Far Cry 3 Review

Exploring the Insanity

Far Cry 3 is an open world sandbox fps with role playing elements mixed in. It also offers a fully featured multiplayer, and one of the most memorable villains in gaming history.

Story

In this game you play as a spoiled young rich guy named Jason Brody. He, his 2 brothers, and all their rich buddies decide to go skydiving on a remote island. When they land, they are captured by a group of pirates led by a very intense and crazy man named Vaas. Soon after, you escape the prison and meet a tribe of warriors called the rakyat, who take you in and give you the means to fight back against Vaas and rescue your friends. Along the way you will witness the craziness that inhabits the island. From drug addicted pirates to slavers to undercover spies and prostitutes, Far Cry 3 offers a colorful cast of characters, and they were easily the best part of the story. The overall plot may be simple, but the characters and your involvement in them provides you with a personal motivation to keep exploring the island. You will love to hate Vaas, and he is one of the best villains of all time. He and all the other characters are well voice acted and animated, fully immersing you into the game world.

Gameplay

Far Cry 3 takes the best elements of open world exploration, shooting, platforming, and role playing and combines it into an absolute blast to play. As soon as you complete the tutorial mission, you are free to explore the island as you wish. You can climb radio towers in fun first person platforming sections in order to unlock the rest of the map, similar to Assassin’s Creed’s view points. You can take over outposts from pirates and give them to the rebels, unlocking fast travel points and gun shops along the way. You can also go hunting for plants and animals in order to craft the perfect equipment to keep you going in your fight against Vaas. The combat in this game is fun anyway you choose to approach it. You can go in guns blazing, snipe your foes from a distance, or get up close and personal for some brutal machete takedowns. I loved to carry around a silenced sniper rifle and smg for stealth, as well as an lmg and a rocket launcher for when things got heated. There are also a number of  fun minigames to participate in such as sharpshooting, knife throwing, poker, and racing events. Getting around the island is a breeze, as you have multiple vehicles for getting around on land, sea, and eventually air. The main story missions are slightly more linear however, but they make up for that with some awesome set pieces that keep you guessing. The only element of the gameplay that disappointed me was the boss fights. Instead of an epic showdown, you simply participate in a quick time event. 

Multiplayer

The story mode offers you a good 30 hours of gameplay, but the fun doesn’t end there, it just moves to multiplayer. There is a fully realized co op campaign with its own storyline and cast of characters. These can be played online or in local splitscreen with up to 4 players. The missions are a bit more linear and your options for in combat are more limited than in the singleplayer game, but it is still a blast to go around annihilating pirates with your friends

There is also a competitive multiplayer. You have your standard fps multiplayer options like customizable loadouts and kill streaks, but the game offers a few unique twists that set it apart from the norm. For example, you can buff your teamates using battle cries, and this encourages teamwork that you wouldn’t find in most fps games. There is also a really cool kill cam that allows you to track where you were hit, by what, and offers tips on how to defeat your opponents. My favorite part of the multiplayer comes at the end of the match, where the mvp of the winning team gets to decide the fate of the mvp of the losing team. You can either humiliate them by doing something ridiculous like t-bagging them, or you can execute them. This is a great alternative to the end of the round “ha ha you suck kid” that you would find in other games. While it doesn’t do too much to innovate, the multiplayer should at the least extend the life of your game.

Presentation

The graphics on this game are incredible, the character models look great and the island is absolutely gorgeous. The lighting effects are great, and the sunrises and sunsets are breathtaking. The view from the top of the radio towers are a real treat as well. The sound design is also excellent, featuring top notch voice talent and sound effects. The music in this game is subtle, but it always manages to set the right tone for whatever you are doing.

Overall

If you enjoy shooters, role playing games, or any combination of the two, you will likely love far cry 3. The countless number of options in gameplay keeps the replay value high, and the story and characters are something truly special. This is a complete package, and well worth your money should you decide to purchase it.