Far Cry 3 is a third person shooter developed by Ubisoft montreal and published by Ubisoft. The game takes place on Rook island. At first glance the place looks like a tropical paradise, but it's actually infested with pirates, kidnapping, and drug dealing. Without knowing much about the island, a group of rich friends goes backpacking in Asia and were later convinced into sky diving onto the island. Shortly after they landed, they were all kidnapped and held for ransom. Lucky for one whose name is Jason Brody, managed to escape with the help of his brother. Fueled by his brother's death, you will be controlling Jason who's on a mission to save his family and friends.
The first thing you will notice when you start exploring Rook island, is the beautiful and immersive environment, from the vegetation to the lakes bathing in sunlight. The characters in Far Cry 3 are diverse in personality. Voice acting and character animations are very well done, which help breath life into the characters. For example, you can hear the fear and urgency during a life or death situation. The protagonist, Jason, starts off as just a normal lad who lacked determination and courage...but throughout the course of the game you will see the many events that will make him grow and mature. Personally, I didn't like some of the survivors Jason had to save...like this rich guy named Keith, who acted like a douche and thought he was really tough cause he won a few bar fights. But as you progress through the game and save more people...it's nice to see how some of them come to a realization and learn to be more humble.
As you start your journey, you meet a man named Dennis who has just saved you after your escape from the camp. He will introduce you to the history behind Rook island. Basically, indigenous people who are known as the Raykat have been fighting off pirates for a long time, and they believe that Jason is a true warrior who can help them. After that, Dennis will tell you about general stores and radio towers. Radio towers are similar to synchronization points in Assassin's Creed. You have to get to the top of old radio towers in order to view details on your map for the surrounding area. In general stores you can purchase handguns, SMGs, shot guns, assault rifles, sniper rifles, LMGs, launchers, bows, C4s, mines, grenades and molotovs. Most of these can be further customized with better scopes, extended mags, and such. The controls are smooth and precise. Each weapon feels more powerful as you obtain upgrades. To get your hands on these weapons...of course, you will need some cash. So how can you earn some? Well, one of the simplest ways...is to sell loot you find on the island, or on dead pirates, at general stores. Another way would be to complete side missions which include bounty missions and hunting rare animals.
On top of the variety of weapons, Jason can learn skills as he gains XP from completing story missions and side missions. There are three types of new skills you can learn, and they are represented in the form of a stork, shark and a spider. They each represent different styles of play. As you may have noticed, animals play a large role in Far Cry 3...both symbolically and realistically. On Rook island, not only will you find pirates and Raykats roaming about, you will also find a lot of animals...which include bears, tigers, deers, komodo dragons, tapirs, and more. Different species are found in different areas and some appear during the day and not at night. Jason is able to hunt these animals for their body parts, which you can then use to craft items. I really like the hunting and crafting system in this game. Hunting is optional, but the game gives you a huge incentive to do it as you unlock more weapons and ammo...so that you can craft larger sacks to carry them in. You can also craft antidotes and adrenaline boosts from plants.
Rook island is huge and it would be quite a drag to travel around on foot. This is where the vehicles come in. The game has a diverse selection of vehicles to choose from. You can find cars, jeeps, ATVs, motor boats, and more. My personal favorite is the glider. It's a fast, one way trip with no worries of getting lost on a winedy path or falling into a lake.... but obviously, the fastest way to get somewhere is fast travel. Fast travel locations can be unlocked by taking over pirate forts. There are two ways to go about it, stealth or aggro. For me, I try to stealth through it as long as possible so I can get the bonus XP afterwards. Its nice that Jason has a camera that he can use as a recon tool to mark enemies. Overall, stealth isn't hard. The game lets you throw as many stones as you want which will lure and distract enemies. Also, the hitbox for knife take downs are huge. But if you decide to be aggro, then make sure you disable the alarms first...or else you may be getting more than what you bargained for. After you have conquered the fort, then it will be available as a fast travel option on your map.
Far Cry 3 does have some small glitches. For example, some enemy AIs can act stupid, either by shooting their own comrades accidentally... or doing this. Also, there was this one part where I encountered a pig that could not die.
As for replay value, Far Cry 3 has online multiplayer and co-op modes. In online multiplayer the modes include domination, team deathmatch, transmission, firestorm, and matches on custom player maps. The multiplayer isn't anything too special, but it does add replay value after you complete the campaign on top the side missions you can go back and complete.
Alright, now to sum it all up:
- The controls were smooth and precise. Hunting animals to craft new items was fun. I'll give gameplay and controls an 8.5
- Rook island was very immersive, and everything in it looked amazing. I'll give graphics and atmosphere a 10
- The story started off great, but the events that unfolded weren't too surprising. Some moments were dull. I'll give story and characters a 7.5
- Sounds of guns, people, and animals were realistic. Nothing too memorable in the background music, but it all fit. I'll give sounds an 8.5
- Multiplayer is a nice addition, even though the gameplay in it wasn't too special. Other than that, you could go back to campaign and complete side missions. I'll give replay value an 8