Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Producer: Ubisoft
Release Date: May 1, 2013
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-person shooter
Enter The Dragon
Written by Josh Schilling
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a stand-alone expansion of Far Cry 3 and you can get it for $15 from Xbox Live Arcade, PlayStation Network or Windows even without owning Far Cry 3. While there are a smattering of similarities to its progenitor, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon differs wildly in just about every aspect. The main difference is that instead of playing as a boring dude-bro named Jason Brody, you play as a Cyber Commando named Rex Power Colt, and that name alone should give you a taste of where this game wants to take you. This is a violent machismo-fueled homage to the great 1980’s action movies as the game comes nowhere close to taking itself seriously. It is a joyous, bloody romp that will probably make you laugh out loud.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon relies on the typical first-person-shooter formula and it is set in a fairly decent-sized open world, but the game makes up for this homogenized base by immersing you into a brightly colored 80’s-style, retro-futuristic gun-fest. It heaves NES-esque 8-bit cut-scenes at you with a lead character that is voiced by action movie icon Michael Beihn, and you can lob a d20 die in order to distract your enemies. The dialogue is genuinely funny without being stupid, and the main story is a crazy, twisty-turny adventure. This game is Borderlands on cocaine and succeeds mainly because it is so completely dedicated to its outlandish, bloody, neon theme.
This game is not without its flaws, but a few glitchy bugs and ho-hum mechanics are not enough to detract from the overall presentation of Blood Dragon. The selection of weapons is pretty standard, and you have the all-too-familiar choices of bursting into a battle with guns blazing or adopting a stealthier approach. In some cases, you have the option of luring a dragon into the fray and watching it destroy your enemies while they electronically exclaim “holy crap.” The overall game is only about 8 hours if you play straight through, although there are a few collectibles if you so desire, but like just about everything else in this game, the collectibles are funny and unique in their own right. Some games want you to kill at least one of the various fauna in the area, but in other games do they have Devil Goats, Cyber Sharks, Robo Crocodiles or Mutated Cassowaries?
If you like over-the-top, then this is the game for you. I could go on and on about the many outrageous tidbits about this game, but I won’t, you just have to experience it for yourself. It’s an incredible value for only $15, and it is a must play for any serious gamer. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon will fill you with layers of memorable moments that, like a good cheesy action movie, will have you repeating the phrases and situations to your friends ad nauseam. This is a game that will have legs, and I will wager that word of mouth is going to make this game into a classic, just like many of the action films that this game honors.