| Game Information |
| Far Cry 4 |
| Platform: PlayStation 4 |
| Developer: Ubisoft |
| Publisher: Ubisoft |
| MSRP: $59.99 |
| Released: November 18th, 2014 |
Welcome to Kyrat, a world full of wonder, exotic animals, danger around every corner, and a crazed dictator named Pagan Min. In Kyrat, your life can end at any moment and unless you’re Ajay Ghale, it’s likely it will. Thus is life in Far Cry 4, Ubisoft’s newest entry into the long-running franchise. This time around, Ubisoft has you flying to the Himalayas as the protagonist, Ajay, in hopes of laying to rest your mother’s ashes beside Lakshmana.
Of course, you have no idea who or what that is and that’s part of your journey and exploration of the wonderful world Ubisoft has developed. As Ajay Ghale, you’ll join the Golden Path and fight alongside freedom fighters trying to recapture the country of Kyrat from Pagan Min. Your allies consists of a Gun Lord, a gender equality activist named Amina, the young Sabal who is set in his cultures ways and refuses to change, and finally, Hurk. Hurk is Hurk and to describe him would be to do him injustice. Just meet him and you’ll get the drift.
If you’ve played Far Cry in the past, there is a good chance you’ve essentially already played Far Cry 4 outside of the narrative. This is a good thing, though, not a bad one. It’s the general consensus that Far Cry 3 was an awesome experience, so getting even more of that in a new environment should always be a welcomed addition to your gaming library.
Throughout Kyrat, you’ll be tasked with hunting and gathering to upgrade your base utilities like your wallet, quiver, grenade capacity, loot bag, etc,. You also are tasked with the option of doing small side jobs that earn you Karma points based on your actions. By completing these small events, you earn Karma which levels up and unlocks better guns at your disposal. You can also earn Karma through hunting down collectables as well. As you can probably imagine with a world the size of Kyrat, there is a ridiculous amount of collectibles to be found. They range from creepy masks to propaganda posters and everything in between.
If you’re a completionist, getting 100% of the game finished off is going to take quite the amount of dedication and time. Outside of the collectibles, you also need to liberate outposts and bring down radio towers to stop the spread of Pagan Min’s influence and message. These were also available in Far Cry 3, and in Far Cry 4 they also lead to unlocking much more powerful Signature Weapons you can buy or standard weapons you can be given for free.
Honestly, if you’ve never played a Far Cry title before, you can easily find yourself not only overwhelmed, but completely side-tracked every other moment in the game. If the collectables don’t throw you completely off your objective, the availability of missions from Willis, Yogi and Reggie, Longinus, and whatever else manages to crop up will. Hell, even the option to compete in the Arena can suck the life right out of you and get you as far away from your objective as possible.
If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is a ridiculously massive world and your options of what to do it in are almost endless. Runnings or driving from point A to point B will often result in your helping a stranded vehicle, taking down the latest tiger or rhino to upgrade your gear, looting a chest for more cash and valuable, or just doing something completely random that you didn’t even set out to do in the first place. Like I said, overwhelming.
The biggest problem here is how easy Ubisoft has made it for you to become overwhelmed in the game. Sadly, the reason it’s so easy to get side-tracked into doing other things is because the main goal of the story is completely boring. The storyline and narrative aren’t anything new or exciting and the main villain, who has a TON of potential, doesn’t get enough face time throughout your campaign progress. Hell, Troy Baker completely owned the role of Pagan Min, but outside of the introduction and his random radio conversations with you, your dose of Pagan is very limited. This is a huge mistake on the part of the developers and one that shouldn’t have been made.
Another poor decision made by Ubisoft was limiting the co-op functionality to just free roam and side missions. The game is massive and co-op is one hell of an experience in Far Cry 4, but giving the player the option to tackle the campaign with a friend wouldn’t have hurt. Sure, some of the scenarios could never play out with two people, but a lot of them could and those should have co-op enabled. Currently the best part about co-op is just the randomness of the world around and taking over fortresses together, but it could have surprisingly been so much more.
With that said, I still had more fun playing co-op than anything else the game had to offer. Some of my favorite moments took place with Hurk in the game with me, fighting by my side. Whether it was laying down some mines as my friend ran off to get an elephant — only to trot back over to where I was and walking over the minefield on his way resulting in the elephant going flying and both of them ending up dead or tag teaming a hostage situation without being detected at all. The game truly shines through its co-op component and it’s something every large open world game should offer.
When it comes to the core gameplay mechanics itself, it’s a home run. Far Cry 4 plays just like Far Cry 3 and that’s never a bad thing. The game mechanics are tight and outside of the small instances where you’d like to search a body instead of swap weapons or get into a car, I experienced no issues whatsoever. Everything always worked as intended. Wait, no. I did have one small gripe, but this is something that is extremely hit or miss with whoever is doing it. The driving in the game is kind of wonky. I don’t understand the desire to map driving strictly to the left analog stick, but that’s what Ubisoft has done. Yes, there is an auto-drive option so long as the road has a ‘signal’ the game can pick up, but still, the driving mechanic can be somewhat of a headache.
Visually the game is gorgeous and it’s what you’d expect from the series. The terrain, water, forests and everything else looks great. Setting people on fire is awesome to watch and while I’d like to see more gore from explosions (after all, they are explosions), everything else is solid. I didn’t experience any ugly clipping, my vehicle wasn’t driving through every little tree like it didn’t exist, etc,. Visually everything stands on its own as it should. Everything acts as its own item and not just a texture with no impact. Not enough open world games do that.
Something that doesn’t get enough credit is the sound design of some games. I thoroughly enjoyed the effort put forth on Far Cry 4’s sound. Slowly slinking through the forest and hearing any of the animals in the game approach you is an awesome feeling. The growl of the tiger or bear letting you know you’re in its territory is great. Of course, the damn honey badger is beast and feels next to impossible to take down and the charging rhino is also a sound you never want to encounter either. Ubisoft truly makes you feel like you’re in the jungle — even when the bees are swarming. Like I said, Kyrat is a dangerous place.
With this being the Holiday season, gamers are always looking for the best way to get bang for their buck. It’s especially true when there are tons of games coming out and your $60 is being fought for by multiple titles. Far Cry 4 delivers on that experience ten fold. There is so much in this world that is open for you to do that it’s likely to take you 60+ hours to experience it all. While some games make collectibles and other side stuff feel like a chore, the extremely interactive world of Kyrat makes the game feel like an adventure more than anything else.
I’d recommend Far Cry 4 to anyone who is looking for an open world adventure where the possibilities are near endless and fun can be had with a friend.
