Platform: Xbox 360

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher: Ubisoft

Release Date (NA): December 4, 2012

Genre: FPS, Action/Adventure

Nerd Rating: 9 out 10

Reviewed by Shadow Links

As I had never played the original Far Cry game nor familiar with the franchise, it was a like opening a can of beans and finding Jack’s bean stalk. I actually had only vaguely even heard of the franchise before I came across Zero Punctuation’s (Ben Yahtzee) review of the game. With what seemed to be a positive review from what I could tell behind Yahtzee’s humor laden criticisms, I decided to find the game on sale and bought it.

Loading screens even portray the jumble in your mind

The game intro sequence leaves you very confused, the same state of mind as the character you play, then slowly lets on to your horrifying situation. Throughout the whole game it maintains this almost direct link between the you and the character, which i found very remarkable. The opened the path for it to very easily explore your/the human mind. It explores the depth of what it is to be human, inhuman, and monster.

The gameplay was very enjoyable as for the most part, everything was left up to you. Wanna skin some tigers, go ahead. Wanna ride cross-country on a dune buggy or ATV, have fun. Something that i enjoyed the most was that you generally made some type of progress no matter what you did. The primary objectives are obvious and open up opportunities, but doing other things had a purpose of improving your chances, abilities, weapon selection, or just having fun.

Hang gliding is a great way to get around

The story was probably the weakest part of the game. Actually up to one point I’d have said it was brilliant, but at one abrupt point the focus changes, and the feeling from the story antagonists is lackluster compared to before.

Zaz has a nasty mouth

There is a co-op portion of the game which can be played online or offline, as well as an online multiplayer. The co-op actually ties into the story as a nice touch. That potion takes a different angle than single player and you and up to 3 others go through linear route chapters, where stealth was not as much of an option (awww…) and weapons and attachments are earned on a level basis. It almost seems like it was thrown in as an afterthought and the online servers had questionable connectivity. Still some fun can be had if you and a friend can suffer through together.

Each tattoo is and ability

Speaking of friends, everyone who plays this game never quite completes it the same and they always have a funny story about taking over an outpost. Mine had to do with a bear mauling the camp for me while i was looking away planning out my take over. My friend on the other hand was about to start and got mauled by a tiger (twice!). The simulation aspect of the game leads to some…..interesting experiences.

Rating: 9

Top notch game, but not quite perfect. The only blemishes is the drop in quality of the antagonist towards the end and possibly the repetitiveness of the optional missions. The multiplayer portion was not included in the rating as I believe a game should stand on its single player.

Probably one of the most memorable games I’ve played in years. A unique-well designed experience coupled with relatively few flaws that has depth to its design and narrative. Well worth buying for most any gamer, especially at current prices.

Reviewed by Shadow Links