Far Cry is a 2004 first-person shooter game developed by Crytek and published by Ubisoft. It is the first installment in the Far Cry franchise. Set on a mysterious tropical archipelago, the game follows Jack Carver, a former American special operations forces operative, as he searches for journalist Valerie Constantine, who accompanied him to the islands but went missing after their boat was destroyed by mercenaries. As Jack explores the islands, he begins to discover the horrific genetic experiments being conducted on the local wildlife and must confront the mad scientist behind them.

Developer(s) - Crytek

Publisher(s) - Ubisoft

Director(s) - Cevat Yerli

Producer(s) - Chris Natsuume

                            Jack Mamais

                            Richard Tsao

Programmer(s) - Cevat Yerli

                                     Marco Corbetta

Artist(s) - Michael Khaimzon

Raymond Leung

Max Aristov

Writer(s) - Alexis Nolent

Composer(s) - Thomas Baertschi

Series

Far Cry

Engine

CryEngine 1 (PC)

Dunia Engine 2 (Classic)

Platform(s) - Microsoft Windows

                           PlayStation 3

                           Xbox 360

Release - Microsoft Windows

NA: March 23, 2004

EU: March 26, 2004

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360

NA: February 11, 2014

EU: February 12, 2014

Genre(s) - First-person shooter

Mode(s) - Single-player, multiplayer

The game was the first to use Crytek's CryEngine, and was designed as an open-ended first-person shooter, though it lacks most of the freedom its successors would offer to the player. While players can freely explore the game's world like in later Far Cry titles, they are most often discouraged from doing so due to the linear structure of missions and the lack of side content. Despite this, the gameplay formula established in Far Cry—placing the player in a foreign environment occupied by enemy forces where they must use various weapons and tools, as well as their surroundings to overcome any threat—would prove essential in defining the series' identity going forward.

Far Cry was released for Microsoft Windows in March 2004 to generally positive reviews, being praised for its visuals, gameplay mechanics, and the level of freedom given to players. The game was also a commercial success, selling over 730,000 units within four months of release and over 2.5 million units in its lifetime. The success of Far Cry led to a series of standalone sequels developed by Ubisoft, starting with Far Cry 2 in 2008. A remake of the game with a different storyline and new mechanics, Far Cry Instincts, was released for the Xbox in 2005, and for the Xbox 360 in 2006 as part of the Far Cry Instincts: Predator compilation. A loose film adaptation was released in 2008. The original version of Far Cry, updated with HD graphics, was re-released under the title Far Cry Classic for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2014.