It has become an established trope of video game
storytelling for the playable character to begin the game as a prisoner. But it
is not a trope without merit. It does make some sense for the avatar to have
ended up in some plight or predicament, and for the gamers to step in at this
stage and take control of the situation. Yet very few games play to the
strength of this trope. Too often you achieve freedom with relative ease, grab
yourself a weapon, and off you trot.
Far Cry 3 doesn’t
make things that simple. You escape from your captors and are subjected to a
nervous creep around the enemy encampment, doing your utmost not to be seen,
while the character worries under his breath about the fate of his friends,
brother and girlfriend. Then, just when you think you’ve escaped, all hell
breaks loose and you are running for your life through the jungle. There’s no
immediate fightback. This is no case of a grizzled veteran being unleashed on a
band of unsuspecting baddies. Your character is instead scared and living on
his nerves, as are you. Few games have an opening ten minutes as intense or
nerve jangling as this.
Overall this is
no tale of humanity backed against the wall by some overpowering terror, a
route many games have taken this past generation. This is more a personal tale
of survival against the odds; of finding revenge and your missing loved ones whatever
the cost. In that sense the story is not just gripping, it is refreshing.
Far Cry 3 does
not do much different to other AAA releases. Its first person combat is
comfortably familiar, and it builds on the work done by other first person shooters.
Instead of filling the screen with waves of alien enemies, or have you dodging
laser beams from a satellite of doom and destruction, your enemies are localized
and small in number but all the more dangerous for it. Going in with all guns
blazing rarely works as a tactic. You are far better suited to sneaking up,
analysing what guards are positioned where and then sneaking in to take them
out one by one. That’s not to say that you won’t ever find yourself involved in
intense, screen-filling firefights, but there are simply different ways of
approaching an enemy encampment and destroying everyone that means to do you
harm.
The combat is
well executed, easy to get to grips with and is immensely satisfying. Moreover
it is incredibly varied. You can sneak through the undergrowth for a surprise
knife attack, distract a guard to move him out of position before twanging an
arrow through his eye, get up close and personal with a shotgun or trap a small
army in a forest fire you’ve created with your flamethrower. The game isn’t
designed to hold you back. Many of the best weapons are available early on, and
they present you with multiple ways of completing the same objective.
They also present
you with plenty of ways of wasting time. The island you find yourself
essentially marooned on is an achingly beautiful place, and any mountain,
lagoon or beach you can see can be visited. It is almost as much fun trekking
over hill and dale while ambushing enemy patrols, climbing radio towers and
liberating outposts as it is completing the main quest. Even when these have
all been done, there are multiple optional missions to participate in, many
nooks and crannies to explore, and countless tigers to wrestle. It is one
packed island. One small problem is that a lot of these missions can be quite
samey, and after being forced to assassinate a pirate with your knife for the
tenth time, or shoot a special type of tapir with a bow and arrow for the
umpteenth time, you find your concentration veering back to the main quest.
Lucky, then, that
the main quest is so strong. It is perfectly paced, neither too fast or too
slow, and the story maintains interest. The cast ranges from likeable to the
fantastically deranged, such as Vaz the psychotic warlord who kidnaps you and
your friends in the first place. It is an adventure you want to see through to
the end. There are set pieces aplenty, ranging from car chases through the
jungle to burning fields full of drug crops, and there is plenty of variety and
ingenuity on display as your character struggles to maintain his sanity, adding
quite the twist to proceedings. And if you want to take a step back from the
action and just go for an expedition then the game lets you do so at your
leisure. Shame then that the islands inhabitants outside of the main case see
little development, and the stories they
have to tell do little to pique your interest further.
There is a
distinct whiff of Assassin’s Creed in Far Cry 3, with elements from another of
Ubisoft’s big money series making the leap into the first person. The ability
to free roam your environment and take events at your own pace, climbing towers
to reveal the hidden areas of the map and the storming of enemy bases to
liberate them from their control, are all elements lifted directly from
Assassin’s Creed. But it is different enough for you to not mind, as the
tropical island in Far Cry 3 is a world apart from renaissance Italy. The way
your character grows stronger by a mixture of crafting item upgrades from
hunting animals, gaining money from defeating enemies and obtain XP to gain
points on the skill tree, is finely balanced, and there is no need for unnecessary
grinding but plenty of scope to do just that should you wish.
This is a game
which does justice to the open world genre, presenting you with a world that
not only is aesthetically beautiful, but is vibrant and full of life, and is a
joy to explore and prowl through. It is also a world full of danger, with every
nook and cranny having something to plunder or something trying to kill you. It’s
just as much fun in co-op, managing to successfully fuse online and single player,
which is a rare commodity in modern video games. With fun, satisfying and
engaging combat and a gripping story to see you through to the end, Far Cry 3
is a truly immersive experience, fun and exhilarating in equal measure, and a
truly enjoyable treat.
9/10
By Michael Foster
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