The Far Cry 'trilogy' (and friends)

[ratsoalbion]

I'm surprised ow little FC3 talk there is on this forum. I don't have the game as I'm currently skint. I'm also tempted to wait until I get a souped up PC in 2013 as it sounds like the console versions are a wee bit below par, relatively speaking. That said, it's currently £22.49 at GAME and I know a lot of people are having fun with it, so let's hear your stories of Ubisoft's 'Skyrim with guns'.

Also interested in retrospective discussion of the other games in the series of course, this being C&R.

[Combine Hunter]

I think the open world gameplay experience it offers is some of the most fun I've had in this type of game. And it functions much better as a stealth game than Far Cry 2. BUT the story is awful. Vaas will trick you into thinking the story might be great. Turns out he is the only good character, and I think that has more to do with Michael Mando being an excellent actor than the writing being particularly good.

Red Dead Redemption remains top dog

[Sean]

I'm having a hard time understanding all the praise FC3 is getting.

The shooting is fun, and, taking down strongholds is pretty awesome. But, one of my favorite things about open world games is randomly discovering awesome locations, and, IMO, that never happens in FC3. Just shantytowns, sheds, and towers.

Vaas is awesome, but, criminally underused. So much potential there to have a great villain, but, he's barely in it.

I don't know. I was bummed with it, by the time I finished it, but, I'm clearly in the minority there.

[delb2k]

Copied and pasted from another forum but it still remains true:

Well this has turned up top trumps, for everything that Far Cry has always aimed to be this manages to achieve. And that is completely excluding a story that is starting to go in a direction I am not entirely sure i actually like the look of.

The best bit of this game is the camps. Everything else is good but it is the camps that showcase what this game can do at its very very best. Completely freeform and allowing anything you can think of to be done I have taken so many of these in so many ways. One was complete stealth, sneaking and stabbing without a sound. One was taken care of without any interaction by me with the unexpected invasion of two kormodo dragons. One was completed by sniping the lock off a bear cage and letting that animal do its thing. Another I let them call in re-inforcements as I had littered the road with mines.

No other game gives me this, and this is why I play this title. True freeform tactical expression is normally tough purely because your playground is limited in terms of your ability to go backwards, forwards, left and right. Here you have an open request to take things the way you want to without scripting or invisible trip points.

Welcome back Far Cry.

[Lego Solo]

Played it for 6 hours and still hadn't finished the tutorial. Got distracted with hunting and exploring. Boxing Day is gonna be epic, mince pies and rock island.............and a couple guns!!

[Alex79]

I'm hoping I get this tomorrow, but I don't think I will. I didn't start hinting at it until the other day, and I think all the present buying had been done by then.

>_<

Oh well, January sales it is then.

[nickoneill1888]

I will definitely be getting this as part of my Xmas splurge.

I still have Far Cry 2 but didnt really get on with it.

Hoping this holds my attention a bit better!

[Alex79]

Damn.

So I'm going to have to buy this myself.

[Toffer]

I bought the orignal Far Cry upon day of release. Story was a little bizarre, AI was a little spotty but generally it was doing something a lot of other games wasn't. The open world was awesome, and in a time when everything FPS before had given you one linear path to follow, it was a revelation. The weapons were fun, the combat was tense and enjoyable. I enjoyed the way it didn't follow a standard super solider stance, and you did end up losing your weapons at one stage and having to fight with next to nothing.

Far Cry 2, I looked forward to immensely after enjoying the first. The story line was improved, the graphics upgraded and the weapon choices expanded. But for everything it gained, it carried more than its fair share of problems. The newer open world was impressive but sparse at times. The constantly repopulating enemies were annoying, giving little feeling of progression or accomplishment. The stealth was also poorly implemented. I never finished it in the end, partly due to bugs and lost saves, and due to other games.

Far Cry 3 should be in my possession tomorrow, along with XCOM which I got today. I've played Far Cry 3 at Eurogamer and was beaten to my game of show award only by Dishonored. It's getting praise from all angles and rightly so. Far Cry isn't a house hold name like COD or Half Life but what it does, it does extremely well. Personally can't wait to get stuck into another adventure.

[ratsoalbion]

The only game in the series I actually finished was this one, the Xbox 'remake' of the PC original: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_Cry_Instincts
I got half way through Far Cry II before the re-spawning guard posts, awkward save system and untimely malaria attacks wore me down.

[Alex79]

Yeah same story here with FC 2, and I REALLY wanted to love it, too.

I loved the original on the PC though, Trigens and all! I remember it being probably the first game ever that literally made me hold my breath in real life as I hid in undergrowth lol.

[Buckled Kipper]

Treated myself to FC3 for Xmas. Only played an hour or two but looks great so far. Downloaded it from Sony's 12 days offer for twenty odd quid as I see this being my go to game for a while sitting conveniently on my hard drive.

[Alex79]

Damn I missed that. Would have definitely got it. >_<

[magicjoef]

Here's something I posted after some time with 3 a couple of weeks back...

I'll start off by saying I haven't enjoyed 3 anywhere near as much as 2, but I'm in the "Far Cry 2 was special" camp and I know it was a game that split opinions.

Poor acting and the tone of the story got me off to a bad start as well. And the loop of radio tower -> out post -> out post -> story mission has meant I'm putting this down after about 8 hours. I might go back just to wonder around explore again at some point, but I'm more likely to start another permadeath character in Far Cry 2.

Despite this, I think the real highlight from playing is the dynamic combat. The situation where you perfectly execute a plan and stealthily capture an outpost without triggering an alarm is as exhilarating as when it all spirals out of control and you are fleeing through the jungle being chased by reinforcements scrambling to get back in control. Or when you are scoping out the enemy and then realise you are being hunted by the wildlife, or you see a tiger freak out the guards, abandon your plan and use that confusion to pounce yourself.

I'm playing on PC, and the game environment really does feel 'next gen'. There are some simply stunning moments when exploring the landscape, or when using it as a tool during combat. It isn't enough (and shouldn't) to negate the game's issues, but it does give it some wow factor. I wonder how many reviewers are playing that version? Could have lead to a bump in the score it didn't quite deserve? Also, if I hadn't played Far Cry 2, some of the familiar parts of the game mechanics might not have become so repetitive as early.

[Alex79]

Got this yesterday. Only played up to the first radio tower - about 20 min in, looking forward to getting stuck in after work.

[General Aquila]

Have barely played Far Cry so may check this out at some point, but maybe on 360 for more multi player/co-op folks and such.

[Toffer]

Have now spent a few hours with Far Cry 3. First impressions are very positive. Graphically it's excellent. Audio is very good too, although the voice acting is fairly standard.

The whole crafting, skinning animals side bit is excellent fun and a very good addition but I've upgraded a fair bit already and I'm only 3-4 hours in. I'm worried it's going to run out of steam. I've gotten into the habbit of playing FPS games on the hardest difficulty but really just wanted to relax and enjoy this. The normal mode isn't 'unchallenging', I did die once, although pretty much down to my own stupidity. I'd recommend any hardcore FPS gamers go for the hardest difficulty and see how they get on. For the challenge aspect of things I've got XCOM to tie me over.

While Far Cry 3 is good, there are a couple of things that keep it from perfection. Not being able to save mid mission, and relying on checkpoints is frustrating in a game that lets you save at any other point. There isn't a quick save key either, so in order to save you have to go into the menu, which is annoying. There isn't a load button unless you go back to the main menu either, equally a pain. I feel that the logbook is a great addition, little bits of information can be accessed when they've first been discovered by pressing Esc. Fine in itself, but then I have to key back through about five menus just to get back to the game? It gets boring after the first couple of times. I want to see what they've taken the time to write down but I don't want to have to hit the Esc key 5-6 times just to get back to the game.

I'm a little concerned I'm going to get wayyy too powered up very quickly, as I like to explore before tackling the main quest; this does appear to be a huge game. but we'll see what happens.

[Alex79]

I'm guessing there will be a button to take you directly back to the game, as on PS3 once you've read the info you can either press start to go straight back to the game or keep hitting circle to go back through all the menus.

[James]

My Far Cry 3 review will be going up sometime soon. Suffice to say that I'm of a similar mind to Josh. The gameplay and open world are excellent, but the story leaves a lot to be desired. It's a shame really as there's enough promise to have done something really interesting, but the pacing is too poor and the writing not subtle enough (or too subtle if the writer is to be believed).

On the plus side, in FC3, every major complaint that was levelled at Far Cry 2 has been tidied up, which may well help it appeal to many who disliked the previous game. For me, this is not a good thing as it results in a game that feels (in narrative and sheer weight of feedback provided to the player) like a much more directed experience, linear in places.

That said, it's still amongst my favourite games of the year, but it could have been one of my favourites of all the years.

[Alex79]

Yeah I'm absolutely loving this. My single gripe do far is probably the ridiculously tough predatory animals. Tigers that take five shotty blasts and keep coming? Lolwhat?? I'd have preferred 3rd person vehicle views too but that's a minor quibble.