Far Cry 3 is the third in a series of open world shooter published and developed by Ubisoft. This time the game leaves Africa and heads for a beautiful tropic island located somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, but nothing that awaits you on the island is truly beautiful.

Story:

The story in Far Cry 3 is by far the best part of the game. The story focuses on Jason Brody, who when on a sky diving tour with friends you get captured by pirates. Shortly after getting captured you are introduced to the insane pirate lord, Vaas, who wishes to sell your brothers and friends into slave labour. Needless to say you manage you manage to escape the prison compound, after this you are found and healed back to health by Dennis, a member of the island natives called Rakyat. After getting healed and being given the tatau, a special tattoo which is an important part of the game. With this tatau, you vow you will find your friends and family, and kill Vaas and all the people behind your capture.

I might be over simplifying the story, but while it may sound drab at first, it really isn’t. As the game progresses you see Jason change, at the start he is a nervous wreck who won’t fire a gun, but by the end he is a man who laughs at the destruction he has caused. Vaas is also an interesting character because of the fact the character is a psychopath, the story really does show this, especially when Vaas constantly shouts “Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exact… same fucking thing… over and over again expecting… shit to change… That. Is. Crazy.”

As the story progresses there are some nice moments here and there, but while some actions aren’t memorable, the characters you meet in the game are memorable, which each main character not exactly being mentally stable. I don’t think I have ever found myself being dragged into a games story as much as Far Cry 3, and its ending feels kind of like a test where your choice is shaped by how you the game affected you.

There is one thing I have to point out before I finish talking about the story and that is, Far Cry 3 is definitely not a game for kids. As the story progresses, Jason uses drugs which create drug induced visions (one vision involves you fighting a giant masked shadow monster), strong use of profanity, partial nudity and torture, both on you and performed by you. As you can see Far Cry 3 isn’t for the faint of heart.

Gameplay:

Gameplay wise FarCry 3 is rather boring and repetitive. In the game I found myself constantly doing the same thing over and over: Activate radio tower, liberate an enemy outpost to get a quick travel location, search for green leaves to use for medical syringes, get animal skins for crafting and then begin story mission. However the routine quickly becomes boring and stale, and before you know it you have activated all the towers, liberated all the camps, and acquired all the crafting material and leaves you will ever need, and so you are just left with the story mission.

As I just said above there is crafting in the game, crafting includes making various syringes with herbs and using animal skins to craft ammo and equipment upgrades. However crafting becomes rather dull once you collect enough skins to make all the upgrades, once you have done this crafting is reduced to making medical syringes with green leaves. While crafting becomes useless rather quickly the fact you have to hunt animals for skins is rather enjoyable, even though specific animals can be difficult to find at times.

Just like any may other open world games, Far Cry 3 does have an economy of sorts. Money is gained primarily from selling junk of dead pirates and is used to buy ammo and weapons, but just like crafting the economy hits a problem. In the game there isn’t really a need to spend any money at all, you are given free weapons for activating weapon towers and you can get ammo from dead pirates

In the story section of this review I mentioned the tatau, and I stated it is an important part of the game. The reason why it is important is the fact it serves as your skill tree. There are three skill paths which all serve a different purpose. One path is focused on assault takedowns and healing, another focusing on stealth takedowns and survival, and the final one for long range takedowns and mobility. When I first saw there were three paths I was pleased at first since it meant I had to choose which way I wanted to play, but I quickly learned that it didn’t matter which tab I decided to go down because you there is no limit to the amount of experience you can receive in the game. Also I feel that some moves such as cooked grenade and takedown ability really didn’t need to be an unlockable skill (by takedown ability I mean the starting takedown ability).

Since Far Cry 3 is an open world game, let’s take a look at it. Well honestly, the open world part of the game is rather fun and has a lot to offer with a good number of side missions and numerous hidden collectables to keep you entertained. If side missions and collectables isn’t your thing then the world just serves as a road from point A to point B.

So while the RPG elements of Far Cry 3 are alright at best, how does the combat hold up? For the most part the combat holds up pretty well. You point a gun at an enemy and pull the trigger and they die, simple enough…right? Well yes and no. Kill enemy humans is pretty and you can liberate an outpost without much trouble, but killing animals is another story. In the game humans are pretty easy to kill, but animals especially predators like lions, tigers and bears can be challenge because if they get in close they can do some major damage.

Not everything is about shooting though the game does have some stealth and tactical elements to it. Stealth and tactics usually work hand in hand with two key abilities, your camera and your ability to throw rocks. The camera is used to survey the nearby area permanently highlights an enemy, so you can see where they are through walls or thick foliage. The ability to throw rocks while simple sounding is an effective tool to have, there are several times in the game where you have to avoid being seen entering a location, so this is where the ability to throw a rock shines. When you throw a rock it distracts people close to where it lands making it easier to sneak past enemies.

Co-op and multiplayer

I’m not a co-op fan, so I will be skipping this portion of the review.

The online multiplayer is your standard multiplayer game which features your standard domination and teamdeath match modes, and transmission or firestorm which are capture and hold, and conquest styled games. I’m not much of an objective mode player and as such I primarily played teamdeath match.

So first off all I would like to say, on the Xbox 360 version of Far Cry 3 the multiplayer servers are incredibly laggy, player’s teleport around maps and hits not getting recognised or getting recognised several seconds after a shot was fired.

But what is the multiplayer like you might ask. Well if you have played any Call of Duty game after Modern Warfare 2, you have your answer. Far Cry 3 multiplayer feels you are playing a Call of Duty game, with unlockable attachments, ranks, weapon unlocks skill perks, kill/score streaks etc. (while these aren’t knew a lot of these were popularised by Call of Duty games)

Overall the multiplayer isn’t worth the frustration of trying due to its poor hit detection and lag.

Graphics

Finally, we have the graphics. The Dunia Engine which Far Cry 3 uses, really does show of its strength as it helps provide a beautiful and eye catching island world with a minimal amount of loading time. Even on the Xbox 360 the graphics look gorgeous with nice details, shadows and ripples in the water. If you are looking for a visually appealing game then Far Cry 3 has that box ticked.

Overall

Far Cry 3 has an engaging story, with a well thought out and excellent cast of characters. However the game is let down by poor RPG elements and a nearly unplayable multiplayer.

SCORE: 80%

Far Cry 3 Information

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Genre: Open World, first person shooter
Rating: 18+
Platform: PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 (reviewed on) and PC
Release date: out now
Website: Far Cry 3 official website