Three Pillar Reviews

Naming in progress :P

Test Review #3: Far Cry 5!

Played on PS4. Single-player only

Recommended for Gameplay and Immersion

Wonderful World. Wonderful Characters. Wonderful Graphics. Wonderful Gameplay. Wonderful Cinematics. The story leaves much to be desired however.

Immersion Almost Perfect with some mild annoyances.

Even with the PS4 Pro, this game looked amazing; the acting and voice acting, were very immersive. The characters have deep personalities and charisma.
There are some physics bugs, but nothing too surprising with the history of the franchise and similar games. Nothing game-breaking either.
It really hits all the right marks here. Immersion was so good here, it actually surprised me in a specific cutscene that I would have never expected any game to do, and I believe it was very well done even though it can be considered “risky”

Image below is from a screenshot that’s in the first two minutes of the game

Gameplay The changes here are very welcoming and it is less “chorey” than it’s predecessors.

If you played Far Cry 3 or 4, you will find the exact same base gameplay: liberate outposts, save hostages, kill the oppression, you pretty much have the same weapons, takedowns, etc. But they have added guns-for-hire, these are partners that help you out on your missions and just wrecking some shit up. (Except for story missions, more on that in a bit) You can recruit up to 3 fighters you find in the world, or do some special missions to unlock the 9 specialists that are able to help you. Each of these specialists have their own set of skills and weapons. I’m sure you have seen the dog in the trailers, he can mark the enemies for you. There is another guy who comes in with a fighter plane that is quite helpful when you are pinned down. And a woman that uses a bow and arrow to help you stealthily sneak around and finish off the cultists. Initially, you are allowed to have one gun-for-hire by your side, but after you unlock 3? specialists you will be able to buy a perk that allows you to have two guns-for-hire with you. So you can mix and match! My personal favorite were the dog and the woman with the bow and arrow.

That takes us to the perks. In the previous games you had to liberate outposts, perform takedowns, etc to gain exp and that allows you to get perks. You had to kill and skin a lot of animals just so you can have more bows/ammo on your person. They removed all of that here, now if you want perks you’ll have to get perk points, which you get by getting achievements like killing X number of cultists, or skinning Y of this kind of animal, or having your gun-for-hire kill Z number of people etc. So you could be able to unlock (almost) every perk before going in with the story!

So, if you don’t get exp from liberating outposts, then what are they good for?
Well you don’t get exp but you do get Resistance points. And you require certain amount of resistance points to proceed with the story.
There are only a few of story missions here, but they are also forced. What I mean by that is once you pass that amount of resistance points needed for a story mission you get dragged from wherever you are or whatever you are doing and forced to do a story mission that you are not able get out from. It could be a little frustrating at times if you are in a middle of another mission you are about to complete. But don’t worry there aren’t many of them in this game.

The map is divided into three regions, each led by a lieutenant, and you will have to defeat all three before you could go for the cult’s leader. You don’t have to do it in a certain order and you don’t even have to complete a region before going to the next. You can just jump in and out and do whatever missions or outposts you fancy.
Each of the regions have their own feel to them, own resistance meter, and they also each have three specialists that you can unlock. My best suggestion to start the game is by unlocking all 9 specialists first so you’ll have the chance to take a look at each region/lieutenant and figure out how you would like to proceed with the game.

A small annoying issue I faced a couple of times was that when I’m flying a plane or a helicopter and end up dying I respawn in the middle of the air in the helicopter/plane instead of the ground. Now that’s good and all but the actual problem is that you respawn while the engine is turned off, so more often than not you won’t have enough time to gather your momentum to continue you flying before hitting the ground and damaging your vehicle and/or dying yet again. This might have been solved in a later update or patch however, I have played this on the PS4 and I don’t believe I have updated anything when I started.

Oh I forgot to mention! You don’t have to climb as much radio towers here!

Story Immense potential that is wasted by a lack of character arcs and purpose

Personally, I really love stories that revolve around politics or religion, they have incredible potential that can’t be found in others. And a story that revolves around a cult is just something that can go over the roof! The two endings were very well made and I really loved them both. The father’s personality and aura is powerful and keeps you interested in what he has to say.
Unfortunately, while the characters did have a deep personality in them, Ubisoft did not really fully utilize this potential.

One thing that was missing and needed was the lieutenant arcs, three regions with three lieutenants, you do get to know more about them while you are in their regions but it doesn’t feel enough. Some cutscenes tell you a little about their past but then again they raise more interesting questions. Not being able to feel closure once you have completed a region.

Now, the worst aspect of the game is that you don’t really know what ideals the cult has. The misconception I might have created to fill in the blanks contradict with some elements seen in the game. You might understand why the cult is trying to get more followers, but you couldn’t understand why they try to kill and force non-followers as well.
The question of why would they do this pops up a lot in my mind even towards the end.
This makes it very hard to have any feeling about the cult, which could also have a lingering effect in your ending.

I have watched Inside Eden’s Gate, a prequel 30-minute video that is supposed to tell you more about the cult. Even though it did help emphasize what they are trying to do, it still didn’t answer the questions I have raised when I was playing the games.

Verdict
Far Cry 5 is an amazing installment to the series and to the FPS Genre as a whole. With two very solid pillars and good third, you have a lot on the table to play and enjoy the game. Even if story has an issue or two I still think of it as a nice experience.
It’s not a must play however, because of its wasted potential.
If you loved the earlier Far Cry games and you think you need to play another, then yes you should play this as you will greatly enjoy it.
If you tried the earlier Far Cry games and you didn’t think it was interesting then you can avoid this one as its story doesn’t fully redeem it.
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Have any of you guys played this game? How accurate was I in my review?
What did you guys think of my review in general? Anything I should add or remove for my next one?
Is there any question left unanswered after you read my review?
Do you like the new addition “Recommended for Gameplay and Immersion”? I could do more reviews like that eg “Not Recommended because of Gameplay and Story” etc. What do you think?
I want to write a little more about the story, but I also believe that it’s best to know as little as possible when you start a game. How can I write enough about the story without implicating anything to my audience?

What would you like to hear about next: RiME or Beyond: Two Souls?