Far Cry 3 review

When the loutish Guns N’ Roses professed about the harsh realities of living in sin in the concrete jungle, not even the self-proclaimed genius of Axl Rose could’ve predicted just how fitting their words would be almost three decades later when an equally loutish kid finds himself in far more dire circumstances.

You see, Jason Brody is not exactly having the best vacation.

Sure, it started out well enough as he and his cohort of boozed twenty-somethings skydived and partied their way around the Pacific islands, filling their days with frivolous fun – nothing to fear but sunburn and the occasional hangover.

Then, only a couple of days short of a return trip home and a glowing review on TripAdvisor, Jason and his friends picked the wrong place to pop a parachute, finding themselves on the conflict-ridden Rook Islands and in the hands of a deranged pirate despot named Vaas. Eventually making his escape, our young protagonist vows to rescue his friends from impending slavery and find a way off the island.

For Jason, it’s the start of a dark and perilous journey into madness. For us, however, it’s the beginning of a lengthy, immersive and staggeringly beautiful adventure, one that far surpasses anything seen in the series’ previous two games to make Far Cry 3 one of the most superb and engrossing trips to the jungle in years.

“Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day…”

Free from the clutches of evil overlord Vaas, you take control of Jason as he’s cast into tropical nature with nothing but a pistol, no money, and no clue what to do next. And for good reason, too: rather than being cast as the genre staple of gun-proficient badass with nerves of steel, our hero behaves as the kind of person any of us would be in his situation: an inexperienced, terrified wreck who’s hesitant to even hold a weapon.

Aside from a believable way to begin a story, the harsh reality of your character’s dilemma is the core of the grit and immersion that Ubisoft has managed to so convincingly pull off in Far Cry 3. Jason’s voice trembles and he stares at his own hands in disbelief as he’s forced to kill his first mercenary to stay alive, and the change in his behaviour as such brutality becomes standard is morbidly intriguing. His story comes with a terrific sense of purpose paired with the driving force of being the underdog, and the slow progression of your skills, maturity and slowly encroaching dark side are solid motivators that make the whole journey so engaging.

“…you learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play…”

A sandbox shooter is nothing without a decent amount of sand to play in, and an important part of bringing the experience to life are the expansive Rook Islands themselves and the sense of survival instinct felt in navigating them. A variety of wild animals roam the mountains, valleys, caves and plains of this sultry paradise, and Jason is forced to hunt and skin everything from goats to tigers in order to craft things like more weapon holsters and rucksack space for himself. This new addition always feels purposeful and rewarding while never feeling at odds with the crucial character development; and skulking through the lush forests with a bow as you track your prey (human or animal) is exceptionally satisfying.

“Welcome to the jungle, we got fun ‘n games…”

It’s not just the new hunting aspect that engages. Far Cry 3 is packed with a number of activities to keep obsessive players busy for a good 40 hours or so, and things rarely feel stale or like a grind as everything you do nets you some kind of reward or sense of progress. Harvesting plants allows you to craft syringes to boost your abilities; liberating mercenary outposts unlocks side missions and fast travel stations (there’s way less need to drive this time around); hacking radio towers clears the map’s fog and scores you bonus guns from the locals; and the host of collectible items all progress you towards a range of sweet signature weapons.

“…if you want it you’re gonna bleed, but it’s the price you pay…”

On top of the robust mechanics and some pretty solid FPS gunplay, one of my favourite parts of the Far Cry 3 experience has to be the little things; those small bits of attention to detail that sometimes make you feel like you’re not sitting on the couch holding a controller. One such instance saw me driving a truck across a rickety wooden bridge over a mountain pass, the same bridge I’d driven over some hours previously on a small ATV. Not realising the difference in weight (or the attentive nature of Ubisoft’s development team), I jumped in panic as the bridge suddenly gave way beneath me and my truck skidded down the cliff before shattering its windscreen against a tree and erupting into flames.

I also marvelled at how driving a car across small rivers was fine, but longer stretches of water rendered the engine useless; how jumping off a cliff into the ocean resulted in an appropriate plunge several metres under the surface; how walking too close to fire actually set me ablaze (which must be quickly extinguished) instead of supplying me with just a passing burn. These incidents may be small, but few games have bothered to give this kind of love to the seemingly unimportant details, and it’s the kind of attention that really makes all the difference.

“You can have anything you want, but you’d better not take it from me…”

I’ve always ranked a strong narrative and solid character performance as equally important as graphics and gameplay, and Ubisoft’s clear commitment to craft is just as present in the superb characters as it is throughout the rest of the game. Jason is boorish and flippant when we first meet him, but as everything spirals down it’s his descent into madness that really carries the narrative; however, it’s the excellent voice work of Michael Mando as the villain Vaas that gives Far Cry 3 top marks in the story department. His dialogue is sharp and perfectly delivered, each line a mix of staccato lunacy and violent outbursts that makes him the most credible video game nemesis I’ve encountered. There’s a strange sense of power-struggle between antagonist and protagonist that draws you in, and it’s this interaction that packs a serious amount of punch when the story takes its surprising twists.

“Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day…”

With such a great blend of story, characters, gameplay and ridiculously sexy visuals, there’s very little about Far Cry 3 that I didn’t like, and so minor are the occasional hiccups that they’re negligible in comparison to everything the game does right. This is an open-world undertaking that has you truly feeling like you’re Jason Brody, a real and troubled person trying to live in a real and dangerous island jungle, and few games have managed to pull off such immersive adventures with this much aplomb.

As the Guns N’ Roses song so eloquently concluded, “When you’re high you never, ever want to come down”, and the appropriate nature of their words continue to ring true: Far Cry 3 is an incredible game that I couldn’t resist coming back to again and again, and quite easily ranks as one of the best games of 2012. Whether you’re progressing the story or just exploring and discovering all the hidden goodness on offer, you’ll always feel drawn back to the engrossing journey of Jason and all the inviting splendour of the Rook Islands.