Far Cry 4
Producer: Ubisoft
Release Date: November 18, 2014
Platform: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4, PC
Rating: Mature
Genre: First-Person Action-Adventure
Climb Every Mountain
Written by Josh Schilling
Imagine this: you hit the start button at the title screen and you continue from where you left off. You pull up the map to refresh your memory a little, and you see an open world littered with various icons that point to something of interest, and large letters that indicate that there’s a cut scene and a mission to be had there. If you’ve played some of the more popular titles of the last ten years, then this scenario should sound awfully familiar. Whether Creeding or Theiving or Elder Scrollsing, the open-world genre of video games from years past have created a ruddy, deeply worn trail for the new generation to follow. While some will grab the proverbial torch and fumble it immediately due to gross incompetence, some will be able to grasp it firmly and take it forward in huge strides, and then there will be those that, while not necessarily revolutionizing the genre, will find ways of tapping into that one aspect of video games that all titles aspire for: making it fun.
Far Cry 4 is an open-world action-adventure game that takes place in Kyrat, a fictional Himalayan country that is quite massive in scale. Your character is Ajay Ghale, a native of Kyrat that grew up in America, and your mission is to return to your homeland to scatter your mother’s ashes. You meet your main antagonist, Pagan Min, right off the bat, and you end up joining a rebellion against him in an attempt to ring in a promising future for the struggling nation. The land is rife with action, and there are many options to explore ranging from hunting the native flora and fauna, to racing, arena fighting, or just taking a long look at the sprawling, wonderful scenery. You can get around by car, boat, buzzcopter or wingsuit, and wherever you land, there always seems to be some sort of interesting hub-bub nearby.
While Far Cry 4 doesn’t change much of the basic formula of open-world gaming, it does hold your attention. The chaos of the environment is one of the most fascinating parts of this game, and while you will get attacked frequently by animals in the wild (watch out for those bastard honey badgers), the game adds realism by having them interact with each other, and can use the predators to your advantage as well by baiting them to attack your soldier enemies. Want to ride an elephant? Then this is the game for you, because you can hop aboard and use him to stomp or toss your enemies whether they’re in a vehicle or not. Far Cry 4 bombards you with a great many things to see and do, along with multiple modes of gameplay including co-op and multiplayer, and it all culminates in the spiritual realm of Shangri-La where you can command a tiger to dispatch your ghostly foes.
There were a few glitches to be sure, like frozen screens, floating enemies, and painfully long load times in multiplayer, but this game is far from broken like some other big name titles out in the market right now. Far Cry 4 also tries a little too hard at times, especially with the big, bad Pagan Min. You can tell that the developers wanted a monumental, memorable villain, but he doesn’t quite meet those expectations. You do get faced with interesting decisions when you’re fighting alongside the rebellious Golden Path of which philosophy to follow. Do you fight for the conservative ideology, or do you try to move Kyrat into the modern world? Your choices do have consequences, of course.
With everything that this game presents to you, the great majority of it ends up being extremely exciting and fun. How many games can have your missions interrupted by a charging rhinoceros, or have you leaping from a small helicopter to capture a supply truck? Far Cry 4 takes the open-world recipe and liberally adds some interesting spices, making it is easy to get lost in the lush and dangerous landscape.