Far Cry 5
Developer: Ubisoft
Published: Ubisoft
Far Cry 5 is bloody, controversial, violent, and a blast to play. When I first heard of Far Cry 5, I must admit I was not really interested in the game, to me it was more of the same formula with a different setting, but the closer that the game was to release date the more that I couldn’t stop thinking about it. Now after having completed more than two-thirds of the game I am happy to announce that I am glad I didn’t skip out on this experience and neither should you. Games like Bioshock have always captivated me, I believe that the intro to Bioshock its one of the strongest intro in video game history, but the reason why Bioshock has left a mark in my gaming career is that of the themes that it tries to tackle and the way it achieves it. Fast forward to 2018 and we have one of the best video game intros EVER in Far Cry 5 and I was captivated from the get-go.
The first thing that’s noticeable when booting up Far Cry 5 for the first time is how beautiful it looks, I am playing it on a regular PS4 so I can only imagine how it must look on a Pro version or the Xbox One X version, but the game is gorgeous to look at regardless of platform. The vibrant color scheme that the creators have chosen to use for Far Cry 5 really draws you in making you feel like you are really in Montana, when the sun goes down its a sight to see, once again Far Cry 5 setting is beautiful. Not the same thing can be said in regards to Far Cry’s character designs, yes the main characters all look amazing, where Far Cry falls short is in its main enemy type, they all look the same. Each region of Far Cry 5 feels different, and each region has its own attraction.
Ubisoft did a good job of making Far Cry 5 sound as good as it looks. When playing Far Cry 5 you can tell the difference in guns, by the way, each gun sounds, when venturing into the open world you can tell if a puma is behind you or a wild turkey is just trying to catch up to you to attack you, the beautiful thing is that you can hear these animals coming from afar. There is a sense of suspense and fear as you enter a lot of the houses in the game when you hear the voice of “the father”, or when you are driving around and you hear the choir sing cult hymns. When you are not entering houses or getting chased by wildlife, you are driving around and these hymns follow you around giving you a sense that they are everywhere, but if you are not in the mood to listen to cult followers then you can switch up the station to something more classic where you can listen to anything from Ted Nugent to Creedence Clear Water Revival making you feel like you are part of Montana. The sound along with the beautiful graphics make the fictitious Hope County come to life.
As we all know a game can be pretty and sound great but if it doesn’t play well or the story is not engaging then there is no point in playing such game, thankfully Far Cry doesn’t fall into that category. I will tackle gameplay first due to the fact that I have a couple of issues with Far Cry’s story. If you have played Far Cry games in the past then you know how Far Cry 5 plays already, its tight shooting mechanics and its fluid gameplay is still all there. One of the things I used to hate about the previous Far Cry games was the way the game progressed. One of the big things about Far Cry games was killing animals in order for you to craft pouches and get more slots for your weapons and in reality, this felt more like a chore, Far Cry 5 doesn’t have that problem. When playing Far Cry you will still hunt animals, only this time is because you want to get more money, also if you want to gain perk points you will achieve those by completing challenges, many of those you will complete without you even trying since they have to do with how many kills you get, what type of weapon you use, etc and this gives Far Cry a sense of freedom. Whereas previous Far Cry games made you hunt for you to craft the necessary tools to really enjoy the game Far Cry 5 lets you play your own game. Each gun feels fantastic and for a game where you’ll be spending the majority of the time shooting, that’s a relief. Every gun has its own unique perks, and it fits each play style, you want to go stealthy?go for it. Do you want to go guns blazing? Sure, pick up that RPG, go nuts, Far Cry 5 lets you make it your own. Heck, you want to go fishing? Why not, there are fishing areas in the game where you can spend hours just doing fishing! I feel like this game is one of the more complete packages in recent games without having you to pay for it. Yes, the game features microtransactions but everything in the game can be earned in game currency so I will not touch on that.
Let’s now jump into the game’s story, I began this article by saying Far Cry 5 had one of the strongest opening sequences in video game history, and I believe that, my only problem is Far Cry doesn’t live up to the mood it sets up at the beginning. When you first start the game you’ll realize how dark this game starts, but it never lives up to it. In Far Cry 5, you take the role of a rookie sheriff, and your goal is to free Hope County, Montana, from a religious cult that has taken over. As you progress through the game you’ll realize that the cult is everywhere, it’s suspenseful and eerie to know they are everywhere and watching you, but Far Cry never throws all its punches instead it holds back on this cult issue and therefore it disengages the player from the experience they were promised at the beginning. This is not to say that the story is bad, its an interesting story with a few surprises here and there, but again is nothing we haven’t seen before and it sure as hell not what we were promised. In the game, you’ll meet three different bosses to the three different regions and they all have their reasons in which why they are in this cult but these reasons are never fully explained, which is a shame because these characters are wasted potential. The other drawback to the story is how it progresses, in each region you have a meter in which you have to fill, and every time that you fill part of this meter bar you automatically trigger a capture sequence, this doesn’t work for a game that is trying to build suspense, there is nothing suspenseful about knowing that they are coming to get you. Far Cry’s story once again is not bad is just not the reason to play this game.
As my journey with far cry comes to an end, the one word that resonates with me the most is, fun. Far cry’s over the top action is the sole reason to come back and play this entry of far cry. Whilst is not revolutionary by any means, far cry mechanics and perk system give the player the freedom to play this game however they want to play it, it’s a freedom that I don’t think I have experience in any of the other far cry games before it, due to its progression system. If you want a game where the story is a side attraction but the gameplay is king then far cry 5 is your game. I don’t dare to say far cry 5 will win any game of the year awards but it’s a damn good game and it’s one you shouldn’t miss.
Score: 8/10