Island games just "cashing in" on Far Cry Related content
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Island games just "cashing in" on Far Cry News
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Johnny Minkley
Don't let the crystal clear water and golden sands fool you: as far as the developer of Far Cry 2 is concerned, videogame tropical islands have become the imaginative equivalent of two weeks at Butlins.
With the sequel to Crytek's memorable PC shooter ditching the shores of paradise in favour of the treacherous beauty of Africa, creative director Clint Hocking believes anyone making a game on a tropical island now is just "cashing in" on the success of Far Cry. And that includes the series' original creator, whose second title, Crysis, is set on, yep, a tropical island.
"Going somewhere you knew was real but was really foreign and exotic, and you never really expected you would get to go in your real life - that's the magic of Far Cry," he told Eurogamer.
"You have to recapture that or you're not really making a sequel to Far Cry, you're just cashing in on the tropical island. Players have been to tropical islands in Boiling Point, in Just Cause in Lost every night on TV, in Crysis and Far Cry on console. All of these games and movies and TV - you see this place and it's not that exciting adventure that it was. Far Cry did it first."
You can read our detailed impressions of the E3 build of Far Cry 2 elsewhere on Eurogamer today. The promising open-world shooter is due for release on PS3, 360 and PC later this year.
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Comments: 1-28 of 28 in total
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DanWhitehead
11/07/08 @ 07:50
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While there are certainly plenty of shooters that have shamelessly cribbed the tropical setting, it's going a bit far to suggest that any game, movie or TV show that features an island is ripping off Far Cry.
Lost, for instance, was devloped because ABC wanted a dramatic version of the Survivor reality show. |
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kangarootoo
11/07/08 @ 07:57
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Pointless angle to take really.
The saying goes "there is nothing new under the sun", and its true. Specifically tropical islands, and also the sense of escape and wonder he is describing were both present in games before Far Cry came along. "They are all ripping off Monkey Island I'd say" Absolutely. The first time I saw their sky view map, with the seagulls circling over it, I had the very same feeling that I later had when gazing over an island landscape from the top of one of Far Cry's peaks. |
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I've just thought of another. Midwinter II: Flames of Freedom from 1991:
http://www.mobygames.com/game/dos/flames...
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/07/08 @ 09:03
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BadBoyBonner
11/07/08 @ 08:27
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I think Zarch on the Archimedes clearly had the 3D Tropical Island game concept sewn up in 1987.
Then "shamelessly exploited further" and sand-boxed by Hunter in 1991 on St and Amiga. N.B. I think Hunter came out near the start of 91 and Midwinter came out near the end of the year. Googled and found - Hunter in Feb issue of Amiga Format and Midwinter Nov issue of AF.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/07/08 @ 09:35
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BadBoyBonner
11/07/08 @ 08:44
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Giants was a fantastic game - trying to remember - think I had a couple of different versions - which added extra graphical trickery with my then new graphics card - think it might have been early Geforce doing T/L but not sure.
In fact started it 3 times - but kept selling the PC's before I completed it. A bit like Wings on the Amiga - I think I ended playing through the Diary in the game in real-time! Played it for a bout 4 years off & on without completing it. Still love the music that plays as the pages turn... |
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FortysixterUK
11/07/08 @ 08:46
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What a silly billy that man is....The UK is an island...does that mean we are ripping ourselves off?
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hp_on_toast
11/07/08 @ 09:59
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How does he have the nerve to mention Crysis like that when it's from the team that was actually responsible for Far Cry.
And what makes him so much more special than the teams responsible for the Far Cry console versions that he's beyond his own crticism. Grade A tosser. |
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BiscuitBase
11/07/08 @ 10:03
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Spy vs Spy 2 on the C64 took place on a tropical island. Shameless plagiarism from Crytek if you ask me.
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kangarootoo
11/07/08 @ 10:08
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@BadBoyBonner
Hunter was awesome. GTA 3 well before its time :) P.s. except GTA didn't have a hovercraft, and has still failed to provide on that front.
Edited 1 times,
most recently on 11/07/08 @ 11:08
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Pac-man ate my wife
11/07/08 @ 10:40
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What a spong-brain!
Islands have been used since the dawn of videogames as they offer developers the perfect way to constrain the size of the game world without using invisible walls etc. |
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MrChuckles
11/07/08 @ 13:46
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Powermonger, Populus and Mega-lo-mania all set on islands... Some tropical...
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AphoticCosmos
11/07/08 @ 14:17
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Attacking the original developer of Far Cry for using tropical islands?
Hold on, without Crytek, there wouldn't be Far Cry. STFU Ubi! Besides, I did feel really engaged in Crysis. The island was one of the best bits about that game [meant as a compliment, I love the game personally and am looking forward to Warhead]. Islands are also a great plot-driver, as they can have a variety of environments and yet still limit where the player can go, and easy to render due to just having lotsandlotsandlots of ocean around them, so it saves on development time [except on Crysis, where I swear they hired another team to create the underwater scenes, it looks so unrealistically good that I will just go swimmin' for the sake of it sometimes :D] |
Comments: 1-28 of 28 in total
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