While Ubisoft dominated E3 2012, promises were kept and the games they made this year were wonderful! The Far Cry series was a mixed opinion franchise. Some like it, others think that it's not worth your time, but when the trailer came out and everyone saw how awesome the characters, enemies, and gameplay were. A lot of people were looking forward to it. Personally what really got my attention was how some critics say that "it's like Skyrim, but with guns," which I find rather silly considering that we have a game that's like that. So I am putting that to the test.
The story goes a group of horror-generic friends go on vacation together where they somehow ended up on an island with no name infested by pirates. Not the fun "let's find treasure" kind, it's more like the sadistic "kill everything that moves-r-us" type of pirates. You play as Jason Brody, a scardy-cat with a really bad haircut. Jason and his friends get captured and he and his brother broke free and now Jason tries to find the rest of his friends and get off the island.
The story could have been a little bit better, the characters are great though! Including one of the game's antagonists, Vaas. Before the release of the game, all it was about was insanity. Vaas was full of it, the voice acting and the animation of what and who he is was amazing. The way the see things and have casual friendly conversations with you will actually scare the pants off you. Sadly though, Vaas is the only one who experiences madness, although there is another character that does, he just doesn't carry the same fire as Vaas does. The other characters are good too, but Vaas is like the Dark Knight's Joker.
The unnamed island of Far Cry 3 is pretty big. A few cities, hideouts and hidden temples scattered all over the place, but technically there really isn't places you can go into and explore. . .unlike Skyrim. I've run into a few small ruined structures and only had like a few boxes with items in it, so the exploration just doesn't seem worth the effort nor is it exciting. The scenery however is beautiful! The sun behind trees and a great view of the ocean are just amazing! There is also a great feeling of being far away from home. Every time you see your dirty and scared friends you realize that you're nowhere near your comfy bed and couch.
The jungle is a very dangerous place. Several different types of weapons including the flamethrower and bow will gain your advantage to reach your goals. Jason is super squishy to bullets, that's at least something they kept in the series is to make you more attracted to oncoming bullets, even your armor seems like it's made from cardboard. So your only strategy is stealth while you hope for the best that you can pick off the baddies one by one before they find you and send reinforcements and ruin your day and I swear those reinforcements come from whichever direction your sitting on. It's not just armed pirates thirsty for your blood, wild animals are also hungry for Jason gourmet and having both together and cause some glorious mayhem. Driving in this game can be frustrating, but hey! So is driving in a jungle in general.
You would think that survival may be the key here, although in the beginning you feel as if you're alone with limited resources, but, and if you want to, you can upgrade all of your bags and item capacity on everything before even getting near the halfway point in the story. All the plants that can be used for health and buffs are littered everywhere on this island as well, I mean you can't go anywhere without your radar having some item on it. So survival isn't much of a challenge, it's leaning more towards the action side. Far Cry 3 has many threats for you to keep on your toes, but sometimes fire can be your worst enemy. Using a flamethrower while walking forward is dangerous, but also spreads like a virus. If you catch someone on fire they will run around spreading it and it's really amusing to watch while they are inside an enemy base.
Side missions are fun, but repetitive, go here kill this, go here kill this thing too. I guess they put some sort of challenge with it like "hunt this animal with a specific weapon", but when it gets down to using the flamethrower you feel like a really awful person. There's some missions that where you have to kill a leader using only your knife and he is surrounded by henchmen. Seems pretty cool when you think about it, like you're the Predator without a cloaking device. Yes there are some other side missions too, but they are not as epic and not as full of life. . .unlike Skyrim.
Overall this game is worth your time. It's a real fun, thrilling, loving FPS. The game's action is enjoyable and remember-able. While I still think "it's like Skyrim with guns" critic quote is sort of misleading, just take it as a great action game with plenty of things to do in it.
PROS: Wonderful cut-scenes and voice acting, enjoyable action, awesome graphics and scenery.
CONS: Side missions are repetitive, rely on stealth strictly,
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