Far Cry: Vengeance (Wii) Review
When I learnt that my beloved Far Cry would be heading to the Wii, and for launch, I might add- I was overjoyed. I Instant Messaged everyone on my list, told them about it and how the Xbox ones were so good and that the Wii one will be awesome with the Wiimote.
The first signs of what Far Cry Vengeance would be came out of leaked screenshots from some foreign country, they looked alright. The water effects and lighting effects looked to be there, Far Cry has some of the most beautiful environments set in beautiful places. Then the game was delayed to a couple of weeks after launch, just adding polish I said to everyone, I mean they are only porting the Xbox one and tweaking it maybe now that Red Steel is out they can fix a few mistakes they learnt from that.
Then my optimistic self read the reviews, a scathing one on IGN hurt my optimism. What had Ubisoft done to my beloved Far Cry? But my enthusiasm still was there, maybe just IGN are being harsh, maybe its ok and maybe when I get it I will still like it. The day of release I drop into my game store, pick up the game. Jack Carver, my mutant buddy is on the cover like usual and I get home slide in the disk and then Ubisoft stabs me in the heart, over and over again. Far Cry Vengeance for the Wii is a bad, bad game. There is simply no other way to put it.
At this point in a review, I would normally go over the story of the game, give you a insight into the characters and the general plot that goes along with the game, however Far Cry Vengeance has none and if you played Far Cry Instincts Evolution, basically Vengeance takes that story, rips it to shreds and then skips half of the game out. As I mentioned before Jack Carver is a mutant and has feral powers. A fair way into the game you get these powers, but the game doesnt tell you. No, wait, there is a film clip to show you getting shot by 5 blurred pixels on top of a bridge, that contains the magical serum that makes you have the feral powers, sadly this film clip and all others in the game is more compressed then mobile phone video.
So you have these feral powers that you hold down A to Activate, then you can run really fast, jump really high and use your feral attack by shaking the Wiimote (this also acts as the knife when not in feral mode.) Again, unfortunately Feral mode is broken. In the Xbox version you could turn Feral mode on and off at a whim (providing you have the adrenaline) however in the Wii version you have to build it up by killing people. Sure there are enough bad guys to kill but it only builds up if you kill them in rapid succession or shooting them in head. Youll learn why this is a problem in the controls section of this review. Once you enable Feral mode, thats it, you use it or lose it, but the thing that really breaks it is the fact that the game cant cope with the effects that are used when you enable it.
When you start running fast the game slows down, and heaven forbid you get any enemies on the screens the game will start running a slideshow speed. This happens even out side of Feral mode and even indoors. The frame rate peaks at around 30FPS and dips even to a slow at least 5FPS. Its headache inducing and leaves you wondering why Ubisoft even let this game out the door.
Ok, so the game runs slow, surely its full of fancy lighting effects, next generation blur and so on? Nope. Basically, you take a first generation PS2 game, make it widescreen and add higher polygon models and you have Far Cry Vengeance. Some other things wrong with the graphics include grass that appears only metres in front of you, trees that pop out of no where, the beautiful water of the Xbox version is replaced with crap basically, no dynamic lighting from weapons fire. I could go on and on about the graphical qualms, but Ill save you the pain and move on.
So, they did a pretty bad job on graphics so surely they got the sound right? Nice music? Good Voice acting? Sadly, the answer is no. What little music they have in the game appears to only be about 1 minute long and loops inappropriately, no fading in and out and the track stops and then restarts. The Voice Actors appear to be the same as the Xbox version, but the shocking FMV and ugly character models take away any realism that you might have gotten from them. Weapons sound like cork guns with the P90 weapon sounding like a popcorn machine going off than a machine gun. The explosion sounds are fine, but the effects (as in graphical) make the grenade a pitiful show.
Well here it is, the part youve all been waiting for, the control scheme. The controls are possibly the only positive thing about the game. The speed and accuracy of the point and turning is better then that in Red Steel. Running and gunning is easier and if it wasnt for the poor frame rate, you would be capping guys in the head (like your meant too) much easier. Dual Wielding is also here with the B and Z triggers allowing you to fire each weapon simultaneously. You are even able to stop and aim Goldeneye style, which is good for dispatching multiple enemies. Having these good controls is what makes this game tolerable, if the frame rate doesn’t give you a headache.
The AI in the game ranges from bad to shocking. The enemies sometimes don’t respond to you being there, aim wildly or take too long to react. This poor excuse for AI makes the game way too easy.
So, weve establish the Single player is a little bit iffy even with the control scheme, so what about Online? Its a Wii game forget that. Map Maker? No they removed that. Split screen? Yes finally something they kept! Sadly the frame rate issues from the single player translate twice as worse in multiplayer and it only features a two player mode.
Ubisoft have ruined Far Cry with this iteration. The game doesn’t live up to the Far Cry name and you have to ask, why did they even bother? This game is only worth a rent at best, if youre a fan of Far Cry, much like I am, youll want to try it out at least once. If youre looking for a good FPS on the Wii though, try Red Steel. At least Ubisoft put all their love into making that.
I normally wouldnt say this, but go get a Second Hand Xbox, Far Cry Instincts and Instincts Evolution for $200AU (This can be done) and have twice the amount of fun. Try out the map maker and play it online, youd be doing yourself a favour. Only get Vengeance if youre reviewing it or renting, its not worth the pain, cash or panadols (painkillers).
