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A FAR CRY FROM A NORMAL REVIEW This review is most certainly going to warrant the "un-helpful" from the most avid, politically-correct reviewers, as they will most certainly see that this is not a review of Far Cry, and I of all people do not especially enjoy spotting those reviewers who have never even touched the games in which they are so unhappily ranting, however; the games today are asking for an all-out lawsuit in blatant misrepresentation. Fortunately for them, the least they will get are our reviews bringing the magic tricks into the light. It seems as if the game developers, in amidst a chaos of illegal downloading and cd copying have sent a huge unnoticed cluster bomb in the way of those who are actually supporting their economic ventures - and is the unavailability to play their games the thanks we get? Absolutely. I am very disappointed in the games that have been released throughout the last few years - not for the lack of creativity or poor design - but for the lack of a better guide for those who actually care about the quick buck of our beloved game makers. Remember that silly little NVIDIA-tag commercial that jumps into action right before you enter the game? It has that cheesy motto spread like butter right over the monitor screen: It says, "The way it's meant to be played." As much as I don't appreciate the trendiness this motto implies as a lackluster commercial for the games we have already bought into - it does make an interesting point referring to games in general - This F@&$in' game is actually meant to be PLAYED!? Shocking, is it not? Who would have thought? Well, apparently not to the millions of people who bought into the game only to realize the game makers have withheld crucial information and they have thwarted the very people who they are attempting to sell the game to. What in sin am I talking about? Misrepresentation. You don't sell an electric saw that malfunctions in a basic electric outlet without warning the audience in bright bold letters, do you not? You will be sued for negligence. Far Cry must be the exception in the eyes of the publishers/game makers. For instance, Far Cry will not work on CDR/CDRW/DVDR/DVDRW at all. This is a far crying shame, not because I can't play the game, but because I should have been warned before I tipped my dollar hand. Why can't we have a nice big sparkly label on the front of the box which clearly states that we can't play the game if we have the basic outlets?! Game developers are starting to get the hang of not letting us in on their dirty little secrets - so they can make bank, and we get nothing in return except for a couple discs that will not install. And I know these are good games, but we must be warned about deviations for the basic hardware that our computers have, right? Far cry is far from being the only one on this train wreck. Myst IV, has the same problem as Far cry, but for the DVD re-writable drives. I didn't run into THAT problem, but certainly there was no specific label that could be found. Is this the way we are supposed to treat our consumers? Thief 3 and Deus Ex: Invisible War will not run on computers with the NVIDIA Graphics card. This is not an average problem that many will commonly run into due to the fact most people have a NVIDIA graphics card. These games don't need to include the NVIDIA cards, but they certainly need to include their audience in this decision - right? I want to see the nice gold label on the front of the box that says "Won't work with NVIDIA Cards." Save us the trouble, right?! And then Half-life 2. The only single player game to come out with the required use of an internet nearest you. Yes, I see that ten font sentence on the bottom of the box now - but wouldn't it have been that much easier to warn everyone in advance? Even the magazine gamers that have played this game didn't happen to mention this - I expected much better. How the hell did they even play the game without noticing this? Unless, the publishers didn't mention that to them - but that's doubtful. Well, I've canceled my PC Gamer subscription - Amazon reviewers aren't as likely to pass up such details; we don't get paid for playing games or paid if our games do not work properly. Sure, they'll get away with it -because this information was included at the bottom of the box, but surely there was someone up in the big office warning everyone not to let this fart out into the open - and they should be ashamed. These sloppy misrepresentations have alienated me as a gamer - and I for one will NOT buy a recently released game until I have looked into at least fifty of the reviews - because it is obvious the developers will continue to use this "Don't tell" policy. I suggest you consider doing the same thing - because refunds are hard to come by in the gaming world. Enjoy Far Cry - I have yet to play it.