Far Cry 4

Depending on who you ask in the gaming landscape, the Far Cry series is considered one of the best but most controversial video franchises out there. Whether that be the subject matters these games tackled, or how Ubisoft has handled the franchise since 2012. You have the first Far Cry, which for its time was considered one of the greatest PC games to be released. An open ended island with tons of locales for the player to discover, and a dense wilderness that wasn’t afraid to kill the player in any way it could. Forcing the player to adapt, grow familiar with the world, and tackle each scenario carefully and thoughtfully. This wasn’t your typical first person shooter. The type of games where cover was always provided and there was one direct way forward. This was a game wanting to get the drop on the player at unexpected times, and so you would prepare. It may not have blown up in the same way Halo 2 and Half-Life 2 did, two other FPS games which came out the same year, but it was revolutionary. Then you have Far Cry 2. Same game, but set in a vast wilderness where you had to regularly maintain your tools of traversal and survival. It wasn’t just guns blazing all the time, but an immersive mechanically interesting experience.

At least that’s what I assume the first two Far Cry games were like. Majority of folks who know of the Far Cry series probably don’t think heavily about the original two entries. Not when you have the more popular third entry, Far Cry 3. The game that sent the series towards mainstream popularity, and set the foundation for every single Far Cry game since. Far Cry 3 is considered by many to be a masterpiece of design and video game storytelling. A progression system that rewarded players with better equipment for handling side activities, character upgrades that make the player stronger with time, and diverse scenarios that allowed them to get creative. A plot that addressed the video game philosophy of doing exactly what you're told. Running around killing enemies, being rewarded, and doing this again and again. Far Cry 3 is one of few games where the story needed to be told in video game format to work. Showcasing violence in games, how we’re desensitized and never made aware how truly terrible a player’s actions are. Far Cry 3 for a lot of good reasons is one of the all time greats. How does this game hold up almost a decade after its initial release? I thought it was alright. Now there’s a real internet opinion.

I beat Far Cry 3 late last year and I thought it was a good game. I do understand why people love it, but I can’t find myself loving it as much as other players. The story around the protagonist & antagonist actions is good, but everything else from the side characters and everything in the story after killing Vaas doesn’t click with me. The world was nice and I can see the return to the island setting being neat for players who played the original, but it wasn’t a setting I particularly vibed with. There’s also how structurally every Ubisoft open world game has followed the same design philosophy since, which I don’t hate but this being the root cause of all this kind of makes me look down at Far Cry 3. I don’t hate Far Cry 3. I do recommend it if you want a good open world shooting game, but I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite entry like a majority of people. I would go as far to say it’s a bit overrated. The only other Far Cry game I’ve played is Far Cry 5, which was my first Far Cry game and I haven’t touched it since 2018. One of the most divisive games in the series before Far Cry 6…. I remember liking it. Anyways, that leaves us with Far Cry 4, which many consider the turning point. Mainly because of how Ubisoft was turning.

Round and round she goes in the year 2014. The downfall of Ubisoft for many people. Two of their most anticipated games, Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed: Unity, released alongside the eighth generation of consoles. The state of which both games were released were terrible, and this raised many concerns with Ubisoft. Were they as good as people were saying they were? How did one of the industry’s giants f*ck up this badly and within a short period of time? Have they always been making the same games again and again but with different skins? Are the devs at Ubisoft just lazy? It was a troubling period for the company, and Far cry 4 which was their next big release reinstated these questions.. A game that either proved these statements either correct or incorrect. On one side you had people saying this was a lazy follow-up to one of their greatest games. Then you have people saying it’s a solid entry and did just enough to keep the series on its feet. Then you have the people claiming it could’ve been more especially when you look back at the E3 footage and see technical downgrades were made. Yet again, who really cares about technical downgrades? So where does Far Cry 4 really stand? Almost a decade since its release, how good is Far Cry 4? Interesting question for someone who isn’t a Far Cry fan. 

Far Cry 4 is the fourth major installment in the series. It’s a divisive game amongst fans and as someone who thought Far Cry 3 was alright I thought the fourth game was… really good! What? For the most part I thought Far Cry 4 was a fantastic time. Not a lot has changed since the 3rd game, but there are some aspects of Far Cry 4 that made me jell with it more than Far Cry 3. A statement that’ll get me torched in a lot of places. I had such a good time with Far Cry 4 that it’s gotten me to start a new playthrough of the fifth game as of writing this. (Expect a possible review in the future.) Far Cry 4 has made me a proper Far Cry fan. That isn’t to say it’s perfect or it completely caught me off guard. There are a lot of flaws with this game, and some of which are repeats of issues I think its predecessor had. However, Far Cry 4 was good enough to bolster a review from me so there’s that. Today we're going to be talking about why I had quite a good time with Far Cry 4 and why it might deserve your attention. “I''ve cleared my schedule for you, and we're gonna tear sh*t up!”

Story

As time marches onward we grow older, and along with getting older is accepting the fact  those who raised us to be who we are now will someday die of old age themselves. Certainly the case with Ahjay Ghale, as his mother Ishwari Ghale had recently died of old age. Both of them were third world immigrants. Ishwari leaves her country of origin with an infant Ahjay in her hands after a series of extreme events broke out. That being war. She did her best to raise her son alone in the US hoping he would never face the hardships she did. Her time of passing had come, and for her dying wish she asked Ahjay to spread her ashes in her country of origin, Kyrat. A place called Lakshmana. She doesn’t explain where Lakshmana is in Kyrat or what exactly it is, but she asks her son to do this. Ahjay promises his mother, and weeks after she dies he catches a ride into the country. Problem is that Kyrat is a corrupt place. Run by an evil dictator and his heavily armed militia. Dictating who can enter the country, who can exit, and executing those who show the tiniest interest of rebelling against them. Everyone is afraid of this dictator, but thankfully Ahjay did some research before catching a ride into the chaotic territories of Kyrat.

Rather than fly in he instead hops aboard a bus alongside other passengers. A strange man helps Ahjay get into the country and gives him exact instructions on how to greet the border patrol. He stuffs Ahjay’s passport with bribe money hoping it’ll convince the guards to let him in peacefully and hopes nothing will go wrong….. Everything goes wrong. The guards grow suspicious of the people riding the bus, a shootout begins, and Ahjay is forced out of the bus. He’s on the ground, hands behind his head until suddenly a chopper lands right beside them. It’s the dictator of this country, Pagan Min, and he’s very upset with what has just happened. Stabbing the guard who caused the shootout to death, and doing it with a charismatic yet psychotic personality. He looks towards Ahjay and a grin forms across his face. He treats you as if he knows who you are. He plans to do great things beyond this point, and from there he drags you to his manor in the south.

Ahjay is reawakened to himself at a dinner table. It’s littered with all sorts of delicious meals and a view of the mountains in the background. Pagan Min introduces himself to Ahjay, and here we learn more about our two characters. Pagan was Ishwari’s former lover, and the two of them got along very well until Ishwari’s heart fell for another man. That man was from the Golden Path, a resistance that has been fighting Pagan’s forces for years now. Explaining why Ishwari fled the country with you all those years ago. The man who snuck you into Kyrat was part of the Golden Path, and he too is at the table. Secretly texting for help, but then being interrupted and taken away when Pagan notices. Pagan tells Ahjay to stay, seeing how he’s all that’s left of the woman he loved. Ahjay chooses not to. Sneaking out and running into fighters of the Golden Path. They have come to rescue Ahjay, and after a daring escape that eventually separates the two Ahjay soon meets up at the resistance’s headquarters. It’s led by two key figures, Sabal and Amita, and they both have big plans for the country. Sabal tells Ahjay he knew his father. Former leader of the Golden Path, Mohan Ghale, and he believes Ahjay is the fighting force they need to win the revolution against Pagan. So off Ahjay goes to help the resistance grow in strength. Deciding who will be the leading figure of the Golden Path all the while Pagan gives commentary over what is going on through Ahjay’s radio.  Insights on what he’s doing is probably not the best.

Gameplay

If you’ve played Far Cry 3 or any of the mainline entries onward then you should know exactly how Far Cry 4 plays. If not then let me put it simply. Far Cry is an open world FPS where you tackle problems outside the main story in any way you see fit. Stealth around and kill enemies one by one. Rig certain points with mines and explosives so that when they trip over them they explode. Go in guns blazing or fight them from a distance safely. Summon to wildlife to chomp on your foes, or storm in with a vehicle or elephant. That’s right, you can ride an elephant in to f*ck up your foes as long as you have the perk to do so. Set them ablaze using fire that spreads, and the list goes on and on. It’s your typical Ubisoft open world formula, but it’s a formula that works pretty well and I’m surprised it’s managed to stay together after all these years. Combat is fairly straightforward. Kill enemies, use a small arsenal of weapons to shoot, and take cover as you have a health bar. The health bar can regenerate, but only to a certain threshold. If you want to completely restore your health you need to use a syringe, which you carry a limited supply of and more can only be obtained through either shops or crafting them using green plants.

Returning from Far Cry 3 is the syringe system where different plants you discover can be used to craft different syringes. Each giving you different powers and buffs for short periods of time. A system that rewards those who understand the quirks of syringes and uses them wisely. As you explore the world you’ll find many attractions and places of interest. A majority of which are quite peaceful, but most dangerous amongst all of them are outposts and fortresses. Strongholds fester with Pagan’s men, and you have to be prepared if you want to clear them out. Either by scouting the area and planning out how to tackle them, or bringing in the right gear. Within these encampments are warning sirens, and you want to take these out if you can because if you let a single one of them be activated this sends an alarm. Alerting everyone in the encampment and summoning more enemies with time. It’s either you take the stealthy approach, or fight through grueling waves of enemies. Once you manage to clear out outposts you unlock a fast travel point. Giving you a safe haven to rest and stock up on goods. Other points of interest are towers. Climb them to deactivate broadcasting networks and unlock new guns for free in the shop. Finally are the main missions. Fairly simple if you’ve played an open world game. Pursue an objective, kill enemies, and progress the story. Aside from that there’s nothing else for me to say. Far Cry 4 is what you expect from a Far Cry game, and that’s okay because I’m having a fun time playing it. The revolution speaks for all. Power to the people my friend.

Thoughts

Far Cry 4 might not be perfect, I mean of course it wouldn’t it’s a Ubisoft game. As of right now, I would say it’s my favorite amongst the ones I’ve played. There’s a lot here I vibe with more so than Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4. That of course being the setting. Kyrat is a Himalayan country. I myself have never been to the Himalayas, but it’s always been a place I found intriguing. Live by the mountainside, feel the cool breeze each day, and try to make a living there. How does one make a living when there’s not much to do besides farm, hike, and hike upward? Terrible way to stereotype, I know. The Himalayas is a region located somewhere near Asia, and I guess that can kind of explain why I vibed with the setting more. I get to witness eastern culture in this game, and while it’s not a lot seeing how the main focus of this game is offering a shooty shooty bang bang campaign I do appreciate what there is. The architecture of certain structures, the people, and there’s this one side mission midway through the game that tries to explore eastern myth. A very cool stylized segment I wish I spent more time with. Setting the game in a mountain region also comes with the benefit of switching up the gameplay. There’s a lot more verticality in Kyrat than the islands or Hope County. At first you’ll be walking or driving to a majority of places, but then you start getting your hands on some real sh*t. You get a grappling hook and it allows you to scale up certain walls. Early on you can purchase the wingsuit, and unlike Far Cry 3 here it has some actual use. Since the world has tons of verticality it means you don’t always have to walk to where you need to be. You could run off a high enough edge, pull this thing out, and just glide down to where you need to be. If a world accommodates the different ways for which you get around then you know it’s good world design.

Now I never aim to sell a game based on its graphics and visuals. I have always preferred titles with hand drawn art styles or at least style over graphical realism. I am one of few believers that graphics are killing Triple A games to a degree, but I can recognize when some artistic thought was put into creating a graphically realistic but standout world. Kyrat is one of those occasions as there were moments I stopped to gaze out into the distance. The wide open range and fields contrast to the snowy mountains in the background. The sun is always hanging above as if to say, “I will be your guiding light.” For a game that came out in 2014 it feels like it could’ve come out today and nobody would notice. That’s what good art direction does to a person. It’s why worlds like the Lands Between or Tsushima stand out so vividly in our memories. They’re stylish and above all memorable. Moving on from the incredible setting and world design we have the core gameplay, and it’s pretty good as Far Cry standards go. Run around the world, shoot enemies, grow stronger, and perform this loop again and again. It’s a good gameplay loop and just like the third entry progression in Far Cry 4 is still very satisfying. Liberating outposts so you make the world safer to traverse through. Unlocking places you can fast travel to so you don’t have to go backtrack so much. Climbing towers to expand your arsenal of weapons to use in the field.

It’s great stuff but I do want to highlight the problems that arise. Quite a lot of them, but I wanna clarify I do very much enjoy what’s here. To start off climbing towers to reveal more of the map gets repetitive. Everyone knows this if you’ve played a Ubisoft open world game before. It’s not that I hate climbing. I enjoy some good old platforming to switch up the gameplay. It’s just after five or so times it does get old. One thing I appreciated about the fifth game was that you didn't need to climb towers to reveal the map. In fact, it makes a joke about this early only. As much as I appreciate gaining new weapons for free in the shop by climbing towers this does bring upon the problem of becoming overpowered early on. Why take on outposts head on when you can run to every tower you can, deactivate their propaganda radios, unlock a sh*t ton of stuff, equip the most overpowered gear, and run into outposts guns blazing. The difficulty curve in Far Cry 4 is strange. It’s not the hardest shooter in the world, but when you compare the southern region to the northern region you notice a massive contrast. Outposts offer less ways of stealthing around and if so it’s harder. There’s more heavy gunners and flamethrower guys marching around. Two enemy types that can soak up bullets and basically expect you to bring a rocket launcher. There are some outposts later on that summon choppers, and those to come with the expectation you brought a heavy armed weapon to deal with. The max amount of guns you can bring to a fight are four, and one of them has to be a one hander. Far Cry rewards planning and I do respect this philosophy, but making enemies that require specific guns to be dealt with is dumb. As it requires sacrificing the gear you prepped your character with.

Eventually I just gave up on the outposts halfway through, because I was no longer having fun with them and they got repetitive. A problem I remember having with Far Cry 3 along with the tower climbing. Which does suck, because liberating outposts is fun and for me there’s not much else to do in the world. Far Cry 4 does have a few side quests and activities to lose track of time to, but aside from that there’s nothing. Just a nice atmospheric world to absorb yourself in, but maybe that’s enough. I will say though that one of the game’s biggest wasted opportunities has to be the fortresses. What are essentially massive outposts armed to the teeth with wave upon wave of enemies. Ready to gun you down within seconds. They are the toughest challenges the game has to offer and you would have to be a fool to walk in there underequipped. There is a way to make these challenges easier, and it’s not just through getting stronger. If you can take out the commanders of these fortresses, those being one of the four main villains, you weaken the forts. Making them more manageable in the future. However, rather than make these villains huntable and allow you to kill them at any time, the game locks these villains behind story progression. Imagine giving the player an opportunity to hunt these villains outside the main campaign. Do some clue tracking, learn who these people are, their daily schedule, allah Shadow of Mordor. Wouldn’t this be more fun than being forced down a linear campaign? It really does feel like a wasted oppurtunity for interesting moments.

The inventory system and crafting is still pretty terrible. Why have a loot sack that has a small amount of space to store stuff in. A sack where you store all your treasure and crafting materials? Why not just make it two separate storages? Why let me craft half these syringes when a good majority of them I don’t use. You can be unkillable if you bring tons of green herbs into fights, because unlike Far Cry 3 this game has automatic crafting for healing syringes. Meaning you don’t have to open up the inventory screen and are fueled by a never ending pile of healing crud. Also why would you lock skills on the skill tree behind specific side missions I don’t plan to do? A lot of complaining up until this point, but I do want to remind you I enjoyed this game. The combat loop is fun, the guns are fun to use, and your arsenal is diverse enough to let you adapt and change up every now and then. You feel significantly stronger at the end compared to the start of the game, and from that we can say the game has a good sense of progression. 

Which finally brings us onto the story of Far Cry 4, and for the most part I really liked it. I will admit that Far Cry 3 had a stronger protagonist. He was more dynamic and it was easier to tell he was a terrible person by the end. Ahjay doesn’t really do much besides do along with what he is told, but in the case of any Far Cry that’s kind of the point. It’s the supporting cast and moral message that makes Far Cry games stand out. Sure it’s the same message each game, but it’s a good message. Far Cry 3 was about being desensitized by violence, and Far Cry 4 is about the justifications one will create for violence. Ahjay’s original goal was to spread his dead mother’s ashes. Fulfill her dying wish and then leave. Then he gets wrapped into the Golden Path where every hour he’s being persuaded by their main two leaders. The conflict between Sabal and Amita is interesting. They feel more important to the story than Ahjay is as a protagonist. They’ll lecture you into thinking whose ideology is right or wrong. Who's better fit for the country and lead it into a better future. There are points in the game where you are forced into choosing who you side with. Whose mission you go on, and the more of one side you do it changes how the game will end. You learn more about these individuals from helping them, what they support, and overtime you realize that everything you’ve done to help… means nothing.

The game uses a wonderful thing we call the illusion of choice, and the reason it works here is how the antagonist of the game, Pagan Min, comments on the core activities you keep doing. The Golden Path may be fighting against a dictatorship, but that doesn’t mean they’re perfect. The more you learn about Sabal and Amita you realize they’re both corrupt, awful people. One of them is an obsessed conservative who wishes to preserve your father’s dream. Doing what he can to keep the men in power, the woman below them, and create a male dominated world. Even resorting to removing women’s right to vote and allowing child marriage. I chose the second, but that isn’t to say it was better. She wanted to turn Kyrat into a prosperous country that the world would want to trade with more, and the only way she thought it was possible was turning it into a drug state. A country where all the inhabitants are enslaved to indentured servitude and if not they are to be punished with lethal force. No matter what you do Kyrat will always be a terrible place, and both Ahjay and Pagan Min know this. They are aware of the violent tactics being used to fight for a cause. They both get sick of it to the point Pagan Min hands over the country rather than fight for it. He realizes it’s pointless and chooses to leave rather than prolong the cycle.

Pagan Min is an incredible villain. He’s a terrible person with psychotic thoughts, but whenever he talks to Ahjay it always feels like a polite comment rather than an insult. He addresses Ahjay with formality, and during the many occasions he could’ve taken Ahjay’s life he chooses not to. He does whatever he can to persuade Ahjay into thinking what he’s doing is not right, but Ahjay refuses. That is until both individuals stand in the exact same spot in the end. Figuratively and in a literal sense. Why is that? Why is he so kind of Ahjay? Simple, it’s because that’s all he has left of the only woman who ever loved him. You learn near the end that ever since Ishwari left Pagan and chose to flee the country he became a changed man. He became a more violent and soulless person, and stopped caring for what he was doing. You then learn Lakshmana is not a place, but a person. The first child Ishwari ever had was between her and Pagan Min. Lakshmana got killed in the war, and this caused great turmoil between the two individuals. Pagan gives you a lecture saying ever since that day he was a changed person. There was no going back to the former way, and the same can be said for Ahjay. You spent this whole game fighting Pagan Min’s forces. Becoming more violent and forgetting what you were originally doing. You became him.

He brings up a point I think really stands out. He’s always felt like the reason he was doing this was because of the death of Lakshmana. That this gave him a reason to justify everything he did from that point. That violence was the only way to redeem his fallen daughter and cope with the trauma of losing her. Same can be applied to Ahjay. This whole journey started with you wanting to spread her ashes, and the more you played the harder you realized it was to do this. Your mom, the only family you ever had, is dead and you just want to preserve her wish. Doing everything you can to preserve this dream. To then forget and realize you’re in a different place now than at the start. You’ve changed, and once you spread her ashes you’ll accept what you’ve become. No going back to the life you once had. Ahjay holding onto his mother’s ashes is him holding onto who he was, and it’s by finally scattering them that he accepts what is now. A killer servant for the Golden Path. A man whose hands are covered in blood. This is what stands before you now. Far Cry 4 is a dumb, fun, and yet artistic piece we rarely see from Ubisoft nowadays. It’s a game that manages to say a lot amongst the piles of mindless shooting it has to offer. That isn’t to say Ubisoft can’t make art. The more I play their games the more I realize they have a special spice to them. Not the most revolutionary spice, but it’s there and it can continue to be there if they just tried. Far Cry 4 is a flawed although great game, and if you liked what the third game had I recommend it. In the end I give Far cry 4 an 8.5/10 for being pretty good.

8.5/10, Pretty Good