Far Cry Classic
PlayStation 3
I actually had never heard of the Far Cry series until after the third installment had already come out. That game got rave reviews, and when I looked it up, I thought it looked like all kinds of awesome. Being someone who will not play a series unless it is from the beginning (even if all the installments are not connected), I decided that I would not play Far Cry unless it was from the very start.
It took me a while to find it, but when I saw this game go on sale on the Playstation Network for only 5 bucks, I figured there was no better time to snatch it up and see what all the fuss was about.
We'll start with the basics. This is a first person shooter that takes place on a series of islands where there is some kind of weird genetic testing going on. I'm a little unclear about the full details of the storyline. Things aren't really explained in the beginning of the game. Mainly you find out what is going on through communicator conversations with a mysterious figure who is guiding you on your mission. As I stated in an earlier review of a different game, I hate this. I have an extremely short attention span, and I can only really follow one thing at a time. If I am walking around trying to solve a puzzle, find a key, or blast away enemies and I have got some dude jabbering in my ear, I tend to tune him out. And then I completely miss what is happening with the storyline.
So basically I can't really tell you anything about the story. I don't think the story is really that big a deal anyways. This game is all about fun and action - and there could be no storyline and I still would have enjoyed this.
When reading reviews for Far Cry 3, I saw the words "stealth" and "open world" coming up an awful lot. I expected the game to be different since the original was made several years before the third installment, but this is actually much more different than I had thought it would be.
First of all, this is no open world. Each mission is limited to a small section of the island chain. You have a goal, and when you complete the goal, the mission is over and you move on to the next one. You can't move on past your goal. On subsequent missions, you can't go back and check out areas you may have missed earlier in the game. This is definitely not an open world, although that may (and probably does) change in future Far Cry games, which I have not played yet.
One thing that is slightly open-world about this (I guess) is that most missions have different paths you can take to complete them. For example - you could scale a mountain on foot, walking on the path taking out enemies along the way. Or you could stick to the forest and try to sneak your way in. Or you could drive a vehicle to the top of the mountain and run over everyone in sight. Or you could find the base hidden in the side of the mountain and ride an elevator to the top. There are many ways you can go about achieving your goal.
Stealth is something that is easier said than done in this game. Hopefully this mechanic has been fixed in future Far Cry installments, but I found the whole thing quite ineffective. Your enemies mainly are very hard to see, and don't show up on your radar at all. Unless you put on your binoculars, then you can "tag" your enemies so that not only do they show up with a little green marker above their heads, but they also show up on the radar. The radar shows what direction they face - and based on what color they are (green for unalert, yellow for suspicious, red for high alert) how aware they are of your existence. This is all fine and dandy, and I actually kind of really like this system.
My main problem, like I said, is the actual stealth mechanic. Say you are hiding in a bush and you want to distract someone who is guarding a door. In games like the Last of Us, you throw a rock, and the guard hears it and goes off to investigate. In this game, you throw a rock and he immediately becomes alert and starts coming in your direction. Along with every other guard in the area. I don't get the purpose of this at all. It took me approximately two missions to stop throwing rocks because it was a waste of time and more trouble than what it was worth. Also, the game has this way of changing the rock in your inventory to a grenade every time you walk over one. So oftentimes I would end up chucking a grenade and completely blowing any chance I had of cover to complete shit.
Another problem with the stealth mechanic is how ineffective it is. You can crouch or crawl in this game. There are lots of trees and bushes and tall grass. In Metal Gear, you lay prone in the high grass and the guards walk right by you and don't see you. In this game, you might as well be waving around a flag and shouting "here I am!!!" when you attempt the same. What's the point of hiding if they can see you no matter what you do? The only way you can effectively stay hidden is if they aren't looking in your direction. Which in that case you don't even need to be laying down, you may as well be standing up and ready to move.
So yeah, I don't really get the whole stealth dynamic of the game. The only thing that worked as far as stealth that I could see is when you use a silenced weapon. I found this to be quite an effective tactic, picking off enemies one by one or sniping them from a distance before the alarm can be raised.
Indoors, the game plays out more like a standard first person shooter. You don't really have the stealth dynamic (or what little of it there is) to worry about. You just run around, guns blazing, taking out anything that moves. The areas you have to maneuver around in are pretty tight and confined. So you don't really have to worry about enemies sneaking up on you or being hard to find.
Controls for the game are pretty simple. You run, jump, crouch, and open doors. Standard FPS fair. Occasionally you have access to land vehicles, small boats, and mounted turrets. There are even a few hang gliding sections thrown in for good measure. But as I say, stealth is pretty much a wash. I found I was able to really get into the game and have fun when I tossed that mechanic aside and just went around blowing everyone away. The outside levels to me are a little more fun than the indoor levels just because there are so many different ways you can go about accomplishing your goals.
There are a ton of different guns in this game, and you can carry up to four of them. Despite all the choices, I found myself using the same gun pretty much the whole game. The silenced automatic rifle thingy that can zoom in on enemies from a far. It's a very effective weapon. I don't know if I am just a really good shot, or if this game gives you a little leeway, but none of the enemies in this game stood a chance against me, whether in close combat or whether I was picking them off from afar.
In most first person shooters these days, your health regenerates as you walk around. But Far Cry is a throwback in the sense that you need to find actual healing items if you find yourself running low on health. At first, I found myself routinely getting slaughtered in the game, but once I got a hang of this dynamic and how you have to keep moving when you are facing an enemy, I was able to whiz through the game.
There are 20 missions in the game, and all of them are shorter than an hour in length. Some significantly so. I was able to beat this game in a fairly quick amount of time. I forget the exact number but it was somewhere between 13 and 14 hours. Not bad for five dollars though.
When I finished this game, it left me wanting more. More Far Cry, damn it! Although it took me a while to truly get into the game, and although I couldn't give two shits about the story, I still had a great time. I haven't had this much fun with a first person shooter in a long time. It almost felt more like an adventure game like Uncharted than a true FPS. I'm very excited to see the direction this series has taken. If the reviews are any indication of what is to come with the sequels, I am in for a real treat.
Overall:
B+
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