'Farcry 3' Review: discovering
definition of insanity
You get an arsenal of weapons to kill everything and anything that moves.
Well, it might not be the most relaxing island getaway, but it makes for an awesome video game. "Farcry 3" pits you as Jason Brody, who used to be an ordinary guy on vacation with his friends — until they got captured by pirates and things went downhill. Jason was fortunately able to escape, but his friends were not. So he spends the rest of his vacation determined to seek revenge on the pirates and rescue them.
The characters that you meet along Jason’s path of vengeance are all very memorable and give the game a lot of, well, character. Vaas, the mohawk-styling, lunatic pirate who abducted you, is an amazing villain, probably one of the best last year. The scene where he explains the definition of insanity is one of the most memorable. Buck, another dangerous psychopath, is one of my favorite dark-humored characters since Glados (Portal). As the story progresses, Jason grows into a better killer, but it changes who he is. He has to be careful not to become insane like most of the inhabitants on the island and the very pirates he is trying to destroy.
"Farcry 3" is set up as an open world game, very similar to "Assassin’s Creed" (it is by the same developer - Ubisoft). The only real difference is that instead of third person and swords, it’s first person and guns. Just like in "Assassin’s Creed," "Farcry 3" has radio towers you need to climb in order to view areas on the map and enemy camps you need to conquer in order to remove enemy traffic from the islands. Hunting animals and searching for collectible items also plays a big part just like in "Assassin’s Creed."
"Farcry 3" has much better graphics though and definitely stands out as one of the best-looking games last year. The lighting, water and fire visual effects are all beautiful and it all really pulls you into the island. They definitely spent a lot of time making the world beautiful, and it shows in all their smaller characters — most of the natives (any non-storyline character) look exactly the same. It’s weird, like they’re all Oompa Loompas or something. It doesn’t ruin the game or anything. It’s just strange.
To help Jason in his vengeance are the tribal Rakyat warriors, who use tattoos, or the tatau, to give them abilities in battle. Jason also gets the privilege to use the tatau, and as he gets experience and levels up the tatau on his arm grows and he gradually becomes a formidable super soldier.
You quickly level up and can get every skill available, which is both good and bad — it makes you a really awesome character, but there’s no real choices or character building involved. The choices come with how you play the game. Do you sit back and slowly take out enemies one at a time with a silenced sniper rifle? Do you go in close for the kill with the machete? Or, do you just go in, guns blazing, with explosions and fire?
The story is what really makes the game, but there a many things to do on the side to quickly forget about it (your friends are only being enslaved, beaten and raped — they can wait). There are a bunch of quick little mini-games and side quests to do, from assassination missions that make you feel like a predator and hunting missions that make you feel like a poacher, to really quirky side quests with the natives. Treasures and relics are littered all over the map and you can spend hours just exploring all of the gorgeous scenery looking for them.
In addition, there are the Trials of the Rakyat, mini-missions of destruction which mostly give you weapons with infinite ammo, infinite enemies and a time limit. High scores will put you up on the leaderboard and give you experience and money, and they’re fun challenges to give you something else to do during your story.
Online you have co-op missions and a multiplayer. Co-op is actually extremely fun. It has its own separate story (that takes place before Jason Brody got to the island) about four trained killers exacting revenge on a ship captain for stealing their hard-earned money and selling them out to the pirates. Each co-op mission has you team up with up to three other players online (or offline) to tromp across the island slaughtering hundreds of enemies while both helping and competing against each other.
Multiplayer is your typical team deathmatch, domination, etc. type of experience. A few things are different than say "Call of Duty." When you get killed, the killcam stops time and shows your enemy in red, where you were when he shot you, where you got shot and the loadout information of your killer. It’s interesting at first, but after a while, it gets frustrating to have to keep watching your death while you cling to life waiting to be revived or to respawn. Another difference is how games end. The winning team’s best player gets to punish the losing team’s best with some entertaining beat downs or show mercy like a good sport and shake hands. Sometimes it can make for a good laugh.
Other than that, multiplayer is fairly ordinary. For any experience points you gain in either multiplayer or co-op you can level up and unlock new weapons, attachments and equipment. Honestly, this is more useful for co-op because the better weapons will help you more in mowing down the hundreds of pirates who think they stand a chance against you.
"Farcry 3" is a great game. Its story stands out as one of the best of the year, and will provide you with plenty to do. It’s a beautiful game filled with awesome gun battles to engage in during all of your sight seeing. The characters you meet and the weapons you use make this game memorable, and it all adds up to a great experience.
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