Far Cry 4 Reviews
Evolution rather than revolution, and better for it, Far Cry 4 is the best the series has to offer.
Far Cry 4 is the latest illustration that the best open worlds are those designed to function as playgrounds — where goals can be pursued even when impulsiveness thrives. While it received a good deal of help from a rock-solid foundation that is Far Cry 3, this sequel introduces more than enough new features that both games should be regarded as companion pieces to each other.
For all its visual appeal, however, Far Cry 4 remains a shallow experience. It has loads of things in it, but having a lot of things is not the same thing as having depth.
Far Cry 4 is so much like Far Cry 3 that if it weren't for the mountains and elephants I might well have forgotten which game I was playing
Far Cry is a series still struggling with that balance, between offering you the freedom to do what you want while enforcing the limitations to make what you want meaningful. I think it's also only a game away from needing a gritty, Bond-style reboot back to its Far Cry 2 roots.
In taking players high into the mountains, Far Cry 4 often reaches even higher and very nearly touches the skies above it — it's only in a few areas that its ambition slightly avoids its grasp. Despite its weaker aspects in story and characters, it keeps players coming back to Kyrat.
Far Cry 4 is at its best when you ignore the story and focus on the open world's beautiful, living take on unhinged chaos.
Like jazz, open-world games promise the bliss of structured randomness. Developers load up games with multiple systems – traffic, pedestrians, wildlife, etc. – which players probe to create unique moments. Ubisoft's Far Cry series marries this open-world game design to a caricature of guerrilla warfare, the improvisational aspect of which fits well with the player's need to make the best of whatever is in his or her toolset.
Far Cry 4 is a good game, but the lack of any real significant improvements or advancements over its predecessor may be enough to turn some people away. The major difference here is the Himalayan setting, which looks absolutely stunning and is a joy to explore using the Far Cry mechanics. The dearth of motivational integrity in the narrative aside, Far Cry 4 is a game that will have players losing hours of their lives as they get lost in Kyrat, either by themselves or with a friend.
There was heavy skepticism arising when it comes to Ubisoft Montreal being able to top Far Cry 3. Not only was Far Cry 3 a very impressive game with excellent gameplay, it was not even two years ago when it hit store shelves. Despite that, Far Cry 4 tops Far Cry 3 in every single way imaginable. While the story is still not as silly nor as intriguing as it should be, the unpredictable nature of the gameplay continues to leave it as one of the most enjoyable experiences out there. There is a certain magic to riding an elephant, a certain magic that no other game but Far Cry 4 can achieve.
For sheer daft mayhem, Far Cry 4 is now the action game to beat.
Cry 4 truly shines in the almost bacchanalian sense of freedom it bestows on the player as they traverse through its environment. In Kyrat you have the ability to go anywhere and do pretty much anything – much as Pagan Min would advocate. Here, the only pact you need keep is that with your conscience. God help you.
This game is HUGE. At the end of the day, you are absolutely getting every dollar of value from Far Cry 4, and I'm nowhere close to being bored of it after roughly thirty hours. If you enjoyed Far Cry 3, do yourself a favour and pick up FC4. You will not be disappointed, I assure you.
Far Cry 4 is a great game that just feels like a lot more of the same. Granted as I said earlier, it has been just long enough since the last one to drag me right back into the mix. I hope they take note though and really go outside the box for the next game. Again feel free to use my idea and make it an island full of dinosaurs, then I will completely forgive the rest of the mechanics feeling like more of the same.
As I walk away from Far Cry 4, I can safely say that it's one of only a handful of games from the last year that I truly felt earned all of the time I dedicated
Whilst the multiplayer falls short, the co-op and in particular the single player experience is once again brilliantly put together and something gamers shouldn't miss out on.
It's Far Cry 3 again, for people who don't want to play Far Cry 3 again. Far Cry 4 doesn't innovate much and so there are a fair few I've-Done-This-Before moments, but it's still just as well-crafted and just as much fun.
Mechanically, Far Cry 4 is an excellent shooter. It adds further polish to the open-world and action of its predecessor with even more involved and dynamic gameplay, and is loaded with rewarding side content on top of featuring a huge game world you'll spend hours exploring. The narrative isn't quite as solid, and falls through in several places with some aggravating characters and a lack of context to drive your actions.
Far Cry 4 may not be a huge departure from its predecessor, but it does take the familiar open-world formula to a new height of madness.