to and improve the ending and this would be one of the best games I have ever played with it's wide open game play and visual beauty. Unfortunately, I doubt I will play this game ever again.

Final verdict: Half-life2>Far Cry>................Doom 3.

The Chronicles of Riddick...to be decided.

they're all really boring and crap. Half-Life 1 kills Half-Life 2, Doom 3 is repetitive as many of you have already pointed out and far Cry is not good, it's just competent. I got bored of it when the mutants came out.

Overall, HL1 is my fave shooter.