Genre: Open World, First-Person, Action-Adventure
Developer: Ubisoft
System I played on: Xbox 360
Year: 2012
(This review will not include co-op or multiplayer. I’m not a fan of mutli-player, and from what I heard of the co-op campaign it doesn’t really seem worth the time and people getting together for it)
First I’d like to start with my small background with the farcry series. I remember playing some farcry games on the original Xbox, but don’t remember anything about them. Then a couple of months ago I started playing Farcry 2, but didn’t really like it. I quickly lost interest and even after trying again I just couldn’t get around to getting into it. But then I played Farcry 3, and HOLY SHIT! I’m not a fan of this series at all, and I love it. You don’t really have to be a fan of the series as it doesn’t at all tie into old games. First I would like to start with this game’s story. You are Jason Brody, a typical rich kid with a knack for thrill. You, your brothers, and all your friends were skydiving to a island but end up being captured by a man named Vaas, and are being held capture for ransom and slavery. Your older brother is quickly killed and your separated with your friends to contest with the jungle with the only help of the rebels who are trying to help the fight. Through the story you meet many fascinating characters that are all unique. You slowly get your old friends (assuming their alive) and soon it becomes less about getting your friends and more about taking out Vaas and his boss Hoyt. Your character Jason grows so well, and you see how he goes from a scared kid to a complete bad ass, and it feels very satisfying as you grow in terms of story. The story is completely bad ass, and a million times better than the dull story I don’t even remember at the beginning of Farcry 2. I don’t know how to say more without going into spoilers but just know this story does more than get the job done, and for me the best story in recent memory. Michael Mando’s Vaas was really one of the best antagonist I’ve seen in since the Joker in Arkham City. And luckily he, as well as all the characters have great facial animations to really feel the emotion every step of the way. Second is the world and exploration. Throughout the island there is a very big map, but thankfully it doesn’t throw it all at you at once. Instead the map is broken up in pieces, and although you can travel through the area, you must climb radio towers to reveal what the map looks like. Exploration isn’t really a big component as conquering over the island and simply surviving the wilderness. The world is huge, and all over there are enemy encampments that you can take over so the rebels take over the island. I captured each encampment and it was very fulfilling for each camp. When you finally have the full map, and it goes from all red to green, it really is satisfying. And within the world is the hunting mechanic. Seriously, the hunting in Farcry 3 is better than some actual hunting games I’ve played. Animals are simply spread out in territories (radio towers show which animals territories are where) but it’s more likely you’ll just stumble upon the animals doing there own things. The animals attack enemies, attack rebels, attack each other, and most importantly attack you. It makes the world feel very real even if you weren’t there, and with all the animals and enemies doing things with you not actually triggering it makes the AI feel very intelligent. But hunting is more than simple killing, each animal holds pelts or skins that you’ll need to make your inventory bigger. It makes your wallet, weapon holsters, lootpack, and many more grow, which makes hunting feel more important. And I didn’t really delve to much in the herbs, it to is almost needed, but yet I didn’t feel pressured to actually delve into it. Herbs isn’t as much fun as the hunting, but it makes more to do, and makes your guy that much more of a bad ass. The drugs you make with the herbs help your hunting, combat, and more. The world is also unique because of its interaction of transportation. Weather it’s Han gliders, wing suits, boats, or zip lines, the transportation is fun as hell, and you might be tempted to actually not fast travel and just have fun on the way to your destination, and maybe even hunt along the way. But the most fun way to travel: driving. This is coming from a guy who hates driving in games, I don’t even like racing games, and I loved driving in Farcry 3. It feels so real, and when your car is falling down mountains and you jump out last minute it really is fun. Also, I want to talk about the leveling system in this game. Like many games you obtain a skill point after each level up, and rather than raising stats you give your character a attribute similar to a less complicated version of Skyrim. The most unique thing about this, and this gives the game a lot of flavor, you obtain a tattoo after each skill point. It’s like a life goal to have a fucking sleeve! The tattoos are very cool, and something really nice about it is the other characters acknowledge them as they are associated with the story and one the themes, and that one is the tribal them associated with the game. Speaking of which the themes for this game are crazy! It seems to be all over the place, and that’s not a bad thing. It goes from crazy Saint’s Row themes, to tribal themes, to jungle themes, to insanity themes to just about anything else. They could throw anything in and it probably would have fit in. Next I want to talk about the combat. You are given enough guns, and it keeps your interest. But maybe the best part is the stealth side of the game. The takedowns I like to think like the V.A.T.S in Fallout 3: They’re awesome, and never get old. Weather it’s assinating somebody, then pulling his grenade pin and kicking him to the enemy crowd or jumping off a zip line onto another enemy, it really is a fun combat system. Through the combat comes the animations, and there are a good amount of them. It’s really interesting to see your guy extract a bullet from his arm or pop his thumb back into place. But with all the times you have to heal it actually can be annoying to see doing the same animations over and over, but oddly it’s not as bad as you’d think. The combat is simply bad ass, enough said. On the bad sides of this game there aren’t many. All I really have is that the poor use of the final antagonist (Vaas was better and his boss fight is simple quick time events) and also the enemies being kind of repetitive. All the enemies seemed to be the old ones and didn’t really have life to them at all. But the reason this won’t get a ten isn’t because there are bad, but more about I feel it needed that last flavor to meet Hall of Fame status. I don’t know what it is, but it just needed something. Maybe if Vaas was the main villain and the resolution was longer I might consider it, but for now it’s a solid elite. Lastly I want to talk about how involved the world is. I slapped enough hours to make a full purchase just from the main quest, a side mission or two, liberating all the outposts, and climbing the radio towers. But there’s a lot I didn’t get into, like the assassination, hunting, racing, and many other mini missions, some with small stories even. Not to mention from what I heard a pretty involved multiplayer and a co-op campaign at least worth wasting some time with. The game is as immersive as you want to make it, and in the end that’s how I believe games should be. Farcry 3 is simply bad ass, and is easily a contender for best game of 2012. This game is simply a must-play, but be open-minded as I had. I didn’t like Farcry 2 in the slightest, but Farcry 3 has made me a fan, and now I want to know more of what Ubisoft has in store for this franchise. I mean there I was putting in another new Farcry game and expecting something different… and then Vaas told me the definition of insanity.
Farcry 3 gets a 5/5
Spoilers: Can I first just talk about how awesome the weed mission was? I’m literally listening to that song right now! It’s awesome! I told you non-video game music can make games better! I might make a top ten Farcry 3 moments list and if I do this mission will probably make number one. The flamethrower was so bad ass, and I now have an urge to buy a bunch of weed simply to burn it down with a flamethrower while listening to this song! Other things I’d like to mention are the drug moments. I hadn’t seen drugs fuck up my dude in first person so bad since I was in Point Lookout in Fallout 3. Seriously, the Ink Monster was so such a holy shit, and then ubisoft was like, "oh well let’s just make another holy shit moment right after.” You go from killing giant monster to banging Citra in like ten seconds. Speaking of Citra how about that ending? I personally saved Liza and the others, and I’m happy I did. When I looked up the other one I really thought I chose the right one. I’m not dying from some crazy chick, that’s all I know. Citra’s attitude is completely opposite for each ending, and it really inflicts a lot of emotion either way.
Farcry 3 gets THE CHARACTER BADGE
Farcry 3 gets THE "CREATIVITY" BADGE
Farcry 3 gets THE REPLAY-ABILITY BADGE
Farcry 3 gets THE HALL OF FAME BADGE
