Far Cry Primal Review Roundup

Ahead of Far Cry Primal's release on February 23, reviews of Ubisoft's stone age spin-off have appeared online. As always, we've collected up a variety of these and put them in a handy list.

Take a look below and you'll find scores from various publications along with a short excerpt from each review. By the time you're done you should have a good overview of how its being received by critics.

For a wider view on the game's critical reception, head to GameSpot sister site Metacritic.

• Game: Far Cry Primal
• Developer: Ubisoft
• Platform: PS4, PC, Xbox One
• Release Date: Febraury 23
• Price: $60

GameSpot -- 8/10

"When it uses the Stone Age setting to elevate the combat and reinforce the brutality of nature, it thrives. It fosters a give-and-take relationship with the wilderness, granting you the means to survive, but also the threats you have to overcome. That focus on primitive times can become a hindrance at certain points, with limited tools and repetitive combat, but in the end, Far Cry Primal stays true to its callous setting, fleshing out every layer of the captivating world it creates." -- Mike Mahardy [Full review]

IGN -- 7.9/10

"Far Cry Primal succeeds in transporting the Far Cry formula back in time and comes to the table with a quiver of neat ideas and a dangerous and fascinating open world. The visceral and varied combat is fun, the beast-based gameplay is a winner, and the lure of camp-claiming, gear-crafting, beast hunting, and resource gathering remains irresistible. It’s weakened, however, by a disappointing lack of investment in its story, some often forgettable quests, and its vanilla villains, which unfortunately combine to make Primal feel like a step back from the memorable moments of Far Cry 3 and 4." --Luke Reilly [Full review]

GamesRadar+ -- 3/5

"The result is a game that feels lacking in most respects. It lacks a clear villain, it lacks a deep enough armory, it lacks direction. Far Cry's set-up is such that you'll always be able to make your own fun - and, in the moment, it can be a beautiful, violent thing - but for a game in which characters talk constantly about being remembered by history, it's a sad irony that - unlike their series forebears - they most probably won’t be." -- Joe Skrebels[Full review]

Forbes -- 8/10

"If you like Far Cry, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll like this as well. But if you’re becoming exhausted by ~20 hours of leveling, skinning, leaf-collecting, trinket-finding and map-clearing after the last few installments, Primal is definitely more of the same. The setting change is effective, but this isn’t going outside of the series’ comfort zone as much as Ubisoft might have you believe." -- Paul Tassi [Full review]

Shacknews -- 6/10

"Overall Far Cry Primal is a promising idea, but the underlying potential of Takkar’s journey is wasted on a stereotypical surface level story that keeps players from really connecting with the protagonist and supporting characters. The Master Beast Hunts are exhilarating, and require tons of preparation if you want to pull them off without a hitch, but aside from the few hunts offered up in the end game, the forced specialist quests are just as much a letdown as the game’s underwhelming story. In the end the new abilities, like taming animals and riding them, are great additions to the game, but they just aren't enough to save Far Cry Primal from being a fairly average and mindless adventure in a time long forgotten." -- Josh Hawkins [Full review]

GameReactor -- 8/10

"Looking objectively at Far Cry Primal as an isolated product, it is impossible to deny that it is indeed quite good, but it is not a completely isolated game. The fact that so much content from Far Cry 3 and 4 is recycled means that there may be players who find it overly familiar, and that is the biggest problem we had with Primal. The lack of any multiplayer option will also disappoint some, but Far Cry has always been mainly a solo experience. In short, if you still think you have more Far Cry in you, and if you appreciate the survival theme of the Stone Age, Primal is a safe bet." -- Ricardo C. Esteves [Full review]

Time -- 4/5

"Yes, Far Cry with dinosaurs would have been cooler, but you have to respect what Ubisoft Montreal’s accomplished here: deftly using a low-tech setting to craft a counterintuitively breakneck adventure with that same “human pinball” feel. Far Cry 4 did it with ultralights and wingsuits; Primal manages with crazier wildlife and tighter crafting. Primal manages to streamline the components that have made this series so deep and yet easy to drop into or out of." -- Matt Peckham[Full review]

VentureBeat -- 73/100

"Far Cry Primal shows us that gaming still has plenty of interesting worlds to take us to. Its Stone Age setting really is its best quality. Sadly, the series’ formula is beginning to feel familiar and, frankly, a little dull. The first-person combat is tedious, and I think I’ve cleared out enough enemy camps for one lifetime. This open world offers a lot of activities, and you can have a good time just running around, exploring, and hunting animals. It’s definitely a meaty, well-made game. I just hope that the next Far Cry brings along more new ideas to go along with the cool setting." -- Mike Minotti [Full review]

Eurogamer -- No Score

"As things stand, Primal's endgame feels like it should be the start of a journey away from a formula that is losing its lustre. To paraphrase Bioshock Infinite: there is always a man and there is always a radio tower, or at least an edifice that serves the same function. There is always a main objective you're working your way towards, and a crop of variables or emergent activities that interfere amusingly with your attempts to reach it. There are always pop-eyed nutters in the cinematics, and there is always the faint suspicion that the geography is, in fact, a very picturesque spreadsheet. Primal has moments of verve, and offers many hours of competent, free-roving entertainment, but it's a game from the past in more ways than one." -- Edwin Evans-Thirwell [Full review]