Arch-Magos Winter

So having just finished one of the endings to Far Cry 3, I've decided to take a look back on the entire game as a whole, and my take on it. I guess you could call this a review of sorts. Spoilers ahead, if you are playing the game, well, you might not want to play this.


Story:
Now, admittedly, I liked Far Cry 3's story. I felt it fumbled at bits, but for the most part, it kept its tone, pacing, and characters all interesting.

Anyway, the whole thing begins with Jason Brody and his rich friends and his brothers all deciding to parachute out a plane over an uninhabited island in the South Pacific. This of course goes horribly wrong, and everyone ends up captured and in bamboo cages, to be sold into slavery by our good friend Vaas, AKA the guy with the Mohawk on the cover.

I feel it's redundant to mention this, but Vaas is fucking insane.

Anyway, Jason and his brother Grant stage a prison break, which ends up with Grant being shot, and Jason nearly dying himself after running on through the jungle while every pirate on the whole fucking island shoots at him and misses. Sadly, their aim gets much better in actual gameplay.

Jason wakes up after receiving medical treatment from Dennis, AKA The Black Guy. Dennis explains the situation to Jason, gives him a machete, a 1911, and a magical tattoo (Which also functions as the leveling system) and then tells him to go help the locals fight pirates in the jungles by stabbing people in the back, and to go find and rescue his friends.

The rest of the story includes (in no particular order) you -

• Killing a Gay Australian
• Banging a hot chick (Seriously, this is plot related. Thanks Ubisoft for creating a very akward conversation when someone walked in on that scene)
• Losing a finger
• Meeting the most psychotic CIA agent ever
• Getting stoned so often it stops being funny. Seriously, this game is the trippiest fucking thing I've ever played.

Now, I've heard some mixed opinions on the story (Which I do understand) but at it's heart, the tale of a man being driven to the brink of insanity (And depending on which ending, beyond that) by violence and brutality of the up close and personal variety.

Or maybe I'm just a sucker for seeing the main character suffer.
7 out of 10, for having some of the most enjoyable characters I have seen in a Ubisoft game that isn't Assassins Creed (Which cheats through having Leonardo DaFuckingVinchi) yet.

Gameplay:

This is where Far Cry 3 truly excels. Sure, you CAN be Rambo if you desire, but the cost in health and ammo makes picking off your enemy one by one from the back with a machete often the better option. Gameplay revolves around picking and choosing your fights and weapons carefully, especially at first. Wild animals, fires, and even ROCKS are dangerous tools. Also, Tigers will fuck your shit up, and soak more AK-47 bullets than a tank.

The upgrade tree revolves around three things: Heron, Shark, and Spider. Heron upgrades focus on death from a distance, above, and below, upgrading your takedowns and abilities with ranged weaponry. Shark upgrades focus on health and crazy off the wall takedowns, quick & bloody shit, like pulling the pin on a grenade of the guy you just introduced to your rusty machete and shoving him into his pals. Spider revolves around stealth and item collection, featuring such lovely upgrades as being able to somehow skin a tiger twice.

There's also a crafting system, and a shitload of weapons, including an enjoyable flamethrower that you will probably only use once before realizing that it has the range of a squirt gun and does absolutely nothing to those fucking tigers trying to gnaw your face off. You can also customize your guns with pimping paint jobs, because you always wanted that flamethrower to also look like it's on fire, or your .44 Magnum to look like something Vash the Stampede carries.

10/10. I could really find nothing intrinsically broken about the gameplay, though getting around the island was tough on foot.

Overall, 17 out of 20. I highly recommend this game to anyone, and I have heard amazing things about it's expansion, Blood Dragon.