I’ve been looking forward to this game for lots of reasons, the main one being Giancarlo Esposito, this absolute lad of an actor seems to only feature in absolute gold. You know you’re getting a AAA bad guy portrayal and from everything I’ve seen so far it’s going happening again, and we all know Far Cry really focuses on it’s really hated big bads to give you that focus to get through the game. His story already has me completely invested, and I can’t wait to get my vengeance on him! I won’t dive into the story because I’m sure you’ve seen from the trailers that you’re a Guerilla fighter who’s tasked with taking back your homeland against an evil overseer, let’s be honest we’ve seen this before in this series. Essentially there’s this huge map made up of several islands and you must take back each one to get to Giancarlo’s evil doer Anton Castillo. Obviously along the way you’ll meet lots of side characters and companions to help you and give you lots of little missions.
There’s no doubt that Far Cry 3 and 5 are 2 of my favourite games of all time, 5 blew me away with how different it was and was possibly my favourite sandbox game on PS4. I love the direction they’re heading in with making everything quite unique and making every mission feel important, and moving away from the ‘standard’ Ubi format of climbing 400,000 towers. I think we can all agree that New Dawn wasn’t the best but we can ignore that right… The fun but brutal combat is always a huge selling point and let me tell you it feels damn good with this one. The first big thing In noticed was just how gritty and real everything feels, and that’s what next gen is all about, It’s not just about better graphics and shiny textures but it’s also about realistic mechanics and better stories. So far Far Cry 6 really is a huge show case in what a next gen sandbox/light RPG game can really do, it feels different to something like Miles because you’re running around and interacting with nearly everything you can see. The combat and sheer choice of weapons, vehicles, customisations etc. is really quite impressive….I remember when Assassin’s Creed Syndicate (I think) was advertised it was sold on the basis that ‘any mission could be tackled in any way’ and unfortunately it didn’t quite hit the mark with that, despite being a really great game otherwise.
But FC 6 really feels like that you can really do this; you can go in quietly using a sniper rifle and sending your companion to pick off stragglers, you can use poison gas to make the soldiers fight each other, you can take them on with a helicopter, go in with explosives and LMG, use a machete and nail gun etc, etc. the combat is huge, feels satisfying as fuck and really is impressive. I personally love violent video games and movies, and FC 6 really enables me to unleash that inner maniac, without having the uncontrolled stupidity of something like Just Cause. Just the way people die (major serial killer vibes I know) is really fun, enemies react depending on where you shoot them and the up close melee kills are wonderfully bloody. It feels like you can go around killing everyone with rockets but there are consequences, this game is not easy. If you try and take on a base before first planning your attack (using your smart phone to scan alarms, enemies etc.) you will probably fail, enemies will surround you and annihilate you with grenades if you run in with no plans. However here is my first gripe with the game, it’s how the autosave works. Sometimes you can be doing a mission and die, yet your progress is saved – for example ‘destroy x amount of property’ I got the bar to 93% died, came back and it was still the same. So me dying had no effect on the mission, which slightly eliminated some of the challenge for me. It can also put you in really random places after re-loading, sometimes in the middle of the enemy base, sometimes miles away from your mission was / where you died.
It’s not just about killing lots of people, well it mostly is, but there are other things to do because Ubisoft know they need to distract us from their classic ‘unlocking the map formula’ (by the way this time it’s destroying anti aircraft cannons instead of towers). In FC 6 you can take part in cock fights which have a Tekken style mockery, take part in treasure hunts which aren’t just a case of following a map, complete missions for your camp, steal enemy supply trucks, unlock tonnes of vehicles (land, air and sea) for you to have fun with, and much much more. So far I’ve found it’s only worth attacking enemy areas as part of a mission, because eventually all missions/side quests will make you attack each base, and take part in the other activities when highlighted – usually with a red or purple icon. You can also follow Yaran stories which will have you completing various activities for the locals to earn their trust and their goodies. Also this game really does look fantastic, although I’ve had a fair few texture pops and cut jittery cut scenes…..I can absolutely forgive this just because of how good this game looks. I’ve never used the ‘free look’ input so much when driving/flying to look at the scenery around me. Yara really is a gorgeous environment to play and get lost in.
I could blabber on all day about the gameplay being pretty mind blowing and what you can do within this huge map, but what do I really feel. Well…..I don’t know what to score this game at all. Whilst it plays and looks amazing I still find myself thinking ‘do I really want to play through this entire game’, I probably will as the gameplay is so fun and I know there will be more and more to do, however the back if my mind is still on the other games I’m playing. I think this is a really good version of Far Cry 3/5 but that’s exactly what it is, it’s Ubisoft at their best with the best console gaming technology at their hands. Yes they have made it so it feels like you’re not doing the same thing over and over again, yet I am seeing lots of similarities still to lots of their other games (eg. building up the camp in Valhalla) and I can’t ignore that. Whilst the game is all about revolution the design itself isn’t exactly revolutionary, it for sure takes advantage of the PS5’s capabilities and is very impressive indeed, however if you’re like me and play a lot of Ubi games you may find yourself getting distracted….. For me it’s a: