Far Cry 3 Review

Cover Art

     Hello everyone and happy Wednesday.  Open world scenarios have become some of the most popular games to hit the market, it is almost part of the standard of what is expected from game studios today. Just about every open world game made these days incorporates action and usually guns, lots of guns and this one is no exception, still awesome though.  Since Far Cry 4 came out a few days back, I thought I'd review the game that raised the stakes after the second game gave you malaria, literally.  I did a review on Far Cry 2 way back when, but its not necessary to read it since the Far Cry series does this thing where its games are in no way related to each other except for guns, drugs and the title. Oh, also Hurk the monkey man crossed over from the third game to the forth, although he won't need any explaining. The game puts you into the shoes of Jason Brody, a college student vacationing all over the world with his friends and two brothers.  While in Bangkok partying hard, Jason and his friends are told about a totally awesome place where you can go anything called the Rook Islands. Being the adventurous 25 year old he is, Jason decides to trust this random stranger and go skydiving over the island.
     Turns out, the Rook Islands are at civil war between the natives and the slaving pirates who have made the island a complete madhouse. Jason and his friends are abducted and the leader of the pirates Vaas (see cover) decides to hold them ransom due to Jason's wealthy parents.  He is also a complete sociopath who does a alot of drugs and likes repeating the definition of insanity over and over again while he does things similar to the cover of the game.  Jason and his older brother Grant are held prisoner by Vaas while he taunts them with the occasional death threat added in.  After Vass leaves, Grant uses his former military training to escape with Jason.  They managed to make it out of the camp to look at a map and get their bearings when Grant is shot in the neck and dies in Jason's arms.  Vaas wishes to make sport out of Jason and gives him a head start into the jungle before sending the hounds in after him.  Jason falls into a river, losing Vaas's men and almost his life.  He is revived by Dennis Rogers, this very likable guy who tattooed a tribal symbol Jason's arm.

Jason using a zipline, his finished tatau clearly visible

 Dennis reveals to Jason he is in a native village and teaches Jason how to use a gun.  The "tatau" Dennis put on Jason will allow him to learn the skills of the Rakyat tribe needed to save his friends.  With this knowledge he sets out to get them back and escape the island before Vaas kills them all.  The game introduces a play style not common in todays action genre, Jason is a character that has no experience whatsoever in gun skills, knife fighting or any other war related skills.  He must learn them over time, receiving new tattoos for his tatau on his left arm that grant skills like knife throw take-downs, faster crouching movement, more stability when handling weapons and all around make him a better warrior.  Weapon customization is a large part of the game, with certain mods being unlocked with each radio tower having its air waves freed up of pirate jammers.  Mods like better scopes, suppressors, under-barrel shotguns and grenade launchers are just a few of the customization's to be unlocked.
     Guns can also be given a unique color pattern, making each weapon unique to the next.  Radio towers as mentioned earlier play a large role in exploration, allowing a little more of the map to become visible, in the portion of the map unlocked there will likely be an enemy outpost.  These outposts can be captured to liberate that certain zone which turns the outpost into a safehouse which can be used as a fast travel station and place to buy weapons. This also will also cause Rakyat warriors to patrol the zone that has been liberated, Jason can stop the car they are in and drive his fellow liberators around to help him.

If this happens to you, your not hunting right

 There are many ways to get around in the game, options range from trucks, ATVs, jet skis, boats, and even hang gliders just to name a few.  Later in the game Jason obtains a wing suit that can used to soar through the skies after jumping off a high point, he then pulls a parachute to slow down and land.  A crafting system is also present in the game, making Jason have to hunt and skin animals for their pelts which can be made into extra holsters for weapons and pouches to hold more ammo or syringes.  Plants can also be harvested to be crafted into syringes that have different effects depending on the recipe crafted, they can heal, allow Jason to see enemies, breath underwater, and resist fire, just to name a few. When hes not killing pirates and saving his friends, Jason can play poker or throwing knifes, which is just what it sounds like.  Notice boards contain assassination quests, Path of the Hunter tasks and medicine run missions to do.  Many ruins can be explored that contain relics, I've yet to collect them all so I don't know what they do, still fun to explore though. The massive landscape, immersion, and numerous quests make this a fun game that be run through many times and still be fun.  Far Cry 3 is a great game and I am looking forward to playing the fourth one soon.  Hope you enjoyed and I will be back after Thanksgiving, so until then pull out your flags and roast your turkeys in good old America.  This has been Jacob Arnold, signing off.

Trailer