Far Cry 4

Game Review by Jodi Mullen | 10 Dec 2014
Game title: Far Cry 4
Publisher: Developer: Ubisoft Montreal, Publisher: Ubisoft
Release date: 18 November
Price: £49.99

It’s a hard life being Ajay Ghale, Far Cry 4’s protagonist. Plunged into the midst of a civil war in Kyrat, the country of his birth and a place he hasn’t set foot in for over 20 years, things start to go wrong before Ajay has even gotten off the bus. After being kidnapped by Pagan Min, the villainous mastermind who has taken control of Kyrat, he finds his rescuers unimpressed with his American accent and complete lack of knowledge about his homeland. To prove himself, Ajay must complete that time-honoured rite of passage; take as many guns as he can carry into the hills and forests and shoot anything that moves.  

Far Cry 4 takes place in the aforementioned Himalayan state of Kyrat, a fictional amalgam of Nepal, Tibet and Northern India. The palm trees and tropical climes of Far Cry 3’s Rook Island are replaced by dense subalpine conifer forests and snow at the higher elevations but there’s much more to the change of scenery than a drop in temperature. For one thing, the landscape is significantly more mountainous, creating a much more varied playground of towering peaks, overhanging ridges and plunging valleys compared to the previous game’s comparatively flat landmass.

In terms of gameplay, Far Cry 4 closely follows the template laid out by its predecessor. The emphasis is on gunplay, with stealth as a semi-viable secondary gameplay option that can be beefed up by earning XP and investing skill points in the appropriate abilities. The game’s vast world is dominated by radio towers broadcasting Pagan Min’s propaganda, which must be captured to lift the fog of war on the in-game map, as well as hostile outposts which can be liberated to unlock new fast travel points, missions and weaponry. Ajay does all this in the name of the Golden Path, the resistance movement founded by his late father Mohan, who are fighting to liberate Kyrat from the despotism of Pagan Min.

The more vertiginous landscape demands new means of getting around and Far Cry 4 certainly delivers in this regard. Ajay carries a grappling hook which can be used to ascend mountains, cliff faces and monuments. It makes a significant difference to traversing Kyrat’s undulating topography – it’s often much quicker to climb up to an overhanging ledge than to go the long way round – but it also opens up new combat options, like ledge takedowns and dropping down on foes from above. More fun still is the game’s single-person gyrocopter which allows Ajay to take to the skies.

Though the player is free to choose their own loadout, they are initially restricted to a choice of only basic weapon models and limited carrying capacity. In order to open up more weapon slots and the ability to carry more ammunition, explosives, money and items, Ajay must use Kyrat’s natural resources – specifically, the leather from its abundant wildlife – to craft new holsters, bandoliers and bags. For many, the early hours of Far Cry 4 may well become something of a hunting mini-game while they attempt to acquire enough skins from boars, bears, deer, wolves, Bengal tigers, snow leopards and more to tool up to the level where they are capable of carrying a couple of weapons and a sizeable stash of ammo. 

With so many other distractions at hand, there might be an expectation that Far Cry 4’s storyline and campaign missions could suffer. While it is true that it is one of the game’s weaker components, Ubisoft Montreal have made a clear effort to differentiate the single-player campaign with more varied mission types and moments of high drama. They’ve also attempted to innovate with a branching storyline that allows the player to choose between completing missions for two rival leaders within the Golden Path.

Where Far Cry 4 really excels though is where its reactive, dynamic systems express themselves in thoroughly preposterous emergent situations. More often than not, these involve the native fauna. It’s the moments when Ajay accidentally liberates a heavily fortified outpost by driving a stampeding elephant into an enemy patrol or when he is savaged by honey badgers after parachuting out of a glider into a forest clearing. These entirely unscripted incidents are a source of near endless fun and anecdotes.

Of course, the single-player campaign mode is only one aspect of the Far Cry 4 package. There’s also a substantial chunk of multiplayer action on offer. Campaign mode can be played online, allowing for co-operative sessions across the game’s vast map. Story missions can’t be completed in co-up but once again the possibilities for unscripted, emergent fun mean that this hardly matters. There’s also a separate competitive component consisting of 5-on-5 asymmetric battles between the Golden Path and a mysterious faction encountered during the single-player story.

While Far Cry 4 endeavours to constantly delight, it does suffer a little from the sense of excess and over-familiarity that has blighted many Ubisoft titles over the last few years. Collectibles abound, with diaries, loot crates, propaganda posters, prayer wheels and more liberally scattered across the map in an almost overwhelming flurry of icons. Completists may enjoy hunting down every last item but in-game rewards hardly justify the patience to see such a tedious endeavour through to the end.

Then there’s the optional side missions. Though there are a few standalone quests or quest series, these mostly come in half a dozen or so distinct flavours - rescue the hostages, find the supply crates, win a race around the area and so on. These optional objectives offer a significant chunk of extra content but because of their standardised, forgettable nature they soon become repetitive. There’s somewhat more incentive to tackle the side missions; most of the game’s best weapons and skill upgrades can only be unlocked by completing a certain number, but it will likely feel a little too close to an MMO style grind for many FPS tastes.

Bloated though it may occasionally appear, at its best Far Cry 4 is pure unadulterated fun and one of the most satisfying open world experiences available this year. It’s fair to say that Ubisoft will need to shake up the formula before the inevitable sequel in two years’ time, but for now there are enough new ideas added to the already generous frame of Far Cry 3 to make this the best game in the series so far and a must-play for anyone who enjoys first-person shooters.

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