Far Cry is back with its third instalment developed by Ubisoft Montreal with Ubisoft Massive, Ubisoft Red Storm, Ubisoft Shanghai, Ubisoft Reflections and it is published by Ubisoft. Far Cry 3 has taken a step away from the African desert of the previous game and gone back to its roots of a tropical island setting.
The general story revolves around Jason Brody. A white, privileged, twenty something adult male on a holiday with some friends which goes awry when you and your friends are kidnapped by psychotic guy named Vaas who is affiliate with a paramilitary organisation run by Hoyt Volker. At the beginning of the game you escape and you take it upon yourself to free your friends with the aid of the Rakyat (a tribal group of warriors who are led by a drug dealing woman named Citra and her trust worthy second in command, Dennis). The story seems very cliché and dated with its premise being a random guy, with no experience in combat, taking on waves of men. The setup is just unbelievable and feels like a story from a previous generation. Rita Mae Brown’s, which is paraphrased from Narcotics Anonymous’ and often misattributed as Albert Einstein’s, definition of insanity (“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results”) is a big underlying theme and plot device in this game. The “insanity” may feel a bit like it is constantly being thrown at you but this doesn’t dampen the effect. I often found myself questioning my actions as I was expecting a different outcome from the same action. Essentially Ubisoft have brought that quote to life which is unusual for a game to try and do something like this.
Drugs are also a big theme in this game. The drug moments a few are far between but it really made sense. The backstory is explained and the drug moments also give an insight into the confused mind set of Vaas and Brody. It is an interesting idea that really worked and gave the story a less generic feel. My biggest gripe with this story was it wasn’t risky enough. It mentioned some great subplots of rape, mass murder, slavery….. but they are never really explored fully. They are just mentioned once and then forgotten. It seems the writers just didn’t have the balls to really go for it as these themes haven’t really been done before in big games and because of this we are left with an empty shell of what Far Cry 3’s story could (and should) be.
The ending doesn’t help either. Throughout the game I got the impression there would be a Sucker Punch/Fight Club twist with Vaas and Brody but this just doesn’t materialise. What you end up getting is an ending the felt very rushed and anti-climactic which also was a bit random. It may just be me but the game was building up for something that just never materialised
Character portray in this game is a mix bag of abilities. The protagonist (Jason) is awful. I am not sure if it was their intention to make him unlikeable but he just doesn’t fit with the whole “decent into insanity” story line. The voice actor did an admirable job but still just felt whiney and out of place. The other friends do show some varied personalities (which brings into question how they are all friends) and the likes of Dennis and Citra are nicely done even if they feel a bit stereotypical. The big one is Vaas. Vaas is an excellently thought out character with Michael Mando doing one of the best performances I have seen in a game. He really got me believing Vaas was real and really drove the story forward which makes is even more painful to see Vaas’ fate happen and before it should have. It is criminal what they did to him.
Far Cry 3 does at least get the gameplay right. They have taken what made Far Cry 2 (for example the fantastic use of fire) great and just built on it. Brody’s animations really draw you into the game, enemies react very well to combat and the missions are varied and are a joy to play. A new thing to Far Cry 3 is the inclusion of the wild life. You can hunt and skin wildlife which can be used to upgrade your equipment. The map is huge so expect to do a lot of hunting in your spare time. The map is hidden until you do a little bit a first person platforming (trust me it does actually work) on radio towers which also gets you free weapons as a reward. You can also attack small bases which, once liberated, can be used as fast travel points. A little disadvantage to this though is the enemies disappear forever once an area is liberated. It would have been better for enemies to still patrol the area (but less often) because once the Island is liberated enemies are hard to find. These liberated areas also offer you extra missions ranging from assassinations to races. This, the missions and anything you do in the game gives you experiences points which can be spent on upgrading you (represented by tattoos on your left arm). The upgrades keep you alive but do not worry about choosing which ones to go for first as by the end of the game you will have all of them. As I mentioned before there are races in this game. Just expect to be irritated by them. Generally, driving in this game feels very loose and the cars really do not have any weight to them. It was so bad it that when I played this game it made me avoid driving.
Graphically this game is good. The environments look rich in detail and the lighting is just superb. However, the graphics are not ground breaking with its generic arts style but it is a pretty game. The motion cap and facial expressions are what you expect from an Ubisoft game (i.e. excellent). The sound (again, like facial expressions, another strength of Ubisoft’s talent) in this game is fantastic. Weapons sound powerful and the soundtrack is mysterious and calming yet fits well with the insanity theme (the main Far Cry 3 theme music is just beautiful). I am not a fan of Skrillex but every time I hear "Make It Bun Dem" it makes me think of that mission burning the crops. Rarely do music and games blend but this is one of those moments.
The Co-op mode and online competitive multiplayer is fine but nothing to get too excited over. Co-op mode provides a small amount of linear missions and follows a new set of characters. It is by no means bad and is varied in the types of objectives it doesn’t pales in comparison to the single player. The Multiplayer is the same in quality. It feels very generic and nothing really there that pushes the boundary of multiplayer gaming (but this is by no means a bad thing). The amount of maps is very small; however, Far Cry 2’s map editor is back. I haven’t played Far Cry 2 for a long time but I noticed the map editor hasn’t really changed that much. But saying this, it is still one of the best map editors on consoles. The community really drive this forward and really show you how imaginative they are. The map editor takes some getting used to but it won’t be long before you are making some high quality maps.
Overall this game is a must. It does have some downsides, mainly with its story, but the core gameplay makes it extremely fun to play. I did notice one game breaking bug which I had to restart my console to get rid of (textures refused to load) and there can be situations where animals can get stuck but these bugs are a rarity. If you are looking for a great multiplayer experience this isn’t the game for you. If you are looking for a stellar single player experience that gets your creative juices flowing with the map editor, you should get this game. It was almost my GOTY
TheGamer Writes "Far Cry 3 is a time capsule of what game design was like in the early '00s"
Beat it twice; once on PS3, and once a couple of months ago on PS5.
Doesn't Far Cry 2 have some of the things they are talking about here? Diamond hunting, healing, malaria medication?
I believe 2 did. I highly doubt it was the only game like that though. I imagine the writer isn't old enough to have played part 2 but I also feel it wasn't the first game to introduce stuff like that
They bring up mass effect 2. I felt mass effect 1 was better. It just seem cut down. The citadel was a joke in part 2 compared to 1. How do you cut back on that.
Having just replayed the entire me trilogy yeah I think 1 was my favourite I think 2 had better cover and shooting mechanics but everything else in 1 was better
Mass Effect 1 was the best . It played like an RPG . The other games were more shooter and lost the feel the first game had unfortunately
I played it on PC when it came out, might play it again some time
Far Cry 3 is the best of the series, it was ahead of it's time
It seems the blogger didn’t even play RDR1 if he thinks FC3 brought these elements to the AAA table. Tiktokers always have a new surprise. Smh
"Far Cry 3 is a time capsule of what game design was like in the early '00s"
>Came out in 2012
Okay then
If we are going to talk early 2000's game design how about start in the year 2000 with games that are a far cry better than something released 12 years later.
"Chrono Cross, Baldur's Gate II, Diablo II, Dragon Quest VII, Final Fantasy IX, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, along with new intellectual properties such as Deus Ex, Jet Set Radio, Perfect Dark, The Sims and Vagrant Story."
The article names things Ubisoft has shoved into games to dumb them down and then claims we should rush off to play it. Maybe instead look back at it as the death of originality from Ubisoft and gaming in general.
Far Cry 3 & Assassin's Creed VI: Black Flag are 2 of the very best games from Ubisoft. All Ubisoft games since then are all just copying these 2 games.
From PC Gamer: "Ubisoft has announced that, effective September 1, it will be decommissioning the online features(opens in new tab) of a selection of older games. I've compiled a list of the PC games affected, their release dates, and what features will be removed.
"Ubisoft states that "Closing the online services for some older games allows us to focus our resources on delivering great experiences for players who are playing newer or more popular titles." I'm certainly sympathetic to that argument—I doubt there's a ton of gamers out there still playing Splinter Cell: Blacklist's online multiplayer. Additionally, the remastered versions of listed games will be retaining online features."
I’m going to wait to buy the physical compete editions from Ubisoft now. Final patch on disc lol
Their physical "complete editions" have the extra content as voucher codes, which likely have an expiry date. And if you buy a used copy well....you're shit outta luck.
Lmao really? The complete editions not the platinum editions or whatever at launch right?
Yea thats whack. I was so mad when i bought fallot goty and it had voucher codes for the dlc. After fallout 3 and new vegas which came on disc i was fully expecting a real complete edition with fallout 4. Yes i prefer psychical over digital for this very reason(in reference to ubisoft )
Ubisoft keeps making wins. Make the same far cry several years in a row and a still make a profit. Bloated their games with microtransactions to the point that they would make ea envious. Speaking of bloated.. all of the ac games are full of boring content after a bit. Also is anyone else tired of live service? I just want to pay for the dlc with no microtransactions in the game. Less money more content and the developer still has a soul
It's nuts that people still buy their games, single-player, as they are indeed bloated with microtransactions and pay-to-gain-experience services. But honestly, the worse offender is that they killed Juno in a comic book. The main villain in the assassin's creed story they had set up for over a decade across more than 5 games was killed with no fanfare or reveal. All Creed games since have been nothing more than adventure games with no impact to overall story. Crazy.
Remember when EA put a paper with a leaf in their games to gaslight people to supporting their push for digital releases?
Alex DS. from Link Cable Gaming writes: "Back in 2012, gaming was in the middle of a transition. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 were entering their final years as Sony and Microsoft’s primary game systems and Nintendo was finally seeing the 3DS find success as well as gearing up for the launch for Wii U. Oh and the PS Vita launched too! All in all, it was an exciting time and we’re going to look back at that era with the top 10 games turning 10 in 2022."
And give GTA V one more year and it will be on that list as well next year will be 10 yrs Rockstar has milked over ported that game.
Good review. Although the proper quote from Vaas is, "Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?"
If your accounting for the grainy mp as well lol this game is decent looking. The SP looks nice for an open world game but character animations and a few other things aren't that good looking. The mp should be included as well when talking about graphics and that is very grainy and a jag fest.
All in all this game is a decent 8 to me but def nowhere near 9's and 10's many games get slammed for a mediocre sp or mp and in this case i see they totally ignore the mediocre mp and grade it as if they are solely grading the sp. They didnt give other titles that pass so they shouldnt do it here notably games like Starhawk (series known for mp, not sp) and others!!!
I tell you the definition of insanity, giving Far Cry 3 less than a 9! Favorite game I've played this year.
Agree about the ending, especially when you are trying to kill Vaas, the effects looked like Brody and Vaas were connected in some way, and Hoyt just seemed like an annoying douche in the way.