Far Cry 3 (2012)

Far Cry 3 is not a great game. It's not a good game. It's not even a terrible game. What it is, and why I keep playing these stupid things, is it's an effective game. It lights up the areas of my brain it needs to light up to keep me playing, even though it's an empty husk of a game that doesn't deserve attention, let alone praise.

There are many, many reasons why Far Cry 3 is not a great game that are self-evident within the game itself—off the top of my head: the protagonist's brother stops 5 feet outside the prison camp, completely out in the open, to look at a map (then, you know, gets killed); the platforming required to climb the towers is janky and difficult to the point of not being worth it; the villains are hilariously underdeveloped; the whole White Savior plot is racist, obviously, but also, like, boringly racist; the only likeable character in the game doesn't show up until the end and gets stabbed in the throat 2 hours later; Dennis is a textbook Magical Negro but also a weirdly unnecessary one, to the point that it feels like the developers specifically wanted to do that trope; the protagonist's name is Jason Brody; the crafting system consists almost entirely of killing an arbitrarily selected animal, carving its guts out (the game calls it "hide" and yet you are clearly pocketing the innards), and then making a slightly bigger bag; trying to loot bodies is like trying to pick up soap in the shower; the shooting ranges from fine to worthless; I already said it's racist but it bears repeating that the game ultimately boils down to two white dudes (one of whom is named Jason Brody) fighting, at least in part, over the ownership of non-white bodies. And it's just generally a joyless experience.

That being said, it's also just mind-boggling that anyone could defend this game in a world where Rise of the Tomb Raider, Horizon Zero Dawn, or even Assassin's Creed Odyssey exist. I can't think of a single worthwhile thing Far Cry 3 does that those games don't do better, and none of their protagonists are Jason F***ing Brody, the most I'm-a-20-year-old-frat-bro-and-I-totally-could-have-stopped-911 self-insert ever to exist in video games.

Far Cry 3 is soulless, masturbatory trash, and to hold it up as any sort of benchmark for video games is to woefully undervalue the entire medium.

It's Ubisoft. This joke is about as clever as the game.

Intro

FC3 is an open-world first-person shooter with a focus on stealth. It takes place on tropical islands guarded by enemy bases (like Just Cause) and filled with towers that reveal the map & tons of collectibles (like Assassin's Creed).

The Good

The core gameplay is really good and it makes up for the game's many, many flaws. The gunplay is solid. The stealth elements are super-cool. I love the chained take-downs. Also, a bow that shoots fire & explosive arrows? Yes please.

Easily the best part of the game is assaulting enemy bases. You approach the base from a distance and use your camera to tag enemies, scout routes and formulate a plan. You want to disable the alarm system or face many more enemies. Sometimes you can free animals from cages to help you. If you're daring you can try to take out everyone up close. When you kill someone and it is discovered enemies will take cover (even guard dogs, lol) and try to assault you. It's excellent.

Wanted Dead missions are simpler (smaller groups, no alarms) but also amusing. Other than that there are very few enjoyable main or side missions. Or good things in general. There are plenty of fast travel points i guess. And stores have a refill ammo & sell junk option. Oh, and they don't require dialogue (thank god).

The Bad

So, yeah, pretty much everything else is bad. Much of the game is lazy and amateurish design. I'll try to keep this short (lol, as if).

Audio

Not only are the audio option pathetic, the game has a droning sound in every menu. This actually gave me a headache and i consider the game to be unplayable without this mod that removes the noise. Even with that mod you have to deal with the terrible mixing. Voices are too soft, the music is too loud and the overall volume is too low even on the highest setting.

Inventory

Not only does this game have a completely pointless inventory limit, it also has a money limit. Halfway through the game you hit this limit ($10K) while you're still unable to buy the maps for the second island ($8K). Obviously, this is very annoying.

It gets worse. Because this game is 75% Assassin's Creed it also has the "gather 24 rat's anuses to upgrade your backpack" system. It's not nearly as bad as in AC or HZD, but it's still a waste of time.

Shopping

Shopping just takes too long. Refilling ammo takes several clicks. Buying armor requires scrolling down and several clicks. Selling junk? More clicks. Not to mention having to manually sell animal hides one by one, each time with a confirmation window. They should've had single-button options to do the three most common tasks plus a way to mark hides as junk.

Side Missions

The ! side missions as well as the hunting missions are almost all lazy and bad. One time you have to find tags of Japanese soldiers. You gather three within a few hundred meters and the guy says that will keep them busy for a year? Wtf? Even worse is the side mission where you literally only have to walk 80 meters and shoot near someone once. Ugh.

Performance Issues

I've had a whole bunch of CTDs, seemingly related to DX11. The game also runs extremely poorly, even on a RX 560. I also remember FC2 having the same issues, maybe it's the engine?

No Character(s)

You've probably heard about how "great" Vaas is. He's not. He's just a run-of-the-mill psychopath. The other "characters" are almost all two-dimensional and pointless. It's pretty hard to care about rescueing some douchey rich kids too. At several points i even forgot the protagonist's name. Seriously, the only interesting character is Sam of all people.

Fake-Outs

The bad guy fails to kill you. And then later on he fails to kill you. And then, for some variety, he fails to kill you. Christ.

Map Map Map Map

At some point i noticed i was constantly opening and closing the map to stick waypoints on nearby chests/relics/letters. They really should have had a more elegant solution for this, maybe expand the minimap or have an arrow pointing at nearby loot. It really kills the pace.

Trials

The "trials" that are just shooting galleries. Utterly pointless.

The Ugly

Homophobia

This game makes several gay rape "jokes", including in the final main mission.

Quick Timer Events

There's a bunch of these. I wish they were never invented.

Useless Items

You can craft 2 types of special arrows and 12 different syringes. And you will only use ~3 of them because there are only two quickslots. And every time you replace something in a quickslot you get a confirmation message, even if you don't have the slotted item. It's just far too much of a hassle.

There are also a ton of weapons with 5+ different paint jobs that you will never use. Within no time you will get "signature" weapons that make other pistols, SMGs and assault rifles obsolete. And you can't modify or paint these signature weapons, so that part is pointless too. Such a waste.

Ubisoft

Instafail stealth missions. Escort missions. Overly restrictive mission zones. 100% scripted missions. Terrible platforming. Boring dream sequences. Poor mobility. Trailing missions. Skills locked behind main quest. Everything that is fucking awful about Assassin's Creed is in this game. It's not quite as bad as some of AC, but it's still mind-boggling. Honestly, who thinks this is fun?

One time i had a mission restart because i went 80 meters from the mission area (i went around a rock as to not be seen). During one of the final missions i had to park Sam somewhere safe because he kept getting himself killed. The very worst part was protecting Willis. That absolute moron kept getting himself shot, even going so far as to sit in front of cover with his back to the enemy. Who approves this trash?

Conclusion

I kinda feel that games like AC Unity, Black Flag, Far Cry 3, Just Cause 4 and the like can't be rated on a normal scale. Parts are really bad, parts are really good. So i'm going to rate the various parts:

• Base Assaults: ★★★★★
• Wanted Dead: ★★★
• Travelling: ★★
• Hunts: ★★
• ! Side Missions: ★
• Trials: ★
• Main Mission: ★

Advice

• Get the sound mod.

• Gather 40 Relics (no in-game rewards past this point).

• Gather 6 Letters (idem)

• Play the main mission until you get the privateer outfit then stop.

• Only do hunting missions for inventory upgrades.

• Ignore the trials, the ! Side Missions and Hunting missions.

• Do three Supply Drops to unlock the related skill.

• You will max out your skills long before the end of the game, don't be afraid to spend skill points.

• Stone doors can be destroyed with explosives.

Amazing visuals, fun gameplay and a large sandbox map that can be explored in a variety of ways - this is a really entertaining game. The main missions were varied and memorable, especially the crazier ones with the drug-induced hallucinations. The variety of weapons was impressive, but I found myself sticking mostly to the bow for a stealthy play style. The XP system was decent without being too grinding. Collectibles actually reward you with things, which gives you an incentive to find them.

On the flip side, the story was an average experience for me. It alluded to a lot of interesting/supernatural/dark stuff, but none of them were explored in any notable detail. The disconnect between the story and the gameplay was really pronounced, with the story being dark and serious while the gameplay was funny and over-the-top at times. The game's user interface was also really clunky, especially when it came to crafting syringes. But even with these flaws, Far Cry 3 was a fun experience.

Solid game with a lot of potential but I feel like the ending made no sense. On mechanics I feel like 7/10, bugs and glitches not withstanding but 4/10 for the story.

Spoiler Warning: ............ ............. .................. ...................... .........

I feel like while the ending did make thematic sense, Citra's stalkerish infatuation with Jason was never given proper setup making the ending feel like a contrived M. Night Shyamalan'esque twist.

Plot seems okay, and the world is supposed to be open-world, but quickly devolves into highly repetitive game play. Very little humor, no interesting characters, and I was not impressed by the graphics - which seemed high contrast and were never awe-inspiring.

I made it to the part where you fly through a canyon between mountains to access the other half of the game, but became bored and quit.