Ubisoft’s been hard at work developing Far Cry 3. After months of its release being always pushed back and delayed, we are finally able to travel to the Rook Islands & experience insanity for ourselves.

Now that we can get our hands on a copy, we’re able to go to the tropical landscapes and understand its brutally dark story. So is this gorgeous getaway the tropics you’ve been waiting for, or is it just another horrible trip waiting to end?

CONCEPT

Instead of the typical Euro trip, you’re backpacking through Asia with your girlfriend, brothers and close friends.

You’re taken to an island where its inhabitants are some local friendly natives & pirates who commit the worst atrocities.

The game will delve into your psyche and dark themes. It’s well made and coexists with the islands cast of characters.

Your friends have been taken captive, and your brothers are dead. You play as Jason Brody, a nice sympathetic, adventurous, and open-minded 25 years old.

The game starts with Jason being innocent. As you escape from an enslavement camp, he is ambushed by a helicopter while crossing an old rotten bridge that collapses. Jason falls into the river and is rescued by a man named Dennis, who helps Jason learn how to survive on the island.

Details about the story

Jason is on the search for a power called the Tatau to gain the abilities to save his friends by becoming a warrior of the local tribe called the Rakyat.

As the game opens up, the player is allowed to explore the vast environment at will. Gain new abilities and learn how to adapt to the insanity on this island.

The player will be able to experience how Jason’s personality and perspective on life changes. The nature of all the main characters that Jason meets throughout his experience has an incredible cast of voice acting.

It’s no surprise that Vaas, the main antagonist that we’ve been shown this past couple of months, takes the stage for the most impressive and thrilling personality. The moments the player experiences with Vaas are memorable.

This can be said for the rest of the characters who also show deep emphasis on their emotions, facial and body gestures, as well as how they express their feelings towards the situations that they are in.

DESIGN

The game progresses through individual acts where a quote from Alice in Wonderland appears on the screen. The player begins with a map in black and with no direction, giving the option to tackle mission objectives or explore the jungles.

To be able to have a map, the player must climb up radio towers. Each tower has a unique design and a specific way of climbing. Once at the top, Jason can break the safety locks and configure the signal to be able to access a visible map.

On the map, the player can locate the nesting grounds of animals, stores & villages. Game collectible such as the plants, loot treasures, relics, lost letters & memory cards also appears on the screen.

How to get around Far Cry 3

Besides running, swimming, or taking lines, you can drive types of jeeps, quads, or trucks. On the water, Jason can travel by boats or jet skis.

You can’t walk up hills that have moss or seem too inclined; you’ll slip very quickly. Going down the mountain is more relaxed, but at the top of a mountain, you might find hand gliders.

You’re able to enjoy the view from the skies and get to your destinations quicker, depending on how you want to get there. Jason receives a wingsuit later in the game.

Jason reacts to how he is maneuvering around the jungle feels realistic. He doesn’t have perfect jumps. He falls, heals, and narrates his thoughts and begins to grow a connection with the player.

Jet skis are my favorite mode of transportation around the islands. I do love the beach life. Just be careful with the lurking sharks!

Enemy Outposts and Gaining Experience Points

The pirates control the island and any area on the map that appears red. Jason slowly takes control of each outpost, allowing the area to be safer to explore.

Tag enemies and animals to be able to see them through objects so you’ll be able to execute a stealth attack or go completely postal. You can tag enemies by pressing the up diagonal button to take out the camera and zoom in to check the surrounding environment.

Every time the player completes an objective or kills, he is granted XP. The game rewards you more for stealth takedowns rather than run & gun. Using stealth reduces enemy encounters. Take your time to plan your strategy before attacking enemy camps or go all out rampage style.

Tattoo Skill Tree

The game progresses as Jason completes missions handed to him by the people he meets. Jason perfects his skills on his way to becoming a warrior.

You can only carry up to four weapons with added four more types of explosives. You’re able to take down enemies with your machete and do an assortment of combos. For example, you can pull an enemy’s grenade or pull them underwater.

The way to do this is by enhancing Jason’s skills with the Tatau

The skills are divided into three sections: the Heron, which houses long-range & mobility, the Shark that contains assault takedowns & healing. The last is the Spider, which grants stealth takedowns & improves survival techniques.

There are over 50 skills, and you’ll acquire each one rather quickly.

The gunshots hear and feel great; you can customize your weapons by adding attachments, give them paint jobs & with over 40 weapons and different ways to kill enemies, there is always never a dull moment.

Improving Your Arsenal

As Jason learns to survive in the jungle, he can hunt down animals and skin them to be able to improve and enlarge the capacity of the items he can carry.  

His arsenal of items splits into four sections: Medicines, Equipment, Ammo & Arrows. Jason can craft an assortment of things to improve his health, enhance abilities & create more significant equipment.

The only way to doing so is by either acquiring a certain amount of plants to create syringes. You can also hunt down different animal skins to craft the desired object.

If you press the right diagonal buttons, Jason is able to throw an unlimited amount of rocks. This helps distract enemies and is used to enhance stealth throughout the game. The game only gives you the left and bottom diagonal buttons to assign two types of syringes.

So if you want to switch it with another one, you’ll have to drop what you have to replace it in that slot.

AESTHETICS

 The vibrant landscapes with lush wildlife create a vivid and believable environment that surrounds the player. There’s no denying that the dense horizons are awe capturing.

There’s a wide variety of floral life that is easy to detect as they glow in the distance. Everything interactive shines like a crate, animal, or human corpse—the ways each animal move act accordingly to how animals would react while thriving in their habitat.

The mixtures of tones for green, blue & darker colors like brown or grey make a perfect match for the setting and never seem to look dull.

The surrounding open-world game is vast & players will not recognize many areas the 2nd time since everything is usually trees, ruins & water. The player, however, may experience a slight jungle fever after exploring the surrounding areas for hours on end.

The game is visually attractive, and its typography sets the tone for the environment, but in some circumstances, the legibility of the lettering can be difficult to read.

Menu

The menu looks like a mirror with watercolors. The idea seems appealing at first, but then since the screen looks divided, it feels like it’s just taking up space.

The layouts of the spread in which the texts and imagery are contained are organized. Margins have enough air between elements so that there isn’t any visual contamination.  

The way the menu is a tablet. It lists the necessary information needed to understand the environment. You can view skills, options, and other statistics.

The chromatic colors are very passive and contain movement throughout the background on the menu. I like the save icon: two revolvers with a butterfly flapping its wings.

Objectives such as Supply Drop missions contain flares colored in violet & white, which helps visualize where the player needs to go.

More about the UI and other things

It’s the attention to detail when either climbing up a radio tower as the sun sets or rises and how the lighting sets the tone perfectly. 

Swimming is fun, and the water makes the screen blurred. Surfacing up water and noticing the reflection of the sun rays adds to the depth and experience.

Fire will spread rapidly, engulfing an entire area. It’s a great detail to add to the realism of the game. The flames don’t look visually impressive.

NPC Artificial Intelligence

Facial gestures and expressions add to the realism, but at times, the script isn’t always as well written. Suspenseful moments turn out to not be taken as seriously.

Other villages that you’ll find will give you quests to complete, but some don’t have the same quality as the most important protagonists.

It’s a detail big enough to notice and doesn’t make those quests as exciting or engaging.

Value

The campaign takes around 25 – 30 hours to complete. Side quests and exploring the secrets Rook Islands will add more than a couple of days to complete entirely.

The game has a four-player co-op online and offline split-screen campaign. Also included is a map editor where the player can customize every aspect of a level involving.

The package is neat and can take a couple of hours to understand, but it adds to the overall accessibility Far Cry 3 lets you have.

Verdict

This is a game that defines the rest of the franchise. Its unique qualities and characteristics into being one of this generation’s top successors. It’s bringing together an intense and thrilling story with an immersive environment to explore and conquer.

There are some details, glitches & other technical designs that could be improved. Far Cry 3 hasn’t reached its full potential, but it brings something completely different than other fps.

Far Cry 3 offers the players their bang for their buck. Ubisoft has smashed into a significant amount of time & effort to bring a quality game that has an enjoyable ride. I’m glad I got to enjoy another unforgettable experience from beginning to end.

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