Far Cry 3 last year was easily one of my favorite games in a long time. I enjoyed the gameplay, I enjoyed the story, I enjoyed how the world felt, I straight up enjoyed every aspect of that game. Well, Good news, Far Cry 4 carries over almost all the same gaming aspects and adds a few things as well, the bad news… Far Cry 4 changes NOTHING.
Story: Your name is Ajay Ghale and you are returning to the fictional country of Kyrat to spread the ashes of your recently deceased mother. What would seem to be an easy task gets you thrown right in the middle of a huge civil war between the Royal army and the Golden Path rebels. Upon landing you are quickly whisked away by the leader of the Royal Army, Pagan Min who creepily tries to convince you to stay with him, upon your escape, you learn your father was the founding member of the Golden Path and like it or not the fate of Kyrat now rests on your shoulders (or so you think). I wont go too much into detail but the multiple “endings” to the game also intrigued me as they were more or less for you to discover and choices you make change the ending, without any prompts.
IBIFPRO TIP: Be patient, its not always worth pulling the trigger right away.
Graphics: Far Cry 4 is definitely one of the best looking titles to come across current gen this year and the fictional land of Kyrat looked fantastic. From snow topped mountains to deep green valleys and lakes, Kyrat is a beautiful country and is a lot of fun to explore. From acne scars to missing teeth, each main NPC is detailed and extremely realistic without being too over the top, add on some of the best lip syncing I have ever seen, these characters come alive.
Sound: The sound track is there, its got some good tracks especially the radio (when the stupid DJ isn’t talking) that really helps pull you into the setting. But nothing surprising or out of the ordinary (ie no dubstep marijuana field burning this time). The voice acting is well done as well, especially for the main NPCs, Ajays voice took some getting use to, he just never really fit for being a guy thrown into the middle of a holy war.
Gripes: The story is shallow, at best, at the end of the game nothing is really resolved or completed its more or less “here is the new boss, same as the old boss” Yes that fits with “real life” but it feels like a waste after 30+ hours of clearing out all of Kyrat.
There is no Soul to Far Cry 4. Far Cry 3, you knew what you had to do as Jason and you had some serious motivation to fight for your life and avenge your friends/family all while transitioning from a douche bag to Rambo. Ajay doesn’t go through anything like that, you start the game and immediately you are a bad ass killer with no problem doing the dirty work of anybody who asks. I mean, I’m sure your mom wanted you to find out about your past… but she probably didn’t want you to murder everyone along the way.
All small awesome tidbits have been taken away, for example Far Cry 4 has the same level up system but no explanation no understanding other than a lazy “you’ve unlocked this” Far Cry 3 was amazing with the use of the tattoos and showing what you have done and what you have accomplished on your arm, nothing like that in 4, not saying it breaks the game it just makes it less enjoyable, its just more proof that 3 was a labor of love 4 was cashing in quick on past ideas.
The music while driving the car is straight out of India and really helps set the mood for the location, unfortunately the DJ comes on in the middle of almost every song with pointless information or internal conversations, he literally talked about eating shit for 3 minuets. I get the “comedic” aspect to this but when he started to repeat it just got annoying.
IBIFPRO TIP: turn the music off and on to skip the stupid DJ and move on to the next song
Wrap up: If you have played and enjoyed Far Cry 3 you will for sure enjoy Far Cry 4 all the same systems are there with same skills to unlock, but for me personally, I couldn’t shake the fact that this game is missing a heart.
I BEAT IT FIRST