After the heartwarming stories of kids and grandparents playing Wii tennis by the Thanksgiving dinner table, it's time for the real question: Can you kill anyone with this thing? So far, the answer is yes, you can kill the hell out of people, but with some hiccups. After you get your bearings in Far Cry: Vengeance, the Wii's controls feel fluid and stealthy, even snakelike: You glide and sidewind over terrain, aim at the screen with perfect accuracy, and lunge—sometimes right off the couch—when you're ready to strike. It's closer to the shooting-gallery games that granddaddied this genre than the nudge-the-thumbstick model of aiming found on other consoles—and once you get used to it, it's hard to go back.
Unfortunately, like a snake, you have limits—namely, it's tough to whip your head around to defend your rear, and you'll have trouble on ladders. The motion-sensing Wii control not only aims your gun, it manages where you're looking, and if you jerk it too far to the side or over your head, which is easy to do in the heat of battle, you'll be stuck staring at the jungle canopy until you recover the signal. As for this particular game, Far Cry is a disappointment for other reasons. Hardcore players have complained that the elaborate foliage comes out looking like cheap cellophane streamers, but the bigger problem lies with the short, blah campaign and linear maps that feel like a doggy bag from the PC game that started the franchise.
Beyond the game: You'll need to spend time fiddling with the sensitivity and camera speed to find a satisfying experience, and even then, Far Cry makes you sit annoyingly close to your television.
Worth playing for: It comes with multiplayer, but only for two players.
Frustration sets in when: The much-touted "predator" mode is mostly just a pest; avoid it, unless you like racing around in a blur looking for a good face to claw.
Final judgment: Far Cry has gone downhill ever since it lost the Hawaiian shirts. But for Wii shooter mayhem, the future looks bright.