Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Rent it first"

Far Cry 3 is set on a Southwest Pacific Island group called the Rook Islands (no castling allowed). The game does a fairly good job of immersing the player in its world with impressive graphics, sound design, and appropriate feedback. The characters in the game are another matter. The main character, a twenty something called Jason Brody says very little, apart from the occassional interjection (ooh, ow, holy sh**, etc) and pop culture references. Some players will at least relate to the character's age, if not his situation. The remainder of the characters are remarkably shallow, simple quest givers or baddies essentially. None of them have back stories that make sense, tying them to this world in a sensible way. The Character, Vaas repeats the same line or some variation of it multiple times, to the point where it gets boring, and the character loses all appeal. Essentially, the game relies on the experience of travelling it's world to create immersion, since it has very little else to use. I played the game on normal difficulty, and despite some apparent difficulty spikes, which can be reduced by using suggested weapons and better planning, the only difficulty is in first person platforming. Good planning is the name of the game here, on any difficulty, careful planning and execution will make the game feel easy. Players can also avoid liberating areas of the island and reducing enemy presence. Is it ever frustratingly difficult? not really, unless players make it so. The game can lose appeal quickly if players ignore the main story quests and spend time completing side quests instead. Still though, it earns a seven because it is a nice place to visit, and maybe played in a more deliberate way, could be more fun over a long period.