Far Cry 4 is a game that is like Far Cry 3 in that it offers a lot to explore, but instead of the Rook Islands in Far Cry 3, you will explore a nation near the Himalayas known as Kyrat. It bears a strong resemblance to the real-life nation known as Nepal. Kyrat has plenty of mountains and is very poor. Despite being so poor it becomes your playground since there is so much to do.
The narrative begins with Ajay Ghale, a Kyrati born man raised in the United States whose goal is to scatter his mother’s ashes upon arriving in Kyrat. However, the country is being ruled by a dictator named Pagan Min. Min has a connection to the Ghale family and this is disclosed in the intro cutscene. After Min leaves you alone for a while you are free to explore and start tearing things up. There is a lot of violence, as there is a war between Min’s Royal Army and the rebels known as The Golden Path, which Ghale’s mother helped found. The Golden Path is led by a man and a woman, but each leader has different views on how to bring down the dictator. The storyline is unspectacular, as you forget that Ghale’s goal was to scatter his mother’s ashes and he starts to become a revolutionary leader. The biggest star of this game is Pagan Min, who sounds vicious and charismatic. However, sometimes it feels like the biggest star of the game is Kyrat since it encourages so much exploration and has lots of randomness.
While there are story missions that flesh out the narrative there are many side missions. Familiar side missions include liberating outposts all over the map, beginning with southern Kyrat. The RPG like skills to be learned in the game include tiger and elephant skills. Tiger skills are aggressive and are designed to more power and violence. These skills help you take down enemies from behind. Elephant skills are passive and help you survive different types of attacks.
The skills you learn in the game will be valuable all the time. While trying to activate a side mission you may be attacked by animals and your skills can give you a survival advantage. Kyrat is teeming with wildlife such as bears, tigers, leopards, elephants, Tibetan wolves, etc. Some animals are predators whereas others are not. You watch 2 animals fight to the death, but the last one standing will try to feast on you. You can also strategically throw meat as a bait so that an animal can attack a nearby soldier. Elephants are peaceful giants, but they can be fun once you learn the necessary skill to ride them. You can use elephants to overturn vehicles driven by the Royal Army. You can use an elephant to grab a soldier and launch him into the air while he screams.
The main story missions and side missions are nonlinear, as they allow you to use stealth or use the all guns blazing approach. You can also use companions to join you on your adventure. The greatest addition to this game is the grappling hook and it is truly a joy to use. You can grapple hooks that are scattered around the country and even swing from one grapple hook to another. The greatest vehicle addition to the game is the buzzer, also known as the gyrocopter. The buzzer can take you from point A to point B so quickly, but it has limited altitude so it will explode if it ascends too high in the air. I found myself having to rely on my grappling hook to reach the tallest of mountains, but it felt worth the extra exploration to discover new locations, loot, and hidden letters.
Crafting is another essential part of the game. Killing animals is necessary for skinning them so that you can craft bigger couches that can carry more rupees or more ammo of a certain type. Rupees are the currency of Kyrat and they will be needed for purchasing more ammo, new weapons, and syringes. There are many herbs and flowers that you can snatch with your handy knife so that you can craft healing syringes, and syringes that can provide you with more protection against attacks.
The climbing of radio towers should feel very familiar to Assassin’s Creed fans since it removes the fog from a certain region of your map. The removal of the fog allows you to see the map better and find more activities. While climbing radio towers feels like fun it doesn’t feel like a novelty since it feels like a formula out of Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed.
Besides the side missions familiar to those who have played the Far Cry series, there are missions in Shangri-La that feel like a dream. You move around using a bow and arrow with your white tiger and sic it on demons. Shangri-La provides a departure from the world in Kyrat. Other side missions similar to other Ubisoft games include the tearing of propaganda posters from walls scattered around Kyrat.
The main story missions can be troubling if you die early because it forces you to restart the mission from scratch. There is only one save slot throughout the game. I believe it would have been better to have multiple save slots, but it is only a minor gripe from me. The FPS gameplay is outstanding during the main story missions.
I ran into technical issues with Far Cry 4 on Windows 10. It crashed randomly and frequently until I found a solution. Although I made the game Windows 7 compatible, I still experienced crashes. I turned off Godrays from the settings and disabled NVidia Gameworks to find the solution. I never experienced another crash. Even with Godrays and NVidia Gameworks disabled, the graphics are still awesome and Kyrat looks wonderful. This is an issue Far Cry 4 players need to be aware of if they play it on Windows 10.
The Far Cry 4 DLCs are interesting enough and give you more to explore. Hurk from Far Cry 3 is back with his American southern accent and gives you the opportunity to have more fun. Other DLCs allow you to explore the cold and snowy Himalayas.
With a game world that gives you so much to explore to your heart’s content and top notch graphics, Far Cry 4 is highly recommended by me. An unspectacular storyline is superseded by awesome gameplay. I played for nearly 95 hours and I always felt like there was always something to do, some place to discover, some animals to hunt, and a wide variety of weapons to carry. New weapons are unlocked over time after completing certain activities, thus encouraging more exploration. It is one of the best FPS games you can play.
My Score: 9/10