Great Games on a Budget – Far Cry 3 Review

Sometimes people ask me Dan what is your favorite open world game, is it Skyrim, is it Gta 5, is it Red Dead Redemption. Well sadly I have to tell each of those who ask me that no those are not my favorite open world game but they are very close. Now if you had asked me is my favorite open world game Far Cry 3 you should be smiling because you got that one correct so let’s get down and dirty and take a look what awaits you on Rooke Island.

Far Cry 3 is an open world first person shooter developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft. In it you take the role of Jason Brody a young adult who while on a holiday with his 5 best friends is kidnapped by pirates and must fight to survive the horrors of the island. Now before I get into detail onto what this game contains I want to give credit to the guys over at Ubisoft who have put together a masterpiece on first seeing this game back at E3 in 2011 I was not exactly blown away by what they had to offer there were many other games that had my attention at the time. However I picked this one for a bargain in my local Gamestop a few month’s later and I was glad that I did.

Far Cry 3 tells the story of Jason Brody a seemingly average American young adult who has a love for extreme sports and his five friends Keith, Daisy, Lisa, Oliver and Riley. On holidays with his friends in Bangock Jason is captured by a gang of pirates led by the drug crazed and psychopathic pirate lord Vaas Montengro. The story is set around Jason saving all 5 of his friends from Vaas and along the way work out a way for the gang to get back home to America. Along the way though Jason begins to develop a sick obsession with killing people and eventually he becomes the very thing he swore to defeat at the beginning of his journey.

The transformation from Jason being a kiss ass wimp at the beginning of the story to him being a murderous psychopath at the conclusion of the campaign is handled rather well in my opinion and that could not have been an easy aspect of insanity to capture so kudos to Ubisoft Montreal for pulling this one-off. However Jason Brody is not the character that is going to leave you with food for thought after your journey across the two islands has been complete that honor goes to Vaas. Vaas is the very definition of insanity unstable, paranoid and psychotic are all words that tick the box on who he really is. The actor that played Vaas did such a good job of personifying this character that he actually played him in a live action trailer leading up to the games release and it was brilliant I would highly recommend you check out that trailer as it really shows what Vaas is all about. Overall this story was enjoyable through and through and is a worthwhile experience to have.

Gameplay in this game is a joy to play with. Weapons are intuitive with a brilliant control scheme to add weight and makes them a lot more realistic to use which also makes it much more worthwhile to earn cash by partaking in many in-game activities in order to purchase more powerful weapons, attachments, upgrades etc. The game also features a multitude of different vehicle types to help getting around the island a more fun experience these range from Quad Bikes all the way to Hang Gliders and each and every one of them works like a charm I spent hours just driving around the island admiring the beauty that it held.

The game also features an in-depth crafting system which involves you hunting for animals and plants to craft new items and mix potents (drugs). Overall this game is jam-packed of so much to do you will be playing this one for a while. The game also comes with a multiplayer feature which is fun for a short while but it does nothing to build on already established game modes such as team deathmatch and capture the flagand a few co-op only missions which add a nice little mix into the package but these are minor distractions as most of your time will be spent exploring the island solo.

Now hang on to your horses because the graphics in this game are absolutely stunning. I know we are in a brand new console generation where the industry are pushing the limit with each game released but you have to admire what these guys accomplished with such limited resources one of my favorite pass times was just driving around checking out the island and how beautiful it looked especially the water do me a favor check out the water graphics in this game they blew me away when I first played the game. The game also comes jam-packed with awesome sound design each individual weapon, animal, weather effect came with its own custom-built sound effect that was crafted with lots of care and attention. There was not much musical content in this game which was a shame except for one particular mission in which you burn down a marijuana farm and a nice shot of reggae music is blasted this was one of my favorite moments in the game and you will understand when you play it.

Overall this game is simply perfect. Awesome story telling a kick ass sound and graphics system and all the activities you could ever want to indulge in you are looking at money well spent you can’t go wrong for £4.99 for a pre-owned copy. With Far Cry 4 released this week so it is a perfect time to pick this one up and prepare yourself for the insane.

REVIEW CODE: A complimentary Microsoft Xbox 360 code was provided to Brash Games for this review. Please send all review code enquiries to editor@brashgames.co.uk.