As somebody who used to be a big Far Cry enjoyer but fell out of the series after FC5, New Dawn reminds me of why enjoyed these games so much, but also showed me that the series really needs a dramatic change.
Obviously New Dawn takes a lot from FC5 and mechanically feels the same, but there's enough changes here that makes me like this more. For instance, the story presentation is much less intrusive than in FC5, which was a big annoyance for me. There's also some interesting live service-esque features, like replayable missions/activities with increasing difficulty, which actually works quite well in practice. Not to mention that the colorful open world area can be quite breathtaking sometimes, I especially enjoy the night time skybox. Also, pretty good photo mode!
But as you might expect from a modern Ubisoft game, the story and writing can be... uninteresting, but its at least inoffensive. The live service stuff also creeps in through the microtransaction features, which is quite annoying to see every time I'm browsing for new vehicles or weapons. I also think that the FC formula is especially showing its age in the main missions, it feels like some of the worst parts of the PS3-360 era shooter craze being brought back to life (and this is coming from somebody who loves that era of games).
New Dawn certainly tries to be fitting to its name, but it's still just another day in the life of a Far Cry game. There's some fun, small changes to the formula but you can't dress up an aging mannequin too much.
I also wrote another "Photo Journal" for this game, it's basically an article filled with screenshots from the game that I took myself, and I try to narrate what's going on in my playthrough and my thoughts of the game using those screenshots as visual aid. If you're curious check it out here.
Obviously New Dawn takes a lot from FC5 and mechanically feels the same, but there's enough changes here that makes me like this more. For instance, the story presentation is much less intrusive than in FC5, which was a big annoyance for me. There's also some interesting live service-esque features, like replayable missions/activities with increasing difficulty, which actually works quite well in practice. Not to mention that the colorful open world area can be quite breathtaking sometimes, I especially enjoy the night time skybox. Also, pretty good photo mode!
But as you might expect from a modern Ubisoft game, the story and writing can be... uninteresting, but its at least inoffensive. The live service stuff also creeps in through the microtransaction features, which is quite annoying to see every time I'm browsing for new vehicles or weapons. I also think that the FC formula is especially showing its age in the main missions, it feels like some of the worst parts of the PS3-360 era shooter craze being brought back to life (and this is coming from somebody who loves that era of games).
New Dawn certainly tries to be fitting to its name, but it's still just another day in the life of a Far Cry game. There's some fun, small changes to the formula but you can't dress up an aging mannequin too much.
I also wrote another "Photo Journal" for this game, it's basically an article filled with screenshots from the game that I took myself, and I try to narrate what's going on in my playthrough and my thoughts of the game using those screenshots as visual aid. If you're curious check it out here.