Developer: Ubisoft Montreal | Publisher: Ubisoft | Genre: First-Person Shooter
PS3 | Xbox 360 | Windows PC
Through a strong narrative and sandbox gameplay, Far Cry 3 will keep you on your toes for a lengthy amount of time, offering a fantastic all-round experience.
After taking a trip with his younger brother Riley and a group of close friends, Jason Brody quickly realises this whole thing was an extremely bad idea. The game's tone is initially very innocent, showing off home video footage of the group having plenty of fun - but all of that soon becomes something extremely sinister.
Brody, along with the rest of the group are captured by Vaas - a maniac pirate who gets his adrenaline rushes through killing innocent people and stealing valuable items. It is when you escape, it becomes apparent just how vicious this game is going to be, this is mainly down to witnessing various murders within the pirate camp, along with lots unnerving behaviour.
After leaving the camp, it becomes your mission to save the rest of your friends (if they're still alive), and so it begins - you are put in the middle of a island rich with wildlife, beautiful ocean beaches, masses of green land, and a ruthless gang of pirates who are willing to slit your throat at a moments notice. This is literally Hell on paradise.
There are four difficulties, the easiest being 'adventure' to the most challenging 'master' mode - but after a while of getting used to the game, it is generally easy if you think properly before acting out certain situations, so in that respect it would be advised to choose a respectable difficulty, even if you are a casual gamer.
The game is essentially an open-world first person shooter with a combination of subtle RPG character-building elements - right from the start, it becomes clear you can practically do whatever you wish, creating a very non-linear experience. You can either pursue the main quests or explore the islands to seek out an array of side-quests and activities - its advised to 'do what you want' for a while to simply take in a feel of what the game will have to offer.
Side-quests involve hunting down certain pirates that when taken down, will grant you numerous rewards - usually a generous amount of cash, other quests include Trials of the Raykat, which will test your skills in specific areas of gameplay, for example one trial gives you an unlimited amount of grenades and you have to rack up the most points by causing absolute havoc on an endless amount of pirates.
Survival plays an important role into the success of Brody's goal, and this involves hunting down various animals - animals that will kill you pretty quick - this isn't to eat the dead carcus, but to skin them to use as material for numerous equipment upgrades, for example Shark skin will allow you to create a larger wallet, thus able to carry more cash. You can also combine plants to create syringes that aid you in the quest against those pesky pirates, such as improving your hunting skills temporarily, replenishing depleted health, and so forth.
Initially, most of the map is blanked out, this is because you have to make your way to abandoned radio towers that when activated, will reveal key points in a certain area, allowing yourself to take on new quests, or simply hunt down all of the collectibles. There is so much to collect in the game, giving you an extra reason to explore the island - these include relics and Letter of the Lost, which are a series of letters that reveal the island's past when it played host to an army of Japanese soldiers during World War II, and its things like this that make the game that much more mysterious.
Whilst the game has been praised highly so far, it does have its flaws - an example is the incredibly lousy enemy AI, most of the pirates won't notice you even if you're in close proximity, or they will acknowledge you, and all you have to do is hide behind a tree and they'll become instantly confused as to your whereabouts. Glitches are quite common too, mainly graphical glitches but the one that stands out most is getting stuck on invisible obstacles, which lead to a forced re-load to simply get out of that particular place.
Apart from that, its a solid game with some fantastic graphics - there is so much detail implemented into the game's surroundings, especially the actual structures such as caves, caverns, and ruins. When you enter these locations, you'll become instantly immersed into the game and part of that is down to graphical aids.
Overall, a brilliant game fueled with addictive gameplay and a narrative full of plot twists that could very well bring out your emotional side - all of that mixed with well-thought out quests and activities will provide an excellent gaming experience, one you shouldn't miss out on. REVIEW1
7/10
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