FAR CRY 3
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: 29/11/12
Format: PS3/XBOX360/PC
Players: 1(offline), 2-14(online)
You start the most anticipated game of 2012 by watching you are you friends on a holiday of a lifetime, skydiving, water sporting and enjoying life. But all this is a ruse, you and your friends have been captured, beaten and will die unless you free them. The first few minutes shows how quickly this game can change pace and messed up it is. You meet Vaas, the figure head of Far Cry3. A brilliantly portrayed madman asking, if you know the definition of insanity? He is the best bad guy in a video game for a long time, acting, voice and dialogue is all spot on. Queue your death defying scripted escape and the reason why Jason (you) must take the journey from average teenager and become a skilled warrior. You met a lot of interesting charters along the way, some good, some bad and others I’m still not sure about. Either way Far Cry3 will leave you asking, who are you?
The third instalment of the Far Cry series is set on the islands of Rook, a beautiful paradise with dark secrets. As you progress on your quest you will not be bored. There’s plenty to do here, it’s too easy to get bogged down liberating outposts and hunting animals. Not to say it’s not worth your while, but remember what the story is about. The game looks gorgeous and attention to detail is evidence, the wildlife has a life of its own, fleeing at the very sight of you or attacking without mercy, if the bad guys don’t get you, The Island will.
This is one of my problems with the game, not the size and scope of the game but the difficultly just to get from one place to the next. It is well worth your time and effort to climb every radio tower and liberate every outpost just so you can navigate the map freely and easily. Otherwise you won’t get anywhere. The map starts as a blanket of darkness, you are instructed to climb your first tower at the beginning and this opens up a small fraction of the map and the scope of the island becomes clear. But you try getting to the next and you will met un-climbable mountains, take the wrong turn down roads or just walk into a bunch of pirates or tigers, die and start all over again. It’s very annoying to know your objective is only 50meters away and having to walk 1000meters to get to it. This is a grind but necessary if you wish to enjoy the rest of the game, it also starts you levelling up XP. Every action and kill earns you XP that levels up your charter and allows you to train a new skill. This brings me to another one of my problems with the game, your
path to becoming a warrior. You start the game, slow and not effective at fighting the bad guys, as you unlock new abilities and moves you become a one man army and the shooting become better and more fluid. It’s to show that your character is becoming a more effective combat person and is now happy laying waste to hundreds of people when before taking a single life was a problem. I don’t have a problem shooting pixels on a screen, I’ve been playing Call of Duty for 600hours, wanting to do a certain action and not being able to because I haven’t learnt it yet is annoying and takes away the realism of Jason becoming a fighter, when he already is because I’m controlling him.
A few problems should not deter you, it’s a well-made game and the story is mostly understandable. You have options thought the game. But there’s options I’m forced to make which I wouldn’t have personally done, but it’s to move the story in the direction it should. Like with previous instalments this is no liner game, you can attack your objective a variety of ways. Just run in and shoot, snipe from distance, stealth or let the wildlife do your dirty work. There’s options here and by all means use them. I’m impressed with the stealth in particularly, the game encourages you to play this way and you will reap the benefits from it. I’m no expert sneaky player, but I could easily liberate outpost without being seen, this is helped by the white indicator that shows if enemies are alerted to your presence. Hiding in short grass also means you are now completely invisible and people will walk right by without noticing you. Another nice touch is being able to tag enemies with your single shot camera, once tagged they will be permanently marked on your mini map, and be able to be seen thou walls. Allowing you to remain undetected and work out the best way to dispatch your foes.
However, not all missions can be completed this way, you will need weapons. You don’t have much choice with firearms, but to be honest the ones you have are solid. Problem is at the start you can only carry one at a time and with very limited ammo. That is until you have to spend 3 hours hunting some poor defenceless animals so you can craft equipment to carry the weapons and equipment you need for the job at hand. It has started to become a regular thing in games, hunting, but at least there are benefits. Yes you can skip it entirely, but the ammo in your ak47 will not last you long and you will find yourself scavenging off dead enemies to dispatch the next. Again it is a necessary evil in this game, I only crafted the essentials to get me on my way, but this possibly induced more rage than anything. If finding the animal you wish to skin is difficult enough, if you attack incorrectly it will run away and disappear falling off a cliff or into a lake out of your reach. Once you open fire any enemies nearby will be alerted to the presence and begin hunting you. If you manage to successfully navigate all this, finding the dead animal is another challenge, they just seem to go straight to heaven without leaving a mark on the ground and you’re left pacing the same spot for a good 10mintues before you give up and find another live one. And that’s if the wild dogs don’t bite you to bits before then.
Sounds like a hated my 14 hours with this game, but to be honest I enjoyed mostly every minute. Even with jabbing myself with countless needles to regain my health or picking bullets out my arms every time it got close to deaths door. This is one good strange game, the drug induced sections that are mind blowing. That’s it mind blowing. Once you have finished you path there’s is more to keep you glued to the Island of Rook. The 4player co-op is a liner separate story of mini games and more killing. It’s easy to follow with simple objectives and will keep you going for another 2hours with friends. The online multiplayer is good but nothing special; in today’s market you need to bring something new to the table and it just doesn’t do this. It’s a solid shooter and perfectly enjoyable, but there’s better out there these days.
Far Cry3 is well worth your time, it’s big, bad and bold, but don’t let get in your way. It’s by no means perfect but it is beautiful to look
at. Vaas is a real character and makes it enjoyable to be in his presence, just a shame he not in it much. You will have a rollercoaster of a time with this adventure.
By Chris Sowry 8/10
Developer: Ubisoft
Release Date: 29/11/12
Format: PS3/XBOX360/PC
Players: 1(offline), 2-14(online)
You start the most anticipated game of 2012 by watching you are you friends on a holiday of a lifetime, skydiving, water sporting and enjoying life. But all this is a ruse, you and your friends have been captured, beaten and will die unless you free them. The first few minutes shows how quickly this game can change pace and messed up it is. You meet Vaas, the figure head of Far Cry3. A brilliantly portrayed madman asking, if you know the definition of insanity? He is the best bad guy in a video game for a long time, acting, voice and dialogue is all spot on. Queue your death defying scripted escape and the reason why Jason (you) must take the journey from average teenager and become a skilled warrior. You met a lot of interesting charters along the way, some good, some bad and others I’m still not sure about. Either way Far Cry3 will leave you asking, who are you?
The third instalment of the Far Cry series is set on the islands of Rook, a beautiful paradise with dark secrets. As you progress on your quest you will not be bored. There’s plenty to do here, it’s too easy to get bogged down liberating outposts and hunting animals. Not to say it’s not worth your while, but remember what the story is about. The game looks gorgeous and attention to detail is evidence, the wildlife has a life of its own, fleeing at the very sight of you or attacking without mercy, if the bad guys don’t get you, The Island will.
This is one of my problems with the game, not the size and scope of the game but the difficultly just to get from one place to the next. It is well worth your time and effort to climb every radio tower and liberate every outpost just so you can navigate the map freely and easily. Otherwise you won’t get anywhere. The map starts as a blanket of darkness, you are instructed to climb your first tower at the beginning and this opens up a small fraction of the map and the scope of the island becomes clear. But you try getting to the next and you will met un-climbable mountains, take the wrong turn down roads or just walk into a bunch of pirates or tigers, die and start all over again. It’s very annoying to know your objective is only 50meters away and having to walk 1000meters to get to it. This is a grind but necessary if you wish to enjoy the rest of the game, it also starts you levelling up XP. Every action and kill earns you XP that levels up your charter and allows you to train a new skill. This brings me to another one of my problems with the game, your
path to becoming a warrior. You start the game, slow and not effective at fighting the bad guys, as you unlock new abilities and moves you become a one man army and the shooting become better and more fluid. It’s to show that your character is becoming a more effective combat person and is now happy laying waste to hundreds of people when before taking a single life was a problem. I don’t have a problem shooting pixels on a screen, I’ve been playing Call of Duty for 600hours, wanting to do a certain action and not being able to because I haven’t learnt it yet is annoying and takes away the realism of Jason becoming a fighter, when he already is because I’m controlling him.
A few problems should not deter you, it’s a well-made game and the story is mostly understandable. You have options thought the game. But there’s options I’m forced to make which I wouldn’t have personally done, but it’s to move the story in the direction it should. Like with previous instalments this is no liner game, you can attack your objective a variety of ways. Just run in and shoot, snipe from distance, stealth or let the wildlife do your dirty work. There’s options here and by all means use them. I’m impressed with the stealth in particularly, the game encourages you to play this way and you will reap the benefits from it. I’m no expert sneaky player, but I could easily liberate outpost without being seen, this is helped by the white indicator that shows if enemies are alerted to your presence. Hiding in short grass also means you are now completely invisible and people will walk right by without noticing you. Another nice touch is being able to tag enemies with your single shot camera, once tagged they will be permanently marked on your mini map, and be able to be seen thou walls. Allowing you to remain undetected and work out the best way to dispatch your foes.
However, not all missions can be completed this way, you will need weapons. You don’t have much choice with firearms, but to be honest the ones you have are solid. Problem is at the start you can only carry one at a time and with very limited ammo. That is until you have to spend 3 hours hunting some poor defenceless animals so you can craft equipment to carry the weapons and equipment you need for the job at hand. It has started to become a regular thing in games, hunting, but at least there are benefits. Yes you can skip it entirely, but the ammo in your ak47 will not last you long and you will find yourself scavenging off dead enemies to dispatch the next. Again it is a necessary evil in this game, I only crafted the essentials to get me on my way, but this possibly induced more rage than anything. If finding the animal you wish to skin is difficult enough, if you attack incorrectly it will run away and disappear falling off a cliff or into a lake out of your reach. Once you open fire any enemies nearby will be alerted to the presence and begin hunting you. If you manage to successfully navigate all this, finding the dead animal is another challenge, they just seem to go straight to heaven without leaving a mark on the ground and you’re left pacing the same spot for a good 10mintues before you give up and find another live one. And that’s if the wild dogs don’t bite you to bits before then.
Sounds like a hated my 14 hours with this game, but to be honest I enjoyed mostly every minute. Even with jabbing myself with countless needles to regain my health or picking bullets out my arms every time it got close to deaths door. This is one good strange game, the drug induced sections that are mind blowing. That’s it mind blowing. Once you have finished you path there’s is more to keep you glued to the Island of Rook. The 4player co-op is a liner separate story of mini games and more killing. It’s easy to follow with simple objectives and will keep you going for another 2hours with friends. The online multiplayer is good but nothing special; in today’s market you need to bring something new to the table and it just doesn’t do this. It’s a solid shooter and perfectly enjoyable, but there’s better out there these days.
Far Cry3 is well worth your time, it’s big, bad and bold, but don’t let get in your way. It’s by no means perfect but it is beautiful to look
at. Vaas is a real character and makes it enjoyable to be in his presence, just a shame he not in it much. You will have a rollercoaster of a time with this adventure.
By Chris Sowry 8/10
