Far Cry 3
PlayStation 3
This is a game I have been itching to play for a very long time. I've heard nothing but good things about this game over the years. People say it is the best Far Cry game. People also say it is one of the best games of the PS3 era.
I've played the first two games in the Far Cry series, and I liked them both. The first game was an okay but ultimately forgettable experience. The second one was much better, but bogged down with things that were really annoying. It laid the groundwork for this game, however. So how would I feel about this one?
Spoiler alert: this is easily my favorite game in the series so far. Read on for my full thoughts.
Story:
This game has a pretty decent story. You play as Jason Brody, a rich frat boy who is out partying and seeing the world with a large group of friends. They are on vacation, skydiving onto on a remote, tropical island when Jason and his friends are taken captive by Vaas - the game's main villain. You may recognize him from the artwork on the cover of this game. I'm familiar with the artwork, but I was in shock when I saw which actor played him. As soon as I started playing this and I heard him talk, I was like: "Hey! That's Nacho from Better Call Saul!" He plays a pretty good villain, too.
Jason escapes Vaas, but his brother is killed in the attempt. Jason is taken in by the Rakyat, a group of natives to the island. They are in combat against the pirate group led by Vaas. Jason is recruited to go to war against Vaas and rescue his friends from captivity.
Spoiler alert: Vaas is defeated about 3/4 of the way through the game. Maybe even less than that. This is when you seek to liberate the island from its true enemy. Someone above even Vaas on the criminal food chain: Hoyt. The diabolical rich guy pulling all the strings. If you are comparing this to Star Wars, Hoyt is the Emperor and Vaas is Lord Vader.
After Hoyt is defeated, Jason gathers his friends to escape the island once and for all. But then you're faced with an interesting decision: stay on the island and bang the super shmexy Citra for the rest of your life, or leave the island behind and escape with your friends? I chose the first option. Heh. Jason proceeds to kill all his friends, and then he himself is killed by Citra after he impregnates her. Hope it was worth it, yo. I mean, Citra was pretty darn hot.
I didn't even mention the mythical aspects to the game's story. As you play, Jason gets stronger and draws from the magic of the island. He gets tribal tattoos that give him power. He sees visions occasionally throughout the course of the game. This isn't a game that sticks to a "real world" plot. There is definitely a supernatural element to be found here, and it really blends well with the setting and the theme of the game.
Gameplay:
I came into this game right off the heels of playing Days Gone on the PS4. Coming off such a smooth-controlling game like that, it took me a little while to get used to this game's controls. The camera feels very loose as you walk around the island. The driving mechanics come across as herky-jerky. Combat is a confusing affair. My initial impression from the first hour I spent with the game was that it was a mess.
But the more time I sank into this game, the more I began to understand its mechanics. And once things had completely clicked in my mind, I began to have an absolute blast with this game.
It is an open world title. The majority of the map is open to you immediately. You can go right to the mission markers or you can visit other areas if you'd like. There are collectibles aplenty to be found, such as secret chests and hidden relics. There are several radio towers in the game that you have to scale, and once you reach the top you survey the area and fill out that area of your map. I think of them like the Tallnecks from Horizon Zero Dawn. The towers get progressively harder as you play the game. Getting to the top of them becomes almost like solving a puzzle in its own way.
In addition to the radio towers, there are enemy camps you can liberate. There are special timed challenges where you look to take the top score against your online friends. There are also timed "race" missions where you have to deliver supplies from one end of the island to another before the timer runs out. In this game you are rarely stranded out in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do or nothing to find. There is always something to do somewhere. The game lets you freely use fast travel, which is such a major blessing. You can get around the map pretty quickly and easily in most cases.
Don't let the fact that this game takes place on an island make you think that the game's map is small. It is not. The island is big. Think Ghost of Tsushima big. Okay, maybe it is not that big. But just as that game can handle being confined to an island, and this one definitely can as well. And there are a lot of activities crammed onto this island. In addition to what I've already mentioned, there are side quests, hunting missions, bounties to collect, plants to scavenge, and safe houses to collect where you can upgrade your equipment. Oh, and there are vehicles everywhere. Cars, jeeps, boats, jet skis, even hang gliders. You should never be in want of a vehicle to hop into if you have somewhere to be.
If I had to pick the area of the game I liked the least, it would be the combat. Stealth is very important in this game, but the way stealth is handled is genuinely not good. Or maybe I am just not that good at the game? I was constantly getting spotted, no matter how hard I tried to be stealthy. Seeing how if you are seen, the enemy can call for reinforcements that make the battle drag out ten times longer than it needs to be, I hated that I was so bad at stealth. It made some areas of the game so much more difficult than they really needed to be.
The shooting itself is a bit weird. When you pull out your weapon and press the left shoulder button, it auto-locks on the nearest enemy you are pointing at for just a split second. The right shoulder fires your weapon. This little "assist" got me through some pretty tough areas. My aim is always crap in games like this, especially when your enemies are running around all the time. If you aren't using the lock on feature, things can get hairy. I found the controls to be very herky-jerky, making it quite difficult to line up my shots properly. I also found that if I didn't take care of them right away, enemies had a way of encircling me and draining my health meter fast fast fast. There were so many instances where I was on a roll and thought I was doing very well, only to be killed in a matter of seconds by enemies I didn't even know were there.
Here lies my main problem with the combat: its unfairness. For the most part this is a fairly balanced game, but when it gets hard, it gets hard. Trying to raid camps caused probably the most grief for me. It is very frustrating to have to redo large chunks of the game over again when you die. I lost count of how many times I was down to one or two enemies left, and then I had to start the whole thing over again. Enemies can take you out so freaking fast. And they pop up with almost no warning. Throw in the clunky aiming and you can see why this would cause problems. I hate how there is so much wildlife that can kill you, too. I had missions interrupted multiple times by freaking bear attacks out of the middle of nowhere. It is annoying when you are traversing the map, just trying to make it from point A to point B and you are attacked and killed. Some of these enemies are no joke. A cheetah can drain your health in one attack. And they are so hard to lock onto and shoot! So many times my animal battles devolved into me spinning around in all directions, waving my knife frantically around in front of me.
This isn't a game you can expect to pick up and dominate immediately. There is a learning curve. It offers a steady challenge. And yes, there is a lot about the game that is frustrating and unfair. I found myself shouting at the TV more times than I care to admit. And that is not something I do normally. I probably haven't done it since, well, Far Cry 2. But this game definitely improves on that one. Looking back, Far Cry 2 was a solid game that I enjoyed (for the most part), but this game takes everything about that second title and improves upon it tenfold. Far Cry 2 walked so Far Cry 3 could run.
Graphics:
Initially I was a little put off by the game's graphics. I guess that is what happens when you go from playing a current gen game like Days Gone to a game from 2012. Jagged edges, some choppy animations, some occasional slowdown. Once I was able to mentally get past all that, I didn't even notice it anymore. Small technical matters aside, the game looks pretty darn good for something that is eleven years old.
The island itself and all the beautiful scenery are the stars of the game. Everything looks just so lush and vibrant. The presentation of the game, such as the cutscenes and the mirrored title screen, is amazing. This entire game is a very cinematic experience. I'm sure a remaster for current gen consoles would look incredible. I mean, it looks good enough already.
Sound:
This game has some great music and sound effects. While the game mainly relies on ambient sound effects, the music (when it is present) fits the tone of the game perfectly. The Flight of the Valkyries makes two appearances in the game, and both appearances are fantastic - particularly the second one. The voice acting is great too. Vaas is a famous video game villain for a reason, and all the supporting characters are well-acted too.
Overall:
The reviews were right: this is an awesome game. It took me an hour or two to fully become invested in the game, but once that happened, I couldn't put this down. It is fun, addicting, and has a map full of stuff to do. It blows the previous two Far Cry games completely out of the water. I can't wait to play its DLC (Blood Dragon) and all the other Far Cry games now.
If you haven't played this, what are you doing? I consider this to be an absolute must-play. It definitely has its annoying and frustrating moments, which is keeping me from giving it a perfect score. But this game is almost as good as it gets.
THE GRADE:
A
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