Did you enjoy Far Cry 3? I sure did, more so then I ever could imagine with it becoming one of the best games I have ever played. So obviously when Far Cry 4 was announced I got excited. It's one of the main reasons I bought a PS4 just to play this on a next gen console because I knew the bump in immersion would be visually impressive if handled by the same team at Ubi Montreal again. How does it rank up? Well let me put it this way, if you loved Far Cry 3, you're going to really love Far Cry 4. Not much has changed except for the location in the game, and obviously the story line. That's not a bad thing in my eyes because I wanted more of that experience that I had with Far Cry 3 and Ubi Soft has delivered. So, lets get right into it. COMBAT: First the combat. Take Far Cry 3, now amp that up to the next level. The selection of weapons is just as robust as Far Cry 3. All the same weapons with some new signatures thrown into the mix. Level up has not changed with how you buff out your gear. But what's added in are a few really cool and awesome ways to destroy. One is leveling Ajay up and being able to mount and ride an elephant and using it's trunk and power to just one hit kill everything in it's path. It feels exactly as you would expect and it's badass and hilarious at the same time. New to the game though and quite fun is the gyrocopter. Nothing screams awesome then being able to hover over an enemy camp and take them out from above, by either using your gun directly, opening a cage to let loose an animal, dropping a fire from above with a Molotov, or simply tossing a grenade. Pick your poison. You can also use animal meat to lure danger into the enemy camp. On this end I gotta give Ubi Soft credit for really amping up the creative elements in how you want to take down your foes. It's just awesome. Controls are smooth as butter with fantastic response. CRAFTING & LEVELING UP: Crafting and leveling up is exactly the same right down to the skill points (except for the Tiger & the Elephant has replaced the Tattoos from Far Cry 3). You'll farm for skins, herbs for various upgrades, and racking up XP to unlock the skill tree. Nothing new to really report. DISCOVERY: Discovery on the other hand is just as rewarding and time consuming (in a good way) as before. You will spend hours traversing the massive and beautiful world of Kyrat, and I do mean massive. If you felt overwhelmed with the size of Far Cry 3, you're really gonna feel it here, but again in a good way with that sense of awe. I mean hey, it's why we play games to have fun and lose ourselves in the moment and Kyrat is a beautiful place to do that. There's no shortage of discovery within the game. But of course as with the prior installment, be careful of the beauty you are taking in because danger could be lurking right behind you at any given moment and there's plenty of it this time with the wide variety of new and dangerous animals stuffed in this go around. I'll just say this, fear the honey badger lol SIDE QUESTS: Yup, just like before there's tons to do here. Med supply delivery, tearing down propaganda posters, karma missions, animal hunts, etc. It's all here. Far Cry 4 will be keeping you plenty busy for hours and hours. STORY: The story is my only peeve so far, but it's not enough to distract from the incredible immersion and sandbox play as you want them with slick gameplay mechanics. I don't want to spoil the story with my review. The non spoiler is that our main character Ajay who you will be playing as travels to Kyrat bringing his recently deceased mothers ashes with him to take her to her final resting place. While on that journey during the intro of the game all hell breaks loose and we are quickly introduced to our main villain Pagan Min. Pagan Min is no Vaas. While he's certainly a brutal nasty bastard, the character itself is not as dynamic. He's sadistic for sure, but in a more direct way where as Vaas was pure evil on a level I had never seen in a game, but in a creative entertaining manner. Pagan Min is more direct about it, albeit before he kills, stabs or tortures his victim it's always peppered with a speech about why he's doing what he's doing, but it always feels generic and predictable without the edge or urgency that Vaas brought to the table in Far Cry 3. The over all story feels like something you've heard before, family honor, trying to save the village from the mean guy, etc. Yawn. If you are buying this for the story, you may be disappointed, but I am not marking my review down a star because of it because that is not why I bought this. If I want a game with a thick story I buy an RPG, Far Cry has never really been about the story. But, it would have been nice to have another character as interesting as Vaas for a villain. No biggie. CO-OP: THIS is the best part of Far Cry 4, and it's where the entertainment value truly shines! For one Ubi Soft has provided you with 10 keys you can use to allow you and 10 of your friends to share play the game on the PS4 for CO-OP. That's pretty awesome. CO-OP makes for some fine entertainment between friends. It's not about the story when it comes to the CO-OP it's about having the mindset of how do you and your friend want to play the game and having a blast doing it. Wanna just find new ways to blow **** up and create as much havoc and chaos as you possibly can for the sheer comedy and heart pounding moments with the element of surprise? You can do that! Or you can simply play it straight and go in with a real game plan to take out an outpost without getting caught. This is what a sandbox should be and it's really amazing the amount of freedom this game offers to just go bananas. Prepare for hours of your life to just simply disappear, but damn will you have fun doing it. GRAPHICS: Yes the game looks amazing. It's beautiful, bug free, and runs at a smooth 1080p 30fps, which for this type of gameplay I personally prefer over 60fps. Yes it's a step up graphically from Far Cry 3, and yes it's next gen on the PS4. I was able to view a side by side of the PS3 version compared to the PS4 and it's a noticeable difference between the two. That's not the say that the PS3 version is gimped, but it's obvious that this was designed with "next gen", or I guess now current gen consoles in mind. Trust me, if you were happy with the graphics in Far Cry 3, you're gonna be beaming from ear to ear with Far Cry 4.
Trailer
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