Far Cry Classic

Far Cry is a standard first-person shooter set in an open-ended environment: an unidentified archipelago in the South Pacific. The tropical rain forest provides cover and concealment, of which both the player and enemies can take advantage. Enemies react dynamically to the player's tactics and actions. If a lone mercenary spots a player, he occasionally runs for help, signaling reinforcements through use of flareguns.

Enemies will work together to outmaneuver, outflank, surround, and provide suppressive fire, providing them a tactical advantage over the player, who, in turn, is able to spot and mark enemies on their minimap through use of special binoculars, which also grant the player the ability to listen to enemy conversations from afar, merely by pointing the binoculars in the direction of the enemies. Later in the gameplay, thermo binoculars can be used to locate the heat signatures of enemies, that would be otherwise concealed by foliage or darkness.

The game's story follows a retired U.S. Army Special Forces soldier stranded on a mysterious archipelago. He is searching for a female journalist named Valerie Constantine, after she went missing when their boat was destroyed by mercenaries. The game includes thematic elements relating to the dangers of weaponizing genetic engineering and the genocide of local islanders as can be seen by the deformed creatures created by a mad scientist named Krieger.

The terrain in Far Cry varies greatly. Set on a South Pacific archipelago, the landscape includes beaches, dense rain forests, towering canyons, mines, swamps, and even volcanic forests. Many of the interiors range from simple beach huts and army camps to elaborate complexes, an underground temple, and ultra-modern research labs. Several of these mazes use the remains of Japanese World War II-era fortifications and bunkers.

Crytek developed a game engine called CryEngine for Far Cry. Reportedly, the game was born out of a technology demo called X-Isle: Dinosaur Island made by Crytek to showcase the capabilities of the Nvidia GeForce 3.

On June 10, 2013, Ubisoft announced Far Cry Classic would come to XBLA as part of Microsoft's 2013 Summer Arcade releases. The game was delayed to February 12, 2014. Far Cry Classic is an HD remake for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The game is available as a standalone and part of a compilation called Far Cry: The Wild Expedition.

Far Cry received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic. The game received runner-up placements for GameSpot's 2004 "Best Shooter" and "Best Graphics, Technical" awards across all platforms. It received multiple awards at the Deutscher Entwicklerpreis 2004, including "Best Full-Price Game".

Far Cry was a commercial success, with sales above 730,000 units after four months of release. It received a "Gold" certification from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland for its performance through the end of June 2004. This indicated sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In the United States, Far Cry sold 350,000 copies and earned $11 million for Crytek by August 2006.

On April 8, 2004, Ubisoft announced Far Cry Instincts for the Xbox. Far Cry Instincts is not a direct port of the original, being designed specifically for consoles. The game uses a similar premise to the original PC version, and the same game engine, but by comparison Instincts is less open-ended and more linear, due to the console's reduced processing power which prevents the full rendering of the PC version's vast islands and landscape. Additionally, Instincts features a significantly altered storyline, and new multiplayer modes, weapons, dual wielding and "feral abilities".

PlayStation 2 and GameCube were also planned but were cancelled. Far Cry Instincts was exclusive to the Xbox and was released to acclaim in North America on September 27, 2005.