My time with Far Cry 4 has, sadly, been a bit limited. That’s not a testament to the game’s quality, though; I really like what I’ve played so far. Warlords of Draenor has been taking up a lot of my time, though.
It’s been nice to be able to escape the constant dungeon healing and garrison missions with a Himalayan “vacation,” though. Far Cry 4‘s Kyrat is both massive and extremely impressive visually. The bright and welcoming colors of the tropical paradise setting of Far Cry 3 are long gone, replaced by the darker and grittier tones of a war-torn mountain region. One that still invites players to do whatever they feel like (to a certain extent as killing random merchants gives out bad karma and ain’t nobody got time for that).
Ubisoft has managed to shoehorn in a story about being someone’s son and getting caught up in a civil war when all you wanted to do is spread your deceased mother’s ashes. I say shoehorned because the selling point of Far Cry 4 was never its narrative. Sure, its antagonist is visually distinct and could give a memorable performance, but that’s not why I’m interested in the title. The open world, sacking of outposts, surviving off the land. That’s what made Far Cry 3 so special and it’s what has made Far Cry 4 enjoyable thus far.
As for new innovations, they’ve appeared to be a bit lacking thus far. That being said, one of the limitations of Far Cry 3 was the fact that it felt like a next-generation game hampered by hardware limitations. Far Cry 4 doesn’t have these same issues. While it may be one of many sequels released for the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 over the past year, this is one of the few times where it’s felt like a next-gen experience. The general feeling of “yeah, I couldn’t of done that a few years ago” has come across my mind several times.
Still, I have to caution my excitement for now. There’s still a lot to play, plenty of people to shoot, and enough story to unfold that could make my eyes roll out of my sockets. For now, though, know this about Far Cry 4: it wasn’t broken and Ubisoft didn’t attempt to fix anything.
Disclaimer: We were given a review copy of Far Cry 4 by Ubisoft for Xbox One.
