Gameternel Far Cry 3 Classic Edition Review

I wanted to replay this game because it's one of the few games I've played (on Xbox, which is even more rare) just after its release and it impressed me. It looked so cool, so fun, and although I cannot remember whether I finished it or not at that time, I sure remember the endings the game proposed. Today, in 2025, I decided to have this nostalgia trip to check whether the game is still as good as I remembered it. To keep it short: no, it's not. In the overall, I received the gameplay I expected, and then a little bit more. I did not expect to feel this freedom when driving different vehicles or jumping from mountains but I'm sure it played a significant role in me remembering this game so dearly. I liked the variety of guns and of gameplays. I always appreciate a big emphasis on characters and a main story, too. However, it sure felt like not all stories developed where as important as the one with Vaas. I get why a game would go a step beyond the death of the main protagonist (spoiler alert), but here, it really felt like... why? It's the main attraction, the actor is really good and even captivating. Why would you then extend your game by some 2-3 hours to go and kill his boss? Furthermore, when you look a bit closer, you see that all the villains (and even the "good guys") are all the same, nuanced version of the psycho. You'll tell me: "but hey, that's the main point". The fact that I feel bored by it surely is not. So really, I think this game would have benefited from focusing on one, single, believable evil protagonist: Vaas. Everything else is just a filler. I did not like the story development with Citra either. Throughout the game, I felt uncomfortable on this you're-becoming-a-Rakyat-warrior path, simply because Jason Brody is what? Just a typical, American guy. He's no Rakyat or whatever you want to make him. It feels wrong. Just replace "Rakyat" by any real culture on the surface of Earth and one can see why in the lights of 2025, that's not going to work. But I must admit, the ending where Citra kills us feels like a "ah-ha" moment. Ah-ha, that's why we went down this road. That's the "moral" of the story. Another main thing I needed to express is the awkwardness I felt when I read some game descriptions. At the very start of it, I collected some guns and plants. I'm your casual collecter: I read stuff I collect, right? I almost dropped the game when I read some stuff the team wrote. I have found some shameful misogynistic, xenophobic or racist jokes. That was though. I decided to keep playing for the gameplay, to give the game a chance, and thankfully the descriptions stopped this show of bad taste. But it's clearly something I take into account when reviewing the game, even though I already know the Ubi team, at least in the past, was not the best team in the gaming industry. Hence, also, the reason I have not bought this game. In overall, I relieved a sense of freedom that I already experienced when I was a kid. I'm glad to know it was not exaggerated or improved by nostalgia. But this game could be much better. And I know the subsequent episodes are not considered as better, but still, it gave me the desire to try them and see how did they manage to follow up after this iconic one.