It's clear that this game comes from the same company that brings us Assassin's Creed. In a lot of ways Far Cry is the first person version of Assassin's Creed. A lot of the things that make that franchise so good are incorporated into this game. For starters it's an open-world game. It's possible to fast travel to parts of the island you've been to previously. You start out with a map of both islands but you can't see the details of the map until you venture out to the different radio towers in the game (18 in all), climb to the top of them and then synchronize the map. Doing this lets you see all the details of the area. Where the roads are and where the lead, where some of the nearby items can be found, and even which animals can be found in which areas.
The animals bring a lot to this game. They can all be hunted for their pelts, but unlike most games in which you merely sell the pelts, they can be used to upgrade your inventory. You start out able to only carry 1 weapon, and a wallet that holds 1,000 coins, and a rucksack that holds 16 items and so forth. By finding specific hides, you can upgrade the capacity of all of these. Moreover the animals roam freely and can be hunted and even captured by your enemies.
The other game Far Cry 3 shares a lot of similarities to is the most recent Tomb Raider game (which it should be noted came out 4 months after Far Cry 3) Both games are about wealthy young people who get stranded on an island full of vicious people, and they transform from weak, timid victims who rely on others to protect them into badass killing machines. It's funny how much flack Tomb Raider got for it's attempt to portray this transformation. A lot of people had problems with how it happened, they didn't think it was gradual enough, Lara didn't show enough remorse, etc. That's nothing compared to Far Cry 3. The protagonist: Jason Brody goes from a whiny kid and IMMEDIATELY starts killing people. There isn't even the effort that Lara was given, it's 'story be damned, let's just get going' and the funny thing is, this game received no flack at all, which makes me think that the problems people had with Tomb Raider can be traced to Lara's gender more than anything else.
The game isn't without it's flaws. When the game really hits it's stride, with you at the peak of your powers and all your weapons at your disposal, the game is amazing. But too many times the game decides to neutralize all that by taking away your weapons or somehow restricting what you can do. These encounters become incredibly frustrating. The story also is pretty mediocre. It really didn't add anything for me personally, and gets a little weird at the end.
The game is difficult also, and there are a few missions that will require several attempts before the player can get through it. Typically you'll find that if you're having trouble, it's because your thinking is too limited. It's an open-world game so there is more than one way to do everything.
Nowhere is that more apparent than in the game's Fortress levels. There are 36 enemy fortresses scattered throughout the Islands, and the Islands are basically all red at the beginning (the red representing enemy areas) but every time you conquer a fortress your allies take it over and the area around that fortress turns blue, signifying the area is under your control. For me these fortresses were the high point of the game. There were tons of ways to liberate them, and every fortress is different and has different options to take advantage of. I mentioned the captured animals, some of these fortresses have live animals in cages, sometimes dangerous ones like bears or tigers. It's possible to shoot these cages open (stealthily with a sniper rifle) releasing the animals to wreck havoc on the village. These can be used in many ways. You can clear out half the enemies and then do it, which is usually few enough left that the bear or tiger can kill the rest of the enemies for you. Alternately you can release them at the beginning and pick off the enemies while they focus on the animal.
The game does what all great open world games do. You can play the game with just the single minded focus of going from objective to objective and skipping all the optional stuff. But this game will suck you in. You will find yourself getting distracted and doing ten things you didn't plan to do. I had days where I didn't advance the plot at all, I was just caught up in the fortresses and the hunting aspects.
This game is addictive, challenging and satisfying. I highly recommend it.
Completed: 2-8-2014
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