Before I get started, I want to say that the state of the PC port is pitiful. PCGamingWiki has all this shit listed, and even though you can ignore fine-tuning some - or in my case, most - of them, that doesn't change how it is in-game. I've had some random disappearances happen while in fights, the microstutter is abundant, animation errors from both play and AI being wonky, instances where an interaction prompt wouldn't appear until I backed off a certain distance, it's sad. Far, far from the worst PC port available, and I imagine some of these issues could have cropped up due to advancements in OSes compared to what it was like in 2012, but it's still a shame to see. You'd think Ubisoft would've tried to make some adjustments so that it's in a better state instead of weirdly and randomly getting rid of online and DLC support for it and several other games, but nnnnnope. I would also like to apologize in advance if this gets very wordy.
So, Far Cry 3. Deriving from an abundant sources like Apocalypse Now, Deliverance, and Deer Hunter and 1989's Prince Of Persia, numerous folks over the years have said this was the Patient Zero for how modern, AAA games have structured their open world environment. A claim that's both warranted and unwarranted, if I must be honest, which ironically enough was because Ubisoft themselves failed to learn about what makes this game work in isolation compared to entries both before and after. Rook Island, as a whole, is actually fairly light and breezy to explore, even back in 2012. Yultimona talks about this, but by the time FC3 released, you had games like Ubi's own Assassin's Creed, some of Rockstar's non-GTA titles like Bully and Red Dead Redemption, Sucker Punch's inFamous, even cult hits like Saints Row 2, and - from the same year no less - Sleeping Dogs. I could go on and on with these namedrops, but you get my point, the whole aspect of the genre mold was being and already formulated by then.
The distinction FC3 attempts from, and in most cases succeeded in, setting Rook Island apart was utilizing the setting as both the foundation of the gameplay loop, as well as being characterized within the narrative. Whether it's from (frankly underutilized) old letters from long-dead Japanese soldiers that once laid out here, the various wildlife you can find, the hallucination sequences in the story itself, even old, rotted temples and caverns, the island beats a pulse as you go along. Sure, some of the games I've previously listed have done this to a degree, but not to this grand and consistent degree. That being said, the actual core activities you can do are pretty rudimentary. Clearing outposts, using different vehicles to go around, hunting the plants and animals as well as doing some races via supply runs or actual lapped stuff or poker games are still fairly enjoyable, but I also forgot how dull the human bounties are, climbing the radio towers always stays as a stagnant and menial chore, and you have like, little to no reason to do the side quests considering obtaining money can be done from the previously mentioned items, or just looting and selling shit. There's also collecting relics or memory cards which is fine enough I suppose. Considering the bite-size nature of each mission arcs, as well as how doing each activity leads into a mini-escapade to do after, I'd say the loop is pretty founded... until you hit the last third where it just sort of does an Ouroboros as to give the remaining story beats some space since it uh, blatantly becomes a typical linear FPS by then.
Another aspect that gets utilized in both ends are the three skill trees. After getting tatted by Dennis, a follower of Citra's tribe the Rakyat, from escaping Vaas and his entourage's trap, main white boy Jason Brody goes under the tribunal influences, and from this he gains power after getting the designated experience, and alongside this there's also the crafting system you can use to upgrade your various possessions, like wallets, holsters, etc etc., needing this in order to rescue the rest of his friends and brother. Narratively it works super well, and functionally it strikes a fair bit better than other games trying to use this approach, mainly cause a chunk of them are stuff that makes sense to get as an upgrade. Granted though, there's still the occasional power that feels like it should've been included by default. Like yea OK, I can kinda see why a longer time underwater or different syringe types are gated off, but do you really need to make investments on halving your vehicle damages, or having to make mandatory beelines for ammo upgrades since you start off so pitifully small? A silver lining from this, at least, is that it's pretty easy, I've gotten all the necessary skill upgrades in the first third, almost all the ones in the second third, and got all of them right before the final stretch of missions, as well as maxing out half of the crafting upgrades during the transitional phase to that second third, and then all of them not that long after.
As for combat itself, there's two flavors, assault and stealth. The assault part's good! A majority of the guns had the right amount of oomph and punch to them, making the encounters pretty enjoyable to go through. I stuck with Assault Rifle for mid-long range, Shotgun and Pistols for close-mid range, and the Bow just cause it's fun as hell and activates that sweet dopamine when I land a shot from far away, and I was swappin and pickup up weapons when needed to scrape by. Stealth's... fine, but it very much needed more time to be built upon. You got a distraction tool, a weird implementation of leaning (you have to get close to a wall or cover while iron sighted and it does it automatically, like I said it's weird), a camera to tag enemies with, and you get a few - and I do stress, few - ways to sneak inside or go past enemies. The problem is that it's super rooted into the linearity and rigid aspect of the gunplay, meaning that despite all these fancy tools and skills to use on enemies, sometimes you're inevitably gonna have to fight em off when exposed. You can be able to kill everyone undetected, and the opportunities of doing so is rather plentiful, so it isn't too bad, but it's still rather annoying anyway. Really, it was at its best when outside elements trickled in, such as wild animals causing a ruckus for either me or the enemies, as well as guards driving by yet stopping when they get in an alert state.
The story's gonna make up the rest of the review now, as a heads up. If you, miraculously, have little to no info as to what happens, I'll make a line break before and after the section, since it's... quite something. I like some aspects and the ideas it offers, but the execution of it is very muddled and doesn't utilize it enough to mean much, if you want a summary. I sure do wish Backloggd incorporates a spoiler text format already instead of only giving us an ultimatum.
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The main point of the narrative is how violence can degrade and mentally warp a person's wellbeing, being emphasized by Jason becoming more bloodlust as you continue on, as well as being the focal point of the previously-mentioned Vaas, who's the brother of Citra and was once a part of the Rakyat, the sleazy Australian sexual predator Buck, holding one of the friends hostage, and snobby prick Hoyt, the ringleader of the whole shebang and also an avid fan of poker allusions, each knife fight against them warping away from reality and becoming a dance floor reminiscent of one of the clubs prior to the island visit. Allies throughout are Dr. Alec Earnhardt, a drug-dealing botanist who gives your friends a safe retreat from the ongoings as they repair a boat to escape, CIA Operative Willis Huntley who's just as deranged as the rest of the inhabitants despite trying his best to convince you otherwise, and then Sam Becker, an undercover op posing as one of Hoyt's privateers that gives you a way-in to help take him down. As noted earlier, Rook Island, is the force for each one of these people, affecting them and making them go quite looney, maybe with the exception of Willis who's just kind of like that to begin with.
Thing is... it doesn't really give them the best of character. The simplicity of the friends works due to how they really, really just want to get the fuck out of there, and also note how Jason grows quite a strange development as it continues on. It works for Willis since he delivers some of the funniest and batshit lines in the game, as well as giving his own commentary on things in this game's codex equivalent. It works for Vaas due to his role designed to not only be a dualism approach as to being a mirrored position of Jason, but also be like Darth Vader, a villain lacking screentime yet stealing the spotlight whenever they appear due to how they enhance and upheld the actions of the story - which, ironically enough, worked considering this game's lasting legacy is quoting the famous insanity speech from Albert Einstein despite it being one of his last appearance in the game, also being helped out by how the voice behind him, Michael Mando, decided to improvise when acting him out, causing the team to plan him out even further after giving him immense praise. It doesn't really work for half of the key players cause there's barely anything that makes them stick out aside from their fucked-up, sinful caricature (Buck = Lust, Hoyt = Greed, Sam = Wrath, Earnhardt = Sloth). It probably was the point, sure, but considering how well the others slotted in, I don't think it ultimately speaks as much by comparison.
And then you get to Citra who's somewhat emblematic on the writing's messy nature. I neglected to mention it until now, but there was a bit of a debacle on the game as to how it depicted the culture of the Rakyat, and also cause well, you're playing as a white guy pretty much helping them out so strongly. One of the sources I linked earlier had producer Dan Hay briefly talk about this, but lead writer Jeffrey Yohalem goes into further detail in this Rock Paper Shotgun article, one point being that Jason's position was more so that of a used gun, hopping from owner to owner in order to carry out their own deeds through the acts of violence. To a degree I can see this being the intent, there's more than enough implication that Citra has and will continue to do this on other people, little of the actual hallucination sequences actually showcase any sort of insensitivity, and ultimately, you were pretty much at the wrong place at the wrong time once the story started. Thing is though, the way some of these tropes come off seems rather rocky, especially given that one of these sequences uses has the act of stabbing the eye of a demonic giant be used as an allusion to Jason climaxing inside her, and also cause the tribe members themselves don't really do much of anything to begin with, only Dennis actively contributes.
It's really disappointing since I never minded the abundant use of Alice In Wonderland quotes found in chapter transitions, and it doesn't become outright awful, but it left me a lot to desire upon seeing it all unfold again after so many years.
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Though this is the first time since I've played FC3 after several years and never getting the drive of just doing so, I've gotta say it mostly lived up to what I can remember it. Despite the rocky and inconsistent quality throughout, I did end up still liking the game to a fair degree. I feel like this is one of those cases where it's the sum of the parts that makes the experience enjoyable, rather than one or two individual aspects carrying it all together. This is far from my favorite Ubisoft title that I've gone through thus far, yet for some reason I often think about this. Maybe it's cause of the ambitious nature, maybe it's cause of how it was one of the final release the brand as a whole made before fully becoming the """apolitical""" tepid sludge it is today, maybe it's both, but it's a piece of art that's somehow stuck by me. I am interested as to how the first and especially second game fair, as well as Blood Dragon too since I never played it, but I'm pretty fine not touching the following entries. Maybe 4, but that's about it.
So, Far Cry 3. Deriving from an abundant sources like Apocalypse Now, Deliverance, and Deer Hunter and 1989's Prince Of Persia, numerous folks over the years have said this was the Patient Zero for how modern, AAA games have structured their open world environment. A claim that's both warranted and unwarranted, if I must be honest, which ironically enough was because Ubisoft themselves failed to learn about what makes this game work in isolation compared to entries both before and after. Rook Island, as a whole, is actually fairly light and breezy to explore, even back in 2012. Yultimona talks about this, but by the time FC3 released, you had games like Ubi's own Assassin's Creed, some of Rockstar's non-GTA titles like Bully and Red Dead Redemption, Sucker Punch's inFamous, even cult hits like Saints Row 2, and - from the same year no less - Sleeping Dogs. I could go on and on with these namedrops, but you get my point, the whole aspect of the genre mold was being and already formulated by then.
The distinction FC3 attempts from, and in most cases succeeded in, setting Rook Island apart was utilizing the setting as both the foundation of the gameplay loop, as well as being characterized within the narrative. Whether it's from (frankly underutilized) old letters from long-dead Japanese soldiers that once laid out here, the various wildlife you can find, the hallucination sequences in the story itself, even old, rotted temples and caverns, the island beats a pulse as you go along. Sure, some of the games I've previously listed have done this to a degree, but not to this grand and consistent degree. That being said, the actual core activities you can do are pretty rudimentary. Clearing outposts, using different vehicles to go around, hunting the plants and animals as well as doing some races via supply runs or actual lapped stuff or poker games are still fairly enjoyable, but I also forgot how dull the human bounties are, climbing the radio towers always stays as a stagnant and menial chore, and you have like, little to no reason to do the side quests considering obtaining money can be done from the previously mentioned items, or just looting and selling shit. There's also collecting relics or memory cards which is fine enough I suppose. Considering the bite-size nature of each mission arcs, as well as how doing each activity leads into a mini-escapade to do after, I'd say the loop is pretty founded... until you hit the last third where it just sort of does an Ouroboros as to give the remaining story beats some space since it uh, blatantly becomes a typical linear FPS by then.
Another aspect that gets utilized in both ends are the three skill trees. After getting tatted by Dennis, a follower of Citra's tribe the Rakyat, from escaping Vaas and his entourage's trap, main white boy Jason Brody goes under the tribunal influences, and from this he gains power after getting the designated experience, and alongside this there's also the crafting system you can use to upgrade your various possessions, like wallets, holsters, etc etc., needing this in order to rescue the rest of his friends and brother. Narratively it works super well, and functionally it strikes a fair bit better than other games trying to use this approach, mainly cause a chunk of them are stuff that makes sense to get as an upgrade. Granted though, there's still the occasional power that feels like it should've been included by default. Like yea OK, I can kinda see why a longer time underwater or different syringe types are gated off, but do you really need to make investments on halving your vehicle damages, or having to make mandatory beelines for ammo upgrades since you start off so pitifully small? A silver lining from this, at least, is that it's pretty easy, I've gotten all the necessary skill upgrades in the first third, almost all the ones in the second third, and got all of them right before the final stretch of missions, as well as maxing out half of the crafting upgrades during the transitional phase to that second third, and then all of them not that long after.
As for combat itself, there's two flavors, assault and stealth. The assault part's good! A majority of the guns had the right amount of oomph and punch to them, making the encounters pretty enjoyable to go through. I stuck with Assault Rifle for mid-long range, Shotgun and Pistols for close-mid range, and the Bow just cause it's fun as hell and activates that sweet dopamine when I land a shot from far away, and I was swappin and pickup up weapons when needed to scrape by. Stealth's... fine, but it very much needed more time to be built upon. You got a distraction tool, a weird implementation of leaning (you have to get close to a wall or cover while iron sighted and it does it automatically, like I said it's weird), a camera to tag enemies with, and you get a few - and I do stress, few - ways to sneak inside or go past enemies. The problem is that it's super rooted into the linearity and rigid aspect of the gunplay, meaning that despite all these fancy tools and skills to use on enemies, sometimes you're inevitably gonna have to fight em off when exposed. You can be able to kill everyone undetected, and the opportunities of doing so is rather plentiful, so it isn't too bad, but it's still rather annoying anyway. Really, it was at its best when outside elements trickled in, such as wild animals causing a ruckus for either me or the enemies, as well as guards driving by yet stopping when they get in an alert state.
The story's gonna make up the rest of the review now, as a heads up. If you, miraculously, have little to no info as to what happens, I'll make a line break before and after the section, since it's... quite something. I like some aspects and the ideas it offers, but the execution of it is very muddled and doesn't utilize it enough to mean much, if you want a summary. I sure do wish Backloggd incorporates a spoiler text format already instead of only giving us an ultimatum.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The main point of the narrative is how violence can degrade and mentally warp a person's wellbeing, being emphasized by Jason becoming more bloodlust as you continue on, as well as being the focal point of the previously-mentioned Vaas, who's the brother of Citra and was once a part of the Rakyat, the sleazy Australian sexual predator Buck, holding one of the friends hostage, and snobby prick Hoyt, the ringleader of the whole shebang and also an avid fan of poker allusions, each knife fight against them warping away from reality and becoming a dance floor reminiscent of one of the clubs prior to the island visit. Allies throughout are Dr. Alec Earnhardt, a drug-dealing botanist who gives your friends a safe retreat from the ongoings as they repair a boat to escape, CIA Operative Willis Huntley who's just as deranged as the rest of the inhabitants despite trying his best to convince you otherwise, and then Sam Becker, an undercover op posing as one of Hoyt's privateers that gives you a way-in to help take him down. As noted earlier, Rook Island, is the force for each one of these people, affecting them and making them go quite looney, maybe with the exception of Willis who's just kind of like that to begin with.
Thing is... it doesn't really give them the best of character. The simplicity of the friends works due to how they really, really just want to get the fuck out of there, and also note how Jason grows quite a strange development as it continues on. It works for Willis since he delivers some of the funniest and batshit lines in the game, as well as giving his own commentary on things in this game's codex equivalent. It works for Vaas due to his role designed to not only be a dualism approach as to being a mirrored position of Jason, but also be like Darth Vader, a villain lacking screentime yet stealing the spotlight whenever they appear due to how they enhance and upheld the actions of the story - which, ironically enough, worked considering this game's lasting legacy is quoting the famous insanity speech from Albert Einstein despite it being one of his last appearance in the game, also being helped out by how the voice behind him, Michael Mando, decided to improvise when acting him out, causing the team to plan him out even further after giving him immense praise. It doesn't really work for half of the key players cause there's barely anything that makes them stick out aside from their fucked-up, sinful caricature (Buck = Lust, Hoyt = Greed, Sam = Wrath, Earnhardt = Sloth). It probably was the point, sure, but considering how well the others slotted in, I don't think it ultimately speaks as much by comparison.
And then you get to Citra who's somewhat emblematic on the writing's messy nature. I neglected to mention it until now, but there was a bit of a debacle on the game as to how it depicted the culture of the Rakyat, and also cause well, you're playing as a white guy pretty much helping them out so strongly. One of the sources I linked earlier had producer Dan Hay briefly talk about this, but lead writer Jeffrey Yohalem goes into further detail in this Rock Paper Shotgun article, one point being that Jason's position was more so that of a used gun, hopping from owner to owner in order to carry out their own deeds through the acts of violence. To a degree I can see this being the intent, there's more than enough implication that Citra has and will continue to do this on other people, little of the actual hallucination sequences actually showcase any sort of insensitivity, and ultimately, you were pretty much at the wrong place at the wrong time once the story started. Thing is though, the way some of these tropes come off seems rather rocky, especially given that one of these sequences uses has the act of stabbing the eye of a demonic giant be used as an allusion to Jason climaxing inside her, and also cause the tribe members themselves don't really do much of anything to begin with, only Dennis actively contributes.
It's really disappointing since I never minded the abundant use of Alice In Wonderland quotes found in chapter transitions, and it doesn't become outright awful, but it left me a lot to desire upon seeing it all unfold again after so many years.
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Though this is the first time since I've played FC3 after several years and never getting the drive of just doing so, I've gotta say it mostly lived up to what I can remember it. Despite the rocky and inconsistent quality throughout, I did end up still liking the game to a fair degree. I feel like this is one of those cases where it's the sum of the parts that makes the experience enjoyable, rather than one or two individual aspects carrying it all together. This is far from my favorite Ubisoft title that I've gone through thus far, yet for some reason I often think about this. Maybe it's cause of the ambitious nature, maybe it's cause of how it was one of the final release the brand as a whole made before fully becoming the """apolitical""" tepid sludge it is today, maybe it's both, but it's a piece of art that's somehow stuck by me. I am interested as to how the first and especially second game fair, as well as Blood Dragon too since I never played it, but I'm pretty fine not touching the following entries. Maybe 4, but that's about it.
6 Comments
I'm just glad my name is attributed to a game I actually like and not solely the atrocity that is Heavy Rain
Thanks for the shout-out! Got me to edit my review to not call the first two games in this series tech demos lmao
Anyway, absolutely superb shit. I'm not saying that to flatter you. Honestly, first word to last word, I was engrossed. Great stuff! 👍
Anyway, absolutely superb shit. I'm not saying that to flatter you. Honestly, first word to last word, I was engrossed. Great stuff! 👍
I haven't dabbled much with FC1 yet since for a while it was pretty dang broken, but so far nothing in FC2 really felt tech demo-y yea. The closeted, near-claustrophobic sandbox feel reminded me of Mafia, for mostly good reasons.
And ty! Feels like this site has been helping to improve my prose and writing style, especially with how I'm less likely to repeatedly use words unless it's for a point
And ty! Feels like this site has been helping to improve my prose and writing style, especially with how I'm less likely to repeatedly use words unless it's for a point
I like reading reviews on this site because I find different perspectives on media interesting. Granted you aren't just writing a single sentence or saying that something sucks because that's been decided for you (I've been guilty of the latter before and I'm ashamed to admit it), I think there's a lot that can be gleaned about a person just from them explaining why they like/don't like what they've experienced.
I don't know that I can say it's improved my writing style. Maybe it has? But I can't tell, honestly. If it's improved yours, though, great! Always good to see.
I don't know that I can say it's improved my writing style. Maybe it has? But I can't tell, honestly. If it's improved yours, though, great! Always good to see.
Just recently tried the game on PC and it's baffling how poorly it runs, it has so many problems to this very day that I have no idea how they had the balls to release it into market like that....
Amazing review!
Amazing review!
GenericBoyMan
1 year ago