Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Review
Game Emblems
The Good
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is one hell of an entertaining, and hilarious, adventure.
Packed with entertaining action and hysterical writing, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is an '80s-inspired blast.
You'll be glad of those enhancements, too, particularly when coming face-to-face with one of the game's titular blood dragons. These beasts are dinosaurs that shoot laser beams from their eyes, and they're a wonder to behold in action. As it turns out, it's not as difficult as you might think to take one down, but the first time you learn of the dragons, you sneak by a trio of them and then witness one zap a bunch of enemy combatants into dust. You might be engulfed by terror the first time you go head-to-head with one, but dragons are only major threats on hard difficulty.
They're still fun to face as you roam the open-air island, though, even on medium difficulty. They charge toward you when you make your presence known and give you a powerful swat, and then they rear up before firing their eye-lasers at you, giving you a chance to sprint out of the way. Several story missions have you facing one or two of them in closer quarters than usual, which ramps up the tension. The only downside to facing a blood dragon is the actual act of defeating it: the dragon simply disappears into thin air and an explosion of goo follows, but without any animations or effects tying the two events together. It's an anticlimactic end to a hectic battle.
Such battles are made more hectic when you simultaneously confront gunners and snipers, but in this case, you can toss the gooey hearts you collect from downed foes to direct the dragon's attention toward your enemies. It's a distinct pleasure to watch dragons scoop up adversaries with their mouths and chomp away, and in the case of a facility takeover, you might get a dragon to do all the legwork for you. You're just as likely to charge into battle yourself, however, if for no other reason than to enjoy the solid shooting, or to take an entirely stealthy approach. Just like its forebears, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon makes any approach viable and fun.
In fact, getting all sneaky is more satisfying here than in the original Far Cry 3, in part because you can perform chained takedowns from the very beginning. It's a gruesome delight to stab multiple enemies in a row, and then finish off one final soldier with the throw of a shuriken. Blood Dragon's multilevel bases are larger than Far Cry 3's outposts, and enemies are spaced out in sensible ways, allowing you to move in for the silent kill using a number of different approaches. In a few levels, enemy animations can go missing, or a hulking soldier might unnaturally zoom into a different location, which can trip up your plans. Thankfully, such instances are rare, and aren't likely to dilute the stealthy satisfaction.
You could charge through Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon in four hours or so if you are determined, but why rush such a great thing? There's joy in the discovery. Finding all those videotapes isn't busywork for busywork's sake, after all: there's a hysterical film description in it for you, and maybe a weapon upgrade to boot. You could easily double those hours if you go in search of every collectible, perform every side mission, and take down a few dozen dragons along the way. You don't have to love the decade of Rubik's Cubes and Pac-Man Fever to get a kick out of Blood Dragon. But if you do, then all the better: this action-packed shooter will strike all the right synth-pop power chords.
By
Kevin VanOrd, Senior Editor
Kevin VanOrd is a lifelong RPG lover and violin player. When he isn't busy building PCs and composing symphonies, he watches American Dad reruns with his fat cat, Ollie.
302 comments
stop complaining and buy this, cost like 10/15 bucks or something loool, for this price is just one of the best deals in the last 15 years for more lol... I beat the game already and i can say, who likes halo or far cry, will like this game. This game is a Far cry when meets halo, some kind of mix from both games in 1. And that is not a bad thing, actually is a awesome thing xD
My brother got this game a while back, but I haven't played games in a while since I've been doing other stuff, and watching Star Trek, but now that I just played this game for a few hours, I realized how great it is. I think, to me at least, it's far greater in many aspects that count than even the original Far Cry 3. And that music is amazing, which is probably my favorite part of it, then there's some funny stuff in it as well. They even poked fun at the people that think games make other violent, which I should be a little conflicted about, but I'm not.
3 Like Yeah, because having lame concrete setting that is only grey colored with some "too much already seen" enemies is soo much better?
Yes. CoD indeed.
BURY CoD
What Dr Darling thinks of video games:
http://raptr.com/strangera/news/51865ea70c454ebacc/dr-darling-and-her-opinion-about-video-games-far-cry-3-blood-dragon-
I loved the original farcry 3 and the 80s/early 90s movies and such.... so i was sure i would totally love this game :) and of course i did i 100% it my first play through and still want more. i hope it did well enough for a sequel
7 Like Am I the only one who awaits full length game featuring Sgt Rex Power Colt in a year or two.
@GodendagBut thats exactly the problem i think. A full length game demands a lot of the audience's tendencies and since the most players of today are young, the 80s look may work with older dudes like me, but fail with their corporate target (our kiddos) Honestly, the game is fun so no matter what age the gamer have, it may work well. Anyway for the non-80s i can only say that the exaggerated cyber-square-looking can look a bit ridiculous, but it isn't. I want Sgt Rex on his own, the faster the better.
1 Like @theCCyberDDemon @Godendag
http://www.gamespot.com/news/far-cry-3-blood-dragon-director-hopeful-for-sequel-report-6407943
Sequel in the making...YES!!!
@Godendag @theCCyberDDemon Oh... sweet.. the fast the better and they mean it. I just hope they dont screw this up. having faith here.
1 Like @Godendag No, my potentially Dutch speaking friend. I want Michael Biehn to star in every science fiction game I play from now until the end of time. Also Blood Dragon 2: The Revenge of Sloan. I've already dreamed up a ... dream plot involving a Richard Crenna like character, Rex being forced into action to deal with a platoon of rogue Mk.V Cyber Commandos, who have been hijacked by a Soviet robot, who came back from the future and has kidnapped the president and is holding on an island in the Canadian wasteland. Rex Power Colt is pressed back into service, and he has 48 hours to rescue the president before MAD sets in.
3 Like Great value for the content (bought it yesterday). The final story missions are hilarious and an absolute blast!
4 Like this is the real deal, the duke nukem how it should be!!! one of the best games or shooters i have ever played. im amazed, well played ubisoft, well played. if u are an 80 kid u should grab it but even of not the game itself is very good...nah, its magnificent
" i hate tutorials and this one sucks" :D
Bougth this game on the fly, basing on the review and on the comments. I've never been a Far Cry fan, but this hits my curiosity!
4 Like @Thumbler76 I never played the first Far Cry. I didn't really care for the second one, but I liked Far Cry 3. Blood Dragon, however takes the cake. It has many of the same mechanics as Far Cry 3 (which I thought were solid), and injects it with liquid 80's awesome. As long as you don't hate FPS or humor, then this game is a pretty good buy.
4 Like Good bye zombie era.. hello!!! dinosaurs! I'm glad a game is finally showing how awesome they are!! reminds me of the old turok games... ohh good times!
1 Like @kbzon312 @refusedairwaves Wow...You must really be crucial with people.
What ever happened to "Friendship is magic" or whatever that little girl TV show has been teaching?
1 Like I love this game, it really gives you a shitload of content for only 15 bucks. Played through this game and loved every second of it.
5 Like @green_scorpion You have NO idea how right you are!
"Class of 81"!
49 years young and still gaming on!
:P
2 Like Not really my style. I respect it as an excellent piece of DLC though, don't get me wrong. This is how it should be done. Not just 3-4 maps, where two of them are remakes.
This looks better than Far Cry 3. I only played Far Cry 1 and lost interest in the sequels. But this is a buy for me.
What's up with Montreal lately? That city has been pumping out nothing but awesome in the past few years: Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Watch Dogs is coming soon, this, Eidos Montreal is working on Thief 4...
Is there LSD in the water supply or something?
My reaction after playing the demo: "this game...........................................................................................................................
IS FUC**ING AWWWEEEESSSSOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMEEEEE"
*starts jumping around and bashing the head against the wall*
7 Like To be honest. Im very supprised in a positive way that this game managed to get such good score. Maybe now those POS fps's like CoD will finally die extinct.
This is game actually shows to other devs what is a real DLC.
@quakke its not a DLC, its a full standalone title, thats a difference. but you are right, u get a lot for 15 bucks.....a full game
This reviewer must never have listened to The Seeds of Love, a record from Tears For Fears.
4 Like dinosaur/dragon robot cyborgs that shot lasers
took them long enough to make e that XD
when i heard of this game!all jokes aside!i made it num 1 on my scale of preference and boy!did it pay off i played and finished it in april 23 of this year!i tipped it a 9 and highly recommended it for any gamer!the blood dragons fight in the arena!that is where u plan and execute !this game is badass!has a great sense of sacarsim,humor and irony!the concept was well done and big ups to ubisoft!when it comes to designing game environments they are the boss!many of their games bare testimony!
1 Like A three reasons why this game is genius.
Robocops gun.
Explosive sniper rounds.
Slide, shotgun, flip the bird.
5 Like "You don't need to know the '80s to get Rex's repeated oral sex gags, of which there are far too many."
I don't know about you guys, but I think "oral sex gags" was probably a bad choice of words! lol
@HerbalVideogame It means he's not partial to dirty jokes, personally I like jokes that might offend some people.
@parrot_of_adun @HerbalVideogame That's the point though...It pokes fun at the cheesy action movies of the 80's where corny was key. The majority of one-liners from the classic action flicks weren't funny but you remember them for how dumb they were
@ "
The majority of one-liners from the classic action flicks weren't funny but you remember them for how dumb they were"
Actually those one-liners just fit the movies like a hammer fits with nail.
Besides the one-liners with those movies and with this game, are hell alot more fun than some CoD with it's "realistic" theme.
In CoD you just ride a humm-vee with a turret and use the turret that feels soo lame.
In general when you shoot in CoD, you are just like "Why again do i need to fire this thing? You know this fireing does feel very lame compared to real fps like Doom."
@DJ_Redline @parrot_of_adun @HerbalVideogame I think Kevin's probably talking about jokes that don't get that right, though. I can't say, I haven't played it yet, but it's not unusual for something like this to skip a few beats, it doesn't mean it's bad.
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Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Not Following
- Publisher(s): Ubisoft
- Developer(s): Ubisoft Montreal
- Genre: Action
- Release:
- ESRB: M
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Navigation
