Photo courtesy of Ubisoft

Much in the same way the game’s drug sequences have been hyped and over exaggerated in the media; they are well done, but there aren’t enough of them to get annoying. There are some very minor plot holes in the game that are never addressed and some climatic moments (boss battles) can seem somewhat confusing but the story the game has to tell as a whole is immersive and impressive.

Photo courtesy of Ubisoft

Game-world

After the plot firmly has its grip on your attention the game thrusts you into an open world. My first thought was “shit, where do I go.” The map is massive and I didn’t expect a world as fleshed out and populated as a massive RPG. When you get into a game like Skyrim for example, and you have free reign to do whatever you want, usually you do; approaching the objectives in the order that you want to. Far Cry 3 should be handled in much the same way.

Photo courtesy of Ubisoft

You have this massive open world with a beefy campaign to tackle, but as thick as the plot is it’s only about half the game. Between story sequences you have free reign to explore the game-world, search for artifacts, complete side missions, assassination missions, compete in races, hunting challenges or vehicle and weapon time trials. All of this al la carteinsanity is accessible once you have mounted a radio tower; exactly as you do in Assassin’s Creed, a minor jumping puzzle and conquer enemy outposts. The towers serve two purposes: they grant you new weapons and fill out your map with info. Displaying animals, enemy outposts and the amount of the area you have conquered. Conquering ground comes into play with the outposts. Each outpost is different and once conquered will provide a safe house and permanent fast travel location. The beauty of the outposts is in the freedom of approach; you can go at them in any way you can dream up and the game encourages experimentation.

Photo courtesy of Ubisoft

Mechanics

Jason has a lot of tools at his disposal and you will feel an ongoing sense of progression all throughout the game. You start with a simple pistol, a few clips of ammo and a knife. By the endgame your health will be quadrupled, your arsenal will be massive and you can carry four weapons with more ammo than you could ever shoot. You will also have the ability to stomp on enemies; use their knives, guns or grenades against them before they know what hits them. Jason quickly learns abilities through the RPG tattoo system; simple passive stuff that will enhance the way you run, take damage, collect items etc. and activate abilities like shooting from zip lines and take-downs: the stars of the show. Far Cry 3 provides a stealthy option for 80 percent of its encounters; you can scout an area beforehand with your DSLR, which will mark enemies so you can track them through the environment and then plan your attack. Going at a base you can attempt to remain unnoticed and minimize resistance, here you will utilize the take-downs from the simple knife rush to the crazy pistol take-down, which will have you pull an enemy’s pistol after a knife rush and proceed to blast every enemy in the vicinity. Enemy A.I.empowers these systems. Once found your enemies will be on alert and actively search for you. This doesn’t mean you can’t hang back and get the drop on them again, it just won’t be nearly as easy – adding a realistic element to the proceedings.