Far Cry 3 Review

PC game review

General game

Far Cry 3 like the last two games in the series puts you stranded on an island with some sort of war you are forced to partake in. The story starts with your character Jason and his friends partying it up like typical teenagers when it all takes a spin for the worst. Your partying turns into you getting captured by pirates on the island who happen to be in the slave selling business. The main bad guy in the game Vaas starts your journey by taking the life of your oldest brother and scaring you off into the jungle. The games now main purpose is to free your captured friends from Vaas by any means necessary.

When Jason is introduced to a more sane civilization on the island he is brought on as a recruit to be a warrior on the island to help fight back the pirates lead by Vaas. Jason now has to go from the average partying teenager who has never killed anything, to turning into a full on killing machine. As you progress through the game and rescue your friends you become more and more okay with the idea of killing and are rewarded with exp and new combos to chain your kills with. For every new combo you unlock in the talent tree you earn a tattoo on your arm representing it, this helps secure your progressing rank as a warrior on the island.

Combat

One of the greatest parts of the game is the vast variety of ways to kill your enemies. If you choose to follow the path of the spider a more assassin approach with silenced weapons, bows and melee take downs is complimented by talents. Maybe you're more interested in going in guns blazing with rocket launchers and flame throwers though. The wide amount of weapons really allows you to handle every fight exactly how you want to. Progressing through the game, or just earning cash will give you the opportunity to unlock new weapons, add attachments like scopes or silencers and different paint schemes to them. This really allows you to feel like your load out are actually your weapons. The only thing you will dislike about this is only being able to take four weapons with you at a time.

Far Cry has added a fun twist to exploring, hunting animals in the jungle, which can offer many pros and cons. When you come across a dead animal, whether it was killed by you or not. You are given access to skinning it, using different animal skins in Far Cry will allow you to craft bigger back packs, wallets, gun holsters, grenade belts, and, quivers, etc. This makes hunting animals in your spare time just for fun, not only an addicting distraction but a progressive feature. Don't be fooled though, these animals aren't going to just lie down letting you shoot them for an easy reward. Lions, leopards, sharks, and a few others can kill you quickly if you aren't well equip to take them on. Whether or not fighting animals is your intention some prove to be aggressive and will attack you on sight which can lead to some annoying disadvantages when being in a gun fight and not always being able to watch your back.

Game play and Controls 

Far Cry sets you in an open world island that allows you to take progression through the campaign as fast or slow as you want. When you aren't playing through the story line there is plenty of things to keep you entertained. With every enemy safe house you take there are side quests and mini games unlocked such as, assassinations of generals, hunting challenges, poker games, medic drop speed challenges or a mission for a local in need of the islands warrior. When you feel like you want to take this break the island offers land, sea and air means of transportation, as well as zip lines, and fast travelling between safe houses. This can grant you fast access to non-stop action what ever that might be for you.

The game offers a typical feeling fps (first person shooter) controls you would expect. The advanced take downs you can spec into later on in the game are about the only thing that really feels sloppy. They have implemented a great cover system that works with fast passed game play or peeking around for that perfect take down. everything feels like it fits together really well with the game telling you how alert enemies around you are. There is this fantastic feature that lets you throw a rock to distract an enemy which can lead to great multi take downs no matter what your play style is.

Multiplayer

Much like Far Cry 2, this game doesn't really bring anything new to the table when it comes to the online aspect. You are given a pretty basics online fps game with team death match, capture the flag, attack and defend and a few other generic game modes which is pretty much what you would expect. There is still a bit of customizing which lets you feel like you're playing the way you want to play. All together it just isn't anything special. The game also offers a co-op mode that isn't to great either. You don't get that free roam feel and you are almost forced to play with a full party to have any sort of chance in lasting through the waves of enemies spawned. This really makes both sides of the online far cry has to offer feel pretty weak when put up against other titles recently released.

Final Analysis 
Game Score: 9.5

With almost no negatives to say about the game it scores one of the best first person shooters I have played in a long time. When Vaas isn't keeping you on the edge of your seat as you progress through the epic story line, this game offers so many other activities that don't feel like a typical simplistic mini game but really feel like a challenge or a part of progressing Jason on his path of becoming a warrior. Far Cry 3 is a must buy for people who want a great fps they can play through with enough options to fit everyone's play style. Despite the online not being very good, it by no means bottlenecks the single player in anyway, making this game a must play.

of course if you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment and I will try to answer them to the best of my ability.