"Far Cry Vengeance" - Is it Worth the Twenty Dollar Price Tag?

Some video game jargon for you:
AI-Artifical Intelligence
FPS-First Person Shooter
FMV-Full Motion Video
Next Gen- Next Generation Gaming (Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii)

Ubisoft's "Far Cry" exploded onto the PC gaming scene in 2004 to rave reviews on its gameplay and incredible graphics. Graphics were actually what sold the game more than anything else; the draw distance was simply stunning and it took practically a supercomputer to run the game. Enter late 2006, "Far Cry Vengeance" for the Wii fizzles when released and is torn apart by critics for it's incredibly bad graphics and mediocre gameplay. So what went wrong between 2004-2006? And what is so incredibly bad about the Wii version? Well I sat down to find out today.

A couple weeks ago I noticed that both "Far Cry Vengeance" and Ubisoft's "Open Season" had dropped to the $19.99 price point for the Wii. These of course, are the first bargain priced Wii games that only four months earlier sold for for $49.99. "Open Season" was released to mediocre reviews, that established a pretty straight forward kids game that had tacked on Wii controls. But "Far Cry Vengeance" was ripped from the get go. One of the most anticipated shooters for the Wii, brought to the table confusing level designs, some of the worst artificial intelligence in years, extremely outdated graphics, a horrible frame rate, and a control scheme that was only "okay." While "Open Season" does not interest me at all, I was really interested in seeing whether "Far Cry Vengeance" was as bad as everyone said it was. Today, I came face to face with the box with the $19.99 sticker on it, and just couldn't pass it up.

The one thing we must get straight, I am reviewing this game from a $19.99 value standpoint. I will admit right now, had I paid $49.99 for this game I could be incredibly upset. However, I do feel that $19.99 is a fair price for this game, for a certain audience.