Far Cry 4 – Review

Far Cry 4 is a lush, exotic, vast open world playground designed to fulfill all your over the top, violent needs and cravings.

Gameplay

Far Cry 4 is a huge open world game, with many small side quests and a myriad of weapons to choose from. The game’s setting is a Himalayan environment which provides vast variations in gameplay from boat combat to fighting in a blizzard way up in the mountains.

Far Cry 4 uses Ubisoft’s signature open world design, which involves climbing towers to unlock new areas of the map, which in turn unlocks small activities.I think that this design only works in Far Cry, (as oppose to  Assassin’s Creed or Watch_Dogs) as it lends itself to Far Cry’s incredible gunplay. In other titles, the combat just isn’t fun enough to make these activities enjoyable

Far Cry 4 also has outposts which are arguably the best part of the game. Outposts are small bases with patrolling guards and alarm boxes. These outposts provide the perfect setting for the variation in gameplay that comes with the interesting weapon choices and the craziness that arises from random wildlife attacks. The outpost’s are, in a way, Far Cry’s signature element. Far Cry 4 also added fortresses to the series, which are in essence, larger much tougher outposts.

The same can not be said for the story missions. The story segments are much more linear combat sequences which often discourage interesting weapon choices, as the linear design does not allow you to approach the combat in the way you need to for many weapons.

There are also many RPG elements to be found in Far Cry 4. You have to hunt animals to craft better wallets, ammo pouches, loot sacks, etc. You also earn skill points which can be used to unlock different abilities.

Far Cry 4 also adds co-op mode to the series. You can pair up with one other player, either randomly over the internet, or via an invitation, there is no split screen.

Presentation

Far Cry 4 is a beautiful game. The game makes use of amazing textures and lighting effects to give it a realistic feel. It also has amazing, slow animations which push the immersion factor up. The icing on the cake is the original and interesting art direction and design, and the detail put into the environment. All this is held back by atrocious view distances, this is especially noticeable on PC when you compare it to other open world games.

Story

Far Cry 4’s story is interesting and impactful, with poor pacing. It starts, and ends, with a bang, but has a boring, and drawn out middle section.

The story starts you off by sending you to spread your mother’s ashes in your homeland, Kyrat, a fictional Himalayan country based on Nepal. The problem is Kyrat is in the middle of a civil war, you are captured by the evil dictator, Pagan Min. The rebels then help you escape and you get caught up in the whole business. If you want a better sence of the beginning, I reccommend you watch this video:

After the beginning, you do boring jobs to help the rebels. There are two rebel leaders who disagree on every single little thing. You have to choose between them, but the choices all devolve into ‘do we want to secure the drugs, or destroy them?’ After a while, you start working for a secret agent. It’s at this point where the story speeds up and doesn’t stop until the end of the game.

The story of Far Cry 4 is a disappointment, it could have been amazing, but was let down by the middle. This however, is countered by Pagan Min. Pagan Min is one of the best written, designed and acted villains in recent memory. He is such an interesting character, his writing is so witty and makes you wish he was in the game more often. He is only in the game (not including the occasional phone calls he gives you) for a total of FIVE times. It is an outrage that he went to such little use, but all it does is make each appearance of him all the more sweet.

Overview

Far Cry 4 is a very large and very good game. The world of Kyrat is vast, beautiful and full of things to do. The mostly boring story is elevated by the incredible Pagan Min and the missions can be repetitive, but with finely crafted gun-play, and incredible emergent moments, Far Cry 4 stands out as one of the best games of 2014.

8/10 – Great