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The Far Cry series has always tried to innovate; it's certainly got that going for it. Although the first two installments weren't too spectacular, they stood out from the mainstream titles on the market, and that's what we like to see. With Far Cry 3 releasing this October, we thought we’d take a look to see if it can improve upon the past games of the series without being too common, or if it’s become predominantly regular. It’s all just a bit… insane.
Albeit, from what we’ve seen so far, Far Cry 3 looks set to raise the bar for first-person shooters, with a story that we’ll actually care about. See, single-player is where many of our modern FPS’s slip up, either the campaign is fun but too short, or it’s long yet repetitive. Luckily, the single-player is Far Cry 3’s focal point and we’re so far impressed by how the story is progressing. Most of what we’ve seen has involved ‘Vaas’; that creepy chap who won’t stop going on about “insanity.” He really sets the mood and tone for the island you’re going to be playing on; an island full of insanity. It’s clever how Ubisoft have, in a way, expressed an island's personality within a character; certainly something that we don’t see often in video games, let alone first-person shooters. We’re also looking forward to seeing how the environment in Far Cry has actually developed. The first game, Far Cry Instincts (2005) had a very similar landscape with clunky controls when compared to what we expect from games today. Far Cry 2 (2008) decided to go elsewhere and went for a desert-like environment as opposed to the trees and the ponds of the jungle. Now though, the series is “returning to its roots” if you like, by going back to the jungle so it should be interesting to see just how the series has moved on.
Vaas isn’t the only factor to make the story interesting though. Your character, Jason, looks like he is having a rough time on the island short after he arrives judging by the trailers and he soon finds himself picking off goons. His story linked with arch rival Vaas will surely be an interesting one and we are also impressed by his swift, flowing animations when popping out of cover, re-loading and so on.
Another great addition to the series here; co-op! Announced at E3 2012, Far Cry 3 will contain a separate co-op campaign with its own story and characters, so it won’t be a re-hash of the single-player campaign like, say, Dead Island. The folks at Ubisoft are clearly putting their hearts and souls in to this one, especially since there is next to no demand for some split-screen action these days. Of course, the co-op isn’t going to be as big as the single-player, heck; they never are (with the exception of Portal 2 perhaps), but at least they’re throwing it in there, and actually having a stab at it, which is more than what most developers do these days.
So far, that’s pretty much all we know about Far Cry 3, but we’ve still got good reason to be hyped for it. The gameplay looks fluent and smooth, the story has got us intrigued and the visuals are without a doubt, the best in the series. The game has been pushed back a couple of months and will release on 4 December in US and 28 November in Europe. There’s plenty of reasons to get your pre-order in now, not only can you receive some exclusive, bonus content, but you’ll also get your hands on a game that is guaranteed to be exciting, insane and most importantly of all, innovative.
