A brief history of the Far Cry game series and me, Far Cry 4 obviously being the next in this series, which really hooked me with number 3. I never played 1, but I did play 2, and I didn't like it. The guard posts at basically every road junction really annoyed me an I kept catching Malaria so I wasn't going to play number 3, despite how much one of my friends kept talking it up to me. Then, It came free on PS Plus (a service I only got to get a nice Vita library (a console which I used probably a dozen times, put it aside for about 6 months, then, when about to leave on holiday started it up to install the couple of games I'd bought especially to play on the plane and the screen was bust. Oh well, £120 well spent) but a service that helped me play the likes of Far Cry 3 and Metro last light (which I wouldn't have given a chance otherwise)) and I played it, and I loved it. The great open world with so much to do, enemy bases to conquer, a fun story, random animal attacks and of course, great gameplay (gamplay is King after all). Fast forward a year and a half (based on when I played 3, not on when it came out) and Far Cry 4 hit the shelves and I couldn't wait. Reviews by real reviewers said it was more of the same but why fix what isn't broken?
So, what wild opinion do I bring to the table? I'd say that yeah, it is more of the same, Far Cry 3 was excellent. It's added on to that game, but in the 2 year gap with the likes of GTA V redefining open world gaming (perhaps a harsh comparison as that was developed for around 3 times longer) and the leap to a next generation of hardware I'd say ultimately it's a bit of a let down. That is not to say It's bad by any stretch of the imagination. Far Cry 3 would have been a 10 from me (had I been doing this then) so it already had pretty high expectations from myself. It's hard to really expand upon the point that it's a just a new coat of paint on the old game but I'll try.
That picture definitely brings up a major positive. Elephants are bad ass. Whether you're riding it or sending it in to attack on your behalf, nothing is more effective than an elephant, and it's great fun too charging through enemy strongholds, wiping out enemies that stand in your way whilst picking off the ones hiding behind cover with my trusty grenade launcher. Speaking of weapons I definitely took a different approach to this game, weapon-wise than to how I approached number 3. In 3 I used the bow all the time, and only as a very, very last resort would I change it. This time, did I have my bow in my regular load out? Sure, but I was happy to change as soon as I'd inevitably been spotted and had to start shot-gunning people in the face (I'm not sure why I didn't do this in 3 as it was a lot easier). Don't forget luring wild animals in to enemy outposts with bait too. Why attack yourself when you can let a Tiger do the work?
Speaking of Tigers, there's a nice variety of side missions here, from stealth missions in the Himalayas (though they never ended stealthily when I was playing them) to drug filled dreams/nightmares and on to stories about heaven (this is where the tiger comes in). Welcome to Shangri-la (urgh, how cheesy), where you fight off demons to ring bells to remove a big bird (not the one from sesame street) with the help of some White-Ranger tiger power (A white tiger (but that wouldn't have been as funny)) At first, I wasn't a fan of the Shangri-la missions, in fact, I hated the second one, but I thought I'd give the 3rd a go, and low and behold, Elephants! Then the final one gave you the only true boss battle of the game (and it was good too).
There's a good story in here too, with you ultimately having to decide the fate of the country in a tradition v revolution face off between rival group leaders Sabal and Amita. Your father and mother came from Kyrat (where the game is set, you see) and helped build the Golden path, and, assuming you don't finish the game in 13 minutes, a very interesting tale about your parents unfolds involving Amita, Sabal, the Golden Path and Pagan-Min (the antagonist). I wont ruin it for you but it's worth sticking around for.
So, speaking of (and visualising) Pagan-Min, as you may well have heard, he's just not in it enough. He's a very interesting character (insert Troy Baker comment here) but just isn't involved that much apart from the opening and closing scenes of the game, which ultimately made the ending feel a little hollow to me as it revolves around him so much.
There are some minor gripes I have too, such as being attacked by wild animals when trying to stealth in to an area and giving your position away is annoying, as is being spotted by and enemy vehicle then being chased for miles while all you were trying to do was drive to a mission start point as well as your vehicle disappearing after you've parked it when you have gone into a cut scene. News flash Ubisoft, I still need to get to where you're telling me to go.
But the ultimate failing of the game is repetition. Not just from Far Cry 3 but from itself. The main reason the game took me so long to finish is that the middle act dragged so much because (even though the story was still interesting) all the missions were basically the same. Go to location x, and kill all the enemies. When I started the game I was flying through, I probably put in 10 hours in the first week (a lot for me due to my work hours and other commitments (TV)) and was completing all the side mission in the area and flying through the progress ranks. Now here I am 6 weeks later, game completed with 20 hours put in. It's sad to say but it becomes such a drag in the middle that I couldn't motivate myself to play it. Sure, the game still plays well, but, as with most fps' it can get so samey that I lose interest.
This all seems a bit mean to me now that I've wrote it because the beginning was great, and it really picked up again at the end. The gameplay is great and it's made some improvements over 3 (though there should have been more). It's a tough one to give a score to because I know it's good but it could have been so much more. Let's say 8/10.
BTW, I didn't play the multiplayer
A 2014 year in review and game of the year are on their way so stay tuned for that (though don't sit staring at your monitors pressing refresh cause you'll be doing it for a while (actually, do that because it will make it look like I've got loads of viewers so I can put some ads on here and get some bonus cash)). I'm just waiting for Smash Bros. to arrive as it's the only really important game left of 2014 that I feel I need to play to make judgements (he says looking at Borderlands and Wolfenstein in his drawer). Until then x.
