Far Cry 4 – Great, In Ways I Didn’t Expect

After putting video games on hold, it appears that I’m back into the swing of things as of today. This all began when a friend invited me to play Far Cry 4 online. While we barely played together, it sparked some interest in the game.

Having bought this game the day it came out, I was frustrated that yet again, I was leaving a good game to the wayside, in favor of other distractions. Going back to it today has been a great blessing, because I can easily say that Far Cry 4 impresses me in ways I didn’t think it would. I haven’t played much of the series, but so far I’m about 10 hours in and I truly plan to beat it now.

What stopped me from playing the game initially was pretty much one major thing: the game’s world. It’s way too big, or so I thought back then. Going back now, I try to use Fast Travel as best as I can, as well as Auto Drive, which allows the AI to drive the car for you to your destination. Yup, I’m a lazy bastard; but hey, it’s good they give lazy bastards like me these options. As a newcomer to the series, these tools make exploring Kyrat less daunting. Very soon, I found myself warming up to the world and exploring for myself.

Guys, I can still see what you’re doing

The map is filled with tons of things to see and find. Again, this really detracted from the experience I was trying to have. And then a few minutes later, I realized there’s a way to filter out all the garbage you don’t necessarily want to see, which in turn allowed me to focus on what I wanted to do. The amount of orange question marks on the map was unbearable.

So what blossomed from what appeared to be an annoying experience has turned out to be a really solid first person shooter experience. The game is functionally sound, bar some technical issues: I found that setting waypoints on the map sometimes doesn’t work, and there’s some minor popup when the game loads. It’s not that bad, and I don’t mind these small things because Far Cry 4 has so much to discover if you give it the attention it deserves.

There was one glaring omission Ubisoft made with Far Cry 4: not pushing Pagan Min as much as they should. The trailer made me feel like Pagan Min (the villain) would be central to the story. Even ignoring the trailer, the game’s cover art pretty much portrays the same picture. Besides the initial cutscenes, I’m at least 10 hours in with no sign of Pagan Min, safe for some ignorable radio chatter which doesn’t define the character any further. I’ve never played Far Cry 3, but people always talk about Vaas, the villain of said game. Most people have described Far Cry 4 as a better version of Far Cry 3. And while I can’t voice any opinion on this, it certainly feels like they forgot to make an even better villain.

Still, I’ve managed to look past all of these problems in favor of the rest of the game. It’s definitely a solid experience worth your time and money, you just need to accept a few of its faults and enjoy it for what it excels at: a real good First Person Shooter that won’t baby you (unless you choose it to do so).