Far Cry Classic hits PSN and XBLA in February

Put on your loudest Hawaiian shirt. Jack’s back.

It’s been almost a decade since the first appearance of Crytek’s Far Cry on PC or, as we like to call the game here at Overworld Towers: Tom Selleck Overdrive.

To pay tribute to that wondrous island misadventure, the game’s original publisher Ubisoft has joined in with the increasingly popular HD remake trend to overhaul Far Cry’s graphics, jazz up its cutscenes, screw in a re-thunk user interface and bring the game to consoles for the very first time. They’re calling it Far Cry Classic, but it’s pretty much Far Cry: RoboCop Edition. Tacking the word classic on an HD remake seems weirdly contradictory.

The game is making its way to PlayStation Network and Xbox Live, so nobody should feel left out. You’ll be able to download your HD fix of old-school Far Cry on February 11 in North America and February 12 in the UK and Europe. It’s £7.99/$9.99, but British gamers with a PS3, Xbox 360 or PC ought to keep in mind that from Valentine’s Day they can get their hands on a physical copy bundled with Far Cry 2, Far Cry 3 and Far Cry: Blood Dragon as part of the Far Cry: The Wild Expedition collection for £29.99. Ubisoft, you shouldn’t have!

To bide the time as you patiently twiddle your thumbs over the next few days in anticipation of some nostalgic action, here are two screenshots Ubisoft has released of the game that show off the day-night cycle.

The first image is of an assault rifle merrily waving at two passing helicopters and a boat, while the second reveals a handgun staring moodily out across dark water from a beach as though it might be involved with some high-octane adaptation of Albert Camus’s ‘L’Étranger’.

Everything looks quite shiny compared to the original Far Cry so we can’t wait to blunder through some foliage, shooting wildly at anything that moves and humming the Magnum P.I. theme tune.