FarCry 3 starts with a very immersive scene, not unlike The Elder Scrolls series. A variation on ‘you are jailed and must escape to meet a greater destiny’. The scenario from that point is classic – save your friends – but the storytelling is effective at capturing the main characters rise from a frat boy to a deadly jungle predator… or his descent into more and more brutality.
The difficulty of the game in the early stages does a great job at making you feel so vulnerable. A feeling that is reinforced by the little immersive touches – the comments from the main character as he gets beat up, the very graphic way healing is performed (removing shards, fixing dislocated fingers), the brutal effect of damages from firearms.
What better time than Christmas for a fun holiday on the beach.
Gliding, racing, scuba diving, free falling, partying… it’s all fun and games until someone gets hurt. Or captured by a psychopath called Vaas, hunted like a dog through the jungle and saved by an island doctor looking for a savior…
From the start, this isn’t a typical first person shooter. This is a game worth clawing through, with your nails and teeth if you have to.
As you learn your way around this unforgiving island, it is clear you are in hostile territory.
Ammunitions are limited. You look and feel like fresh meat to both predators and Vaas militia alike.
If you manage to hold on and survive, the first reward comes quickly in your friend Daisy, saved by a creepy Doctor, specialist in local designer chemicals.
FarCry3 is challenging at first, even frustrating as you get around the reality of how vulnerable and exposed you really are. It can also be rewarding at times, but unfortunately, relatively easy once you apply a few basic rules:
– Keep moving
– Save (when you can)
– Go for the tower first when exploring new areas (save point)
– Use your binoculars to avoid crowded areas
– Use vehicles (as ridiculous as it is to have so many vehicles just laying around)
– Use the bow early on (reusable arrows) and hunt to upgrade your gear (wallet, bag)
One highlight of this stage is the first hallucinatory sequence. I haven’t seen one of these since the dream sequences from Max Payne. This is a great use of what a CG game can do – change perspective, alter environment, ignore laws of physics.
On the other hand, the save game mechanism is horrendous. I can understand the appeal for not allowing saves before every decision, but there has to be a better way than forcing you to backtrack large chunks of the game if you fail. Fortunately, you will keep credits for completing missions even if you die in the process. This is an immersion killer for me but it does save time on difficult missions.
Each obstacle you overcome, each enemy you take gives you power…
You are only too deep in the jungle to realize the cost.
Your girlfriend Lisa, once you finally rescue her, will see through the fog of war and take the measure of how much the jungle has changed you.
The skill system, based on tattaus (tattoos) is surprisingly immersive. It is also the only reason to run errands and accomplish side quests in this game. Non-Playing Characters (NPCs) are just standing there with nothing to do… Only a small minority have something to tell you in the form of a quest.
The whole system of side quests feels like an afterthought. NPC quests are relatively simple. Quests available on poster boards around the game are repetitive and not very useful to the rest of the game. And the special, multiplayer quests are another immersion killer (leaderboards on sacred stones, really?).
On the other hand, the reactivity of the environment is a true highlight for the game. Things explode, break, catch fire with deadly efficacy and turn the environment itself into a weapon.
After 5 days…
After 9 days…
After 14 days…
