Far Cry 6 (2021)

I slightly prefered Far Cry 5 to this one but they are more or less the same game, just with different skins. The plot is alright, and you actually see a decent amount of Giancarlo Esposito as the star villain. Many of the side characters are annoying though, especially Bicho. The dialog almost reaches Borderlands levels of cringe. The one pleasant surprise was the Stranger Things crossover, that mission came out of nowhere. Full playthrough below:

All far cry games since FC3 seem bad to me at the start (first 10%-15%) but I start to like them once I get used to the ways of the game and I start appreciating things like stealth liberation of outposts, good weapons, the progression system and challenges like animal hunting. I like the progression system so much that I used to spend hours liberating towers, unlocking new weapons, hunting animals for skins and upgrading ammo pouches. That is what made far cry special. But FC6 does not really have any of these. Ubisoft has taken the franchise in completely different direction.

This one started off badly as the previous ones then I started liking it but then I realized that it lacks everything that makes a far cry game a far cry game.

Cons:

The rating system, though not as bad as in AC origins, makes combat unsatisfying. No matter how good your weapon is, if the enemy's rating is far higher than yours, a single headshot cannot take them out. The skill tree has been replaced with supremo mods. These mods need supremo bonds which are a pain to find.

The rapid progression in skills and weapon power we have in other far cry games is absent/ineffective, again this is impaired by the rating system. Even a rocket launcher cannot kill enemies!

There are a lot of characters and we have to interact with them an awful lot of times during missions. Even interacting with characters is tedious as it has to be done from the front and at a certain angle. These make the game less immersive and ruin the fun.

Animal hunting has no real rewards and can be ignored from a story point of view.

What made FC1 a great game was the ability to kill enemies from afar, this feature was a given until FC5 but unfortunately in this game, on several occasions, the enemies don't even load when you are far away.

Goal marker does not show up on HUD until you are very close.

A couple of missions are just celebrations and partying which seem forced, these were just unbearable to get through.

Animals and other characters block your path all too often.

There are too many types of collectibles. Even after completing the game, I did not need to know which one does what.

Less opportunities for fast travel.

Bad weapons

Checkpoint system is bad. In the middle of a mission, there are only temporary checkpoints which don't work when you exit and reload. So you have to complete a mission in one sitting.

Enemies spawn ad infinitum unless you remove cameras or alarms

Grenade launcher frequently misses target

Weapon stores are as good as useless

Pros:

Great graphics

Tightly woven story

Restricted airspace and taking out radars was a good feature

You have access to all unlocked weapons at all times

This is so different from a typical far cry game that I think Ubisoft is actively trying to change the game's DNA. After playing FC5 and Watch Dogs: Legion, I thought Ubisoft was at least on its way up but this game tells a different story.

Overall I feel this was a wasted opportunity for the franchise and Ubisoft.

Excellent story, excellent gameplay, excellent graphics. I entered with expectations low after reading a variety of user reviews. I'm not sure why many found this game unenjoyable; for me, it was the most engaging far cry game yet, and really ranks up there among the best complete campaign gaming experiences I've had in the last couple of years.

This game follows the same Ubisoft open world formula as many others. Those who have found this game style unenenjoyable are wise to skip this series entry as well. It does make meaningful improvements to the Far Cry template, though, so those on the fence or who found previous entries just a bit too repetitive may be pleasantly surprised by this title.

Where it shines:

• The main campaign is engaging, with just the right amount of injected empathy for the bad guys (and just the right amount of backpedaling and questioning who the "bad guy" really is).
• NPCs and side quests were funny, engaging, and dynamic. Voice acting and writing were quite nice. I was especially fond of Rosa and her "Hey Mambo Yarano" performance 😂
• The free mini-stories were delightful.
• The amigos are wonderful. Extra points for boom boom, a nod to Boomer from FC5.
• The weapons and upgrade system were fairly balanced and rewarding.
• Horses as a means of transportation was really well implemented.

A couple of things keeping it from 5 stars:

• The online connection to far cry servers was evidently unstable for the entire 6 weeks or so that I played this game. This issue may be unique to xbox. It is a problem because the player cannot interact with Lola nor access any dlc content (even the free dlc packages, such as Danny Trejo bike, Vaquiero Ride, Rambo, Stranger Things stories)/ubisoft connect rewards (roosters, cosmetics, gear) while offline. Attempting to manually reconnect halts all gameplay for about a minute and never once actually accomplished anything. It seems the only fix is either play and wait and hope and watch indefinitely, or force close and relaunch the game.
• Unfortunately the music as an environmental asset was carried over from the last game. The primary role of music in this game is to support the location, to add to the story of a local environment, coming from stereos, vehicles, and loud speakers. This is in contrast to most games where music primarily supports the campaign story, the progression and mood of the scene and the main character, creating a vibe, an emotion. I find the environment music annoying, and the first thing I did upon entering any vehicle was turning the radio off. The local music often contrasted poorly with the mood of the mission or recent story progression.
• I may be in the minority here, but I miss the alt-reality piece from the other games. I loved all aspects of Shangri-La in FC4. The drug adventures not as much, but they were still a welcome deviation from the main environment. Bliss world and the cloudy drugged dungeons of fc5, though not perfect, were also helpful breaks from objectives that otherwise could feel monotonous. I was disappointed not to have some sort of alt-world in this game.
• why oh why must I go into the final stronghold with none of the weapons or gear that I've worked to build up? And why oh why is it all magically returned (along with a full new set of guards, alarms, and reinforcements) after the climax cutscene? No good explanation. Just the game trying to be challenging without creatively justifying it.

Nice to have FSR and can play that in 4k on Linux ^^ It's a Far Cry, 60 hours of holidays on a Cuba like island. The map design is very beautifull, has same has RDR2, every place are not répétitive, all interiors are different, now it's like ASCreed, walking and whisteling is enough, ...

But even if map is big and with a lot of variations, WHY IS THERE ONLY 5 fucking AI ennemy faces ? xD No face generator ? Just hairs or something ! It's not clones isn't it ? And also, only 5 vehicules... BUT ! 15446 weapons ! You will use only 4 of them lol.

That's a Far Cry... But it's fun.

This action-packed and very fun game has everything you want in a good Far Cry session.

Open world, outposts, backstabbing machete kills, checkpoints, nifty guns, grappling hooks - and the theme of taking down one supreme overlord that rules over all (Far Cry 4, Far Cry 5, Far Cry New Dawn...)

I absolutely LOVE that I get to fight against Gus Fring and his son (man, I feel sorry for the son). That's a Breaking Bad reference - watch it if you haven't yet, weirdo.

I also LOVE the small details that make the game differ from other Far Cry games - for example, our character singing along to the radio (and not knowing all the words). I also really liked the overarching tropical Latino theme of the game - AWESOME music to vibe to as you're driving along.

I also LOVE the fact that, in this game, you actually get to know your character properly. I picked the female Dani Rojas, and I thought she was a really cool character to play. I liked the quirky personality of the characters - Juan was the best. Also liked that funny Radio Libertad guy.

I felt like the NPCs were a little smarter in this Far Cry game - which is a refreshing change from some of the other Far Cry games.

I also LOVED the animal sidekicks. The crocodile Guapo, the cute disabled puppy Chorizo and the weird ass chicken thing.

Some things about the game still bother me (just a little). Sometimes it felt like I was crossing off a checklist of missions - something probably unavoidable in the Far Cry archetype. Revolutions don't work that way... And also the unrealistic idea of doing missions and taking down massive swathes of soldiers all by myself (it just doesn't happen...). But I guess that's why love we Far Cry, right?

Also - the ending? A bit predictable. Was hoping for some juicy twist.

Other than that - great Far Cry game to sit down and play. Awesome installment.

I'm not a big fan of the setting, I hated Just Cause 3 and this feels like Ubisoft's attempt at that. But it's better than JC3 even if the similarities are there. I like the characters, but it feels like there's way too little interaction with the big bad Anton. You see him in a cutscene for every third of the game you complete, and a couple more times, but that's it. I wanted way more stuff with him.

The gameplay is severely cut back from Far Cry 5 I think, with less stuff to do and more of the same liberate outpost stuff that was in the earlier games like 3 and 4. Since enemies die with one headshot and the most common enemy outpost has 4 enemies, you could literally just run in there, pop them all with 4 bullets and see the liberation cutscene. Don't even bother with alarms or stuff, just kill them all in a matter of seconds. This constant liberating stuff is soooo repetitive, even if it's a staple of the Far Cry games.

There's a ton of small annoying nitpicky stuff I could go through like the fact that you have to zoom in like 5 times on the map to see chests everytime you open it. There's also some glitches, but not a single crash so that's good. Performance was great as well.

7/10

I love chewing more than I can eat. Why did I thought that pitching an article about philosophy and Far Cry was a good idea?

It turns out that trying to explain nihilism, its relation to pesimism, Nietzsche and the mechanics of a entire videogame franchise with a strict word limit sucks.

But I did it anyway.

I hope you at least find this interesting. Its in spanish.

Disclaimer: I'm not a major on philosophy and my 'nihilist-goth' phase was like 15 years ago. This is not an academic writing and I didn't had a lot of room to work on, so please understand if you find I couldn't explain better some of the more precise ideas of the nihilist school of thought. Thanks.

I wanna be excited about a game inspired in the Latin American revolutions. I Really do. But I just can't trust Ubisoft to handle well such complicated and nuanced events. Specially when they already announced a 'crazy discs gun' as a special edition bonus.

I still remember how godawful the plot of Far Cry 5 was and I'm not willing to let that go.

I guess I'll better replay Tonight we Riot for all my socialist revolutionary fantasies.