Far Cry 3 takes a premise that’s been done to death, and utilizes the tropes associated with it to craft a shockingly fresh story with well written characters that elevate an already memorable experience; though it can be an exhausting one.
Instead of the protagonist being another “Jack Carver”, mercenary, ex-military type- you’re instead put in the shoes of Jason Brody, a young photographer fresh out of college. His brother, Grant, fits the bill of the more active lead we’ve come to know the series for having up to this point.
But by flipping the series’ previous tropes on their head, Jason is allowed to grow from a scared kid, into a ruthless killer. It’s a protagonist who changes throughout the story, and not in any conventional way. His snowballing psychosis mirrors that of the people he’s killing… Vaas in specific. All of his violent actions influenced by the same people that twisted Vaas’ mind.
It’s a surprisingly gripping story almost the entire way through, and there’s some incredible voice acting to deliver good dialogue. The combat is well crafted, and rarely gets old. The amazing variety in weapons and choice of gameplay styles keeps the experience fun.
Sadly the experience is hindered by an over abundance of repetition in the ways to gain skill points. There’s of course capturing a base, or activating a radio tower. Sometimes you can do some new side quests that allow for a bit of money and mission variety… but there’s not enough reward to progress in a way that’s necessary to keep up with the enemies throughout the story.
This is a point that many others have already made, so I won’t lean into the game so hard for the “Ubisoft design problem” that’s brought up a lot. I will however criticize the random difficulty spikes and occasionally clunky traversing that can be a real hindrance on gameplay.
Though the open world design can be tiring, and a more linear approach might’ve been better suited at times… Far Cry 3 manages to get a lot more right than it does wrong… and it’s an experience unlike any game I’ve played so far… and perhaps that would be different had I played ubisofts other titles. Nonetheless, it’s worth the time for the story alone. A must play for sure.
Instead of the protagonist being another “Jack Carver”, mercenary, ex-military type- you’re instead put in the shoes of Jason Brody, a young photographer fresh out of college. His brother, Grant, fits the bill of the more active lead we’ve come to know the series for having up to this point.
But by flipping the series’ previous tropes on their head, Jason is allowed to grow from a scared kid, into a ruthless killer. It’s a protagonist who changes throughout the story, and not in any conventional way. His snowballing psychosis mirrors that of the people he’s killing… Vaas in specific. All of his violent actions influenced by the same people that twisted Vaas’ mind.
It’s a surprisingly gripping story almost the entire way through, and there’s some incredible voice acting to deliver good dialogue. The combat is well crafted, and rarely gets old. The amazing variety in weapons and choice of gameplay styles keeps the experience fun.
Sadly the experience is hindered by an over abundance of repetition in the ways to gain skill points. There’s of course capturing a base, or activating a radio tower. Sometimes you can do some new side quests that allow for a bit of money and mission variety… but there’s not enough reward to progress in a way that’s necessary to keep up with the enemies throughout the story.
This is a point that many others have already made, so I won’t lean into the game so hard for the “Ubisoft design problem” that’s brought up a lot. I will however criticize the random difficulty spikes and occasionally clunky traversing that can be a real hindrance on gameplay.
Though the open world design can be tiring, and a more linear approach might’ve been better suited at times… Far Cry 3 manages to get a lot more right than it does wrong… and it’s an experience unlike any game I’ve played so far… and perhaps that would be different had I played ubisofts other titles. Nonetheless, it’s worth the time for the story alone. A must play for sure.