far cry 3 review
Wait, wait! Far Cry 3 you say? Mouarf! We see them coming the little guys from Ubisoft! They will replace malaria with chronic diarrhea, spinning rusty petals that stop at the slightest shot and multiplying checkpoints with vampire guards who resuscitate each time we pass! Yeah, well it could have been funny, but in fact no, Far Cry 3 is just a damn good game.Come on, we forget the Far Cry 2 episode directly to look at this new album. So, in the following lines, we will say a lot of pretty things, use lots of superlatives, be overflowing with enthusiasm, but first, we will hurt ourselves a bit by talking about angry things. Because you see, Far Cry 3, well we could not necessarily play it in good conditions at first, the fault of big concerns of stability and systematic crashes beyond 15 minutes of play. The problem seemed to come from an incompatibility with DirectX 11, so, if there is no doubt that Ubi will quickly fix everything via a patch, maybe you should disable the thing in the options in case of recurring crashes. The other subject of complaint, much less annoying however, is that if you do not already have one, you will have to create a Uplay account to take advantage of all the online features. Yes, for sure, Uplay allows you to store your backups in the cloud and offer you wallpapers and small in-game surprises when you accomplish achievements during the game, but it still makes an account and a more launcher to add between Steam, Origin, GoG and so on. Let the soloists be reassured however, it is entirely possible to play offline, which considerably limits the breakage.
With these more or less annoying little details now behind us, let's focus on the title itself. Far Cry 3 puts us in the satin skin of Jason Brody, a stereotype of nice Californian very clean on him. Young, stupid, carefree, crisp, the guy goes with his two brothers, a friend and their chicks in a trip with a high content of strong sensations seasoned with alcoholic evenings, rodeos of chihuahuas, jet-ski and a nice jump by parachute. Alas, this last activity, badly prepared, causes them to fail on the Rook Islands, in the hands of bloodthirsty pirates eager for small tourists to capture and ransom. Managing to narrowly escape after a few classy adventures that we leave it to you to discover, Jason is taken in by the local natives, who see him as a warrior in the making, a man who will finally be able to free the region from the yoke of pirates and their main leader, Vaas Montenegro. Jason, who initially only seeks to help his family and friends who are still prisoners will finally feel invested in a mission and will gradually release his predatory instinct, even flirting with the madness.
And here we fall on the first force of Far Cry 3. Because this sandbox game, this nigger that assumes without blushing its resolutely arcade side (we'll come back to it) turns out to be much more vicious and much more intelligent than it seems. Its history, apparently boat and carried by the nice missions of a main quest that can be completed in about twenty hours, will reveal its tortured side to you only relatively late. Everything is further supported by a frankly successful gallery of characters. At the top of the list, we find Vaas, completely crazy and endowed with one of the best French dubbing that we have heard. The pirate alone is a prime attraction, but the doc shoot or the mysterious young lady whose tapered breasts you may have already admired in the trailers also help to give real depth to the narration. Even Jason, with his tourist replicas, will surprise you later with his rage and his darkness. For an open world game of this type, Ubisoft strikes very hard, and we kiss them full on the lips for that.
But the time has now come to explore the vast area concocted by the Quebec studio. The Rook Islands are full of things to do, side quests, side missions (scripted or not), limited time deliveries, optional assassinations, relics to find, challenges with leaderboards that yell you that you are indeed in a barbaric video game. Because you have to be honest, everything that made the Far Cry license tends towards realism seems to have been overlooked ... But let's be clear, this is not necessarily a bad thing, especially as hardcore players can completely refuse to use rapid movement from one hideout to another for example. Far Cry 3 is a game that adapts to all trips. Anyway, know that the software finally deploys villains with a credible AI, which no longer degrade you through three kilometers of vegetation. The guys react logically when you gut a colleague under their noses or when they discover a corpse. They are also excited when you fire a shot nearby, rush towards the alarm button of their camp (which we must then try to deactivate beforehand), reappear during a scuffle against a patrol, s' flee in the face of fires that spread exactly like in FC2, etc. And when we add to that a cover system allowing you to hide in the wild to discreetly squeeze everyone with a machete, we tell ourselves that there is already a big potential for laughing.
Well then, it's true that the said cover system sometimes seems to be abused when you find yourself stashed in a stunted bush and that three pegs can't find you, but overall, the thing works devilishly well. We also note that it is frankly feasible to attack an enemy outpost in brutal mode, frontal, day and with a pair of grenades (just watch one of the extracts recorded by your humble servant for s 'convince) and get by without too much sore. Still, nothing prevents you from going underhanded and getting off on your way. Again, it's a la carte because the game lends itself to all tastes. Same fight for the camera that allows you to mark enemies and follow their rounds through the walls, that nothing forces you to use it. Okay, so far we've only talked to you about human adversaries, but like any good Far Cry, the universe is also populated by critters more thirsty for blood than the sickest of serial killers. We will therefore go from harmless goats and pigs to monstrous killing machines like buffaloes, Komodo dragons, stray dogs, tigers, bears, sharks and quite a few others. So yes, we wonder a little what does it do on an island in the Pacific, but these animals serve the gameplay so well that we very quickly stop asking questions about the possible credibility of such encounters.
Too bad under these conditions that the progression within the Rook Islands follows for its part a much more calibrated structure. Well, you will tell us (or not) that we must channel the efforts of the players at one time or another, but we have the right to quibble. In short, in fact, Far Cry 3 borrows some of its mechanics from Assassin's Creed, and not necessarily the best. Thus, each region of the island must host a radio tower and a pirate outpost. The idea will therefore always be to clean up the said camp so that the region passes under rebel control and so that you can move there more quietly without getting knocked out later. For their part, radio towers are generally not defended but require to be climbed during a subsequence of a poor man's Mirror's Edge. Once at the top, you will deactivate the pirate jammer and will be able to update your map with all the points of interest in the area. Yep, ok.
On another note, Far Cry 3 also deploys a very basic crafting system. It will actually be necessary for you to kill the local fauna and then cut it up to make yourself a bigger holster and carry more weapons, ammunition or gear. If the idea is nice, although once again doubtful in terms of pure realism (but we don't care), the craft actually follows an ultra linear progression, but at least, we will find there a sympathetic justification for the massacre animal. Same system for health syringes or combat boosts that will be produced by harvesting plants reported in large numbers on your minimap. The more successful is the development of your character, because yes, you read correctly, each frag or mission will allow you to gain experience and obtain skill points that you can invest in three progress trees materialized in game by a beautiful warrior tattoo. We will be able to learn stealth eliminations, reduce fire damage, boost your life bar, swim faster, move silently or pocket a guard while gutting it with a machete ... And the fact is that seeing his character gain in power as he advances more and more on the path of the warrior is quite exhilarating.
In short, you understood, Far Cry 3 is a treat to cross solo, but it does not stop there! Indeed, the title also offers a very good cooperative mode for 4 nags. On this occasion, Far Cry 3 says goodbye to its open world to replace it with an alternative and linear campaign during which we will follow the wanderings of new characters on the trail of a pirate. We will alternate big shootings in areas that are a little open and sequences of pure "What the f **" where we will engage in a quad race or a snipe competition against his little comrades. Again, the game assumes its release side and is quite convincing. We will also take advantage of fairly cool competitive modes based on a combatant class system that we cannot describe here for lack of space (our overviews will give you an idea). So certainly, we are not in Battlefield, but the whole remains extremely well put together and will extend the pleasure for a few more hours. Finally, to finish our overview of this gargantuan title, know that the level editor is making a comeback and will offer the most patient creators excellent opportunities to express themselves and bring the game to life.
The notes
Graphics 17/20
As an indication, we tested the game under Windows 7 Pro (X64) SP1, with an Intel Core i7 2600 3.40 GHz processor, 8 GB of RAM and a GeForce GTX 580 for good measure. Suddenly, on a big machine, Far Cry 3 puts frankly full face. So certainly, we may be able to curse on a little too flat water, a lack of interaction with the decorative objects and backgrounds sometimes frankly disgusting, but when we see the extent of the playing area, the 'incredible variety of the whole and the life which emerges from it, one can only applaud with both hands and close his flap.
Gameplay 18/20
Yeah ok, Far Cry 3 sometimes has strong console game hints (not optimal FOV, stuff management that you would think for a pad, rotten crafting menu) but its functioning as a pure open world game is a gender model. We are guaranteed never to experience the same events twice while managing a character whose progression and manner of fighting are continuously growing and never tire. Furthermore, the greatest strength of the title is undoubtedly to be exciting regardless of how it is approached. Stealth, nag, in PGM who refuses to use fast travel and the target marker camera, everything can be considered, to the delight of young and old.
Lifespan 18/20
A copious and damn main quest, a giant universe full of bonuses and secondary activities, funny coop, a solid multi and a map editor for those who want to go even further. 18/20, and that's it.
Soundtrack 16/20
If we will not necessarily be convinced by all the compositions accompanying our abuses, the fact remains that the Far Cry 3 soundtrack remains excellent. Sometimes you would almost want to put on lemongrass and mud to escape the insects when you are in the middle of the forest. We also take the opportunity to make a majestic virtual courbette in front of the French doubler of Vaas, truly incredible. The other main characters are not outdone and we just regret that the basic pirates are a little too natural, but notice, it is perhaps the contrast with the awesome Vaas that makes us say that.
Scenario 17/20
We certainly did not expect Far Cry 3 for its history, the slap is only more violent. Under its air of big trip nag, behind its missions of arcade game roughly sided, under its facade of pure mass product to the glory of the male hormones and the brainless violence, the soft could well return you like a pancake by showing little by little another face, much more intelligent and much more unexpected. We let you see it for yourself.
Far Cry 3 intrigued us greatly when we encountered it on various occasions during its development and if we suspected that it would be a good game, we did not think it would be as good. That, of course, we could only understand by subjecting him to all the tortures for hours and hours. And whatever we did to him, the Ubisoft title has always fared better than we hoped for. Far Cry 3 is an immensely rich and deep software, endowed with a universe teeming with life allowing a formidable gameplay, uninhibited and enjoyable, to express itself to the full. By its open nature, Ubisoft's baby proves capable of being suitable for all types of players and also succeeds in surprising in areas where it was not necessarily expected. Video games at their best.
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