Far Cry Vengeance - hands-on

The popularity of the Nintendo Wii is as mainstream as it gets right now. Everyone - from little kids and teenage girls to radio talk show hosts and cable pundits (Stephen Colbert, anyone?) - is presently in a furious arm-swinging, remote-flinging frenzy over the sleek white box. So how ironic is it that the "family-friendly" system is also playing host to so many first person shooters, that most bloody and controversial of all gaming genres?

It may be incongruous, but it also makes perfect sense. The Wiimote screams to be turned into a light gun and, in combination with the attached Nunchuk, can function as a pretty solid replacement for the PC's familiar mouse-and-keyboard setup. And yet Red Steel, probably the second most anticipated launch title after Zelda and definitely the most anticipated Wii shooter, didnot live up to expectations.

Can Far Cry Vengeance? Slated for release in December, the tropical action game has at least agreat track record. The original Far Cry was a ground-breaking FPS (literally, as it expanded the typical genre environment to include sprawls of nature-heavy terrain) that arguably managed to improve itself when first arriving on consoles. After spending some quality hands-on time with the latest Wii-exclusive edition, we're willing to bet that that history of success will continue.