Far Cry 4 Review
/Far Cry 4 was developed by Ubisoft and is the next game in the franchise following Far Cry 3. It was released in November 2014. Far Cry 4 is a large open world first-person shooter and uses the Ubisoft created Dunia Game Engine. The stories from Far Cry 4 are unrelated to Far Cry 3.
The game is set in a fictional Himalayan country in a place called Kyrat. This open world is covered with high mountain terrain and consists of the north and south Kyrat. The north of Kyrat is locked until you progress to the required place in the story line.
Ajay Ghale is the main protagonist in this game. He is a Kyrati-American and the game depicts him traveling through Kyrat on a bus to a location to spread his mother’s ashes. He is stopped at a road block and from here becomes entangled in a civil war between Kyrat’s Royal Army led by an oppressive dictator called Pagan Min and a rebel movement called the Golden Path. There is much to do in this game and the size of the environment can seem a little overwhelming at times, but there is always the main story to follow and radio towers to unlock. I found the game more enjoyable to play by unlocking as many radio towers you can find. Doing this removes the fog from the map letting you see all the roads and settlements in the world. To unlock a radio tower, you have to climb to the top and each radio tower is different in design. One of the ways to overcome the sheer size of the map and height of the terrain was for Ubisoft to incorporate small helicopters spread around the map (normally found at bases you have liberated). With the addition of hang gliders and a wingsuit you can unlock it is much easier to traverse long distances and heights. If you do prefer to do it by car and on foot, there is a grappling hook that fastens to the sides of mountains so you can climb up.
To get the most out of the graphics you will need at least an equivalent to a GTX 960 or above if you want the settings on high. With a high end graphics card the world looks stunning especially at sun set and dawn.
As far as the story goes I found it entertaining in parts and there are decisions you have to make which affects the outcome of the game. Once you finish the main story there is still hours of exploring that can be done as well as side missions which can be more fun than the main story itself. For example, one of the things you can do is discover all the question marks on the map with the helicopter.
The game play is what you would expect from a modern FPS. You have to start with limited weapons and skills which you unlock as you progress. There are a few stealth elements to the game which can make some missions more frustrating. Completing side quests is also a good way to unlock extra weapons and skill points. Also you can use some weapons while flying and driving which makes disposing of the enemy more interesting.
Similar to Far Cry 3 you can hunt the wildlife to get skins. These skins can unlock things like a bigger wallet and bigger ammo pouch and a larger weapon holster.
The game is rated M for mature. Contains drugs, Violence and some nudity.
I give it 7.9/10