Far Cry 3 – Review

Fans of the Far Cry series will be very pleased to see this latest  release.  And anyone that has never played a Far Cry game before, you’ll be able to jump straight in, as there is no story continuation to worry about.

The basic premise of the game is that you play a rich American kid, out having an adventure holiday on the fictional Pacific locale of Rook Island.  You and your friends, including your Army brother, are captured by vicious pirates that control the island. As you and your brother try to escape, he is killed by the pirate leader and you manage to just escape.

From here you are rescued by some island natives who are trying to reclaim the islands from the pirates, and they will help you rescue the others from your party if you in turn help them. 

 The game itself is primarily mission based with the main quest-line having 38 stages to complete.  But there is far, far more to the game than just the main story.  There are a huge number of sub missions to sink your teeth into and the game area is quite substantial in size.

The sub missions themselves are quite varied and can range from hunting specific animals or collecting specific plants to capturing enemy outposts.

This game is very much a first person shooter but you will find that a lots of the time you are travelling from point to point in a variety of vehicles.

This is one of the first let downs I found in the game, in that controlling some of the cars is quite difficult if you are not used to the perspective you drive from.  The boats and glider though seem more forgiving, and the glider gives a wonderful view of the world you have to explore.

Where this is a shooter, this is not a all guns blazing sort of shooter.  You will find yourself sneaking about and looking for vantage points to scout ahead and work out what opposition you may face. 

To help with this, you are armed with a camera that you can use to lock onto enemies and animals alike.  This makes your stealthy approaches easier.  But one thing that doesn't make life easy is the wildlife. 

Many a time I have been stealthily sneaking up on an enemy, had my box ready just about to fire and a Komodo Dragon or Tiger has attacked me, flushing me out of my hiding spot.  It may get very annoying after a while but it makes the game so much better, and make you aware of your surroundings.

This is a truly beautiful game, using the Crytek 3 engine, let down in only very slight ways that don’t overly detract form the enjoyment factor.