⚡ NEW: Id/CadlingtonGAMING - High Quality

I'm about two years late to this party, so I do apologize, but I feel like I need to say it: I ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ adore this game.

From start to- woefully quickly reached- finish, I enjoyed damn near every second of Far Cry 3. The game does a fantastic job of setting the stage from the first cutscene. You're away on vacation with your friends. You like your friends. They're kind of douches, but you're a douche too. From California, so you don't mind it when they try and be edgy and flip off your camera while sky-diving, because hurtling from a plane to their potential death isn't quite edgy enough for them. They're good guys, for the most part.

Then Vaas Montenegro captures all of you, and murders your older brother when you have the nerve to try and escape. From there the race is on to rescue your friends and implant a knife in the man who's flip turned your would upside down. But our destination isn't Bel Air, I'm afraid. Carlton isn't here to dance for you and make you feel better about your troubles. No, here, your only company are angry pirates and various wildlife that do not care about your missing friends and family, and merely want to see how good you taste.

And that suits Jason Brody just fine. The Rook Islands have been amazingly planned out- almost nowhere is safe here. Any civilization is almost assuredly packed to the brim with Vaas and his boss, Hoyt Volker's men, none of which are happy to see you- unless they've got you in their sights. Try to hide amongst the foliage, and you're likely to find your balls being chewed off by komodo dragons blending almost seamlessly into the greenery- or some form of big cat managing to sneak up on you despite clashing with the scenery and ruining your ♥♥♥♥.

Fortunately, the local resistance to these Pirates are a firm believer of Quid Pro Quo. Make their lives easier, and they'll be all too happy to provide you with guns and flamethrowers- a wide array of lead-firing equalizers for purveyors of all fighting ranges. Get in close with a pistol or shotgun, and let your enemy look you in the eye as you kill them... or hide behind a wall and spray molten lead on anyone dumb enough to try and rush you with both light and heavy machine guns. For those who prefer to stay out of harm's way, a simple hunting bow is perfect for hunting the Ultimate Game- as is its' advanced cousin, the sniper rifle.

Alternatively, you could say "♥♥♥♥ all that noise" and try to get through as much of the game as possible with just the Flamethrower. Which, like every other weapon I've mentioned, comes with custom paintjobs. Make that gun truly your own.

I'm going to talk about the story now- including the ending-, so time for spoiler tags.

While an amazing delve into how wholesale slaughter and forsaking everything in the name of revenge can destroy a man- and all around fun game-, plot points get repeated a bit too often- Vaas manages to ambush Jason at least three or four times despite him becoming a one-man murder machine at a breakneck pace, and some characters fall by the wayside entirely. Having your friends hide in the cave is perfectly fine, because the point is for them to be away from the action and have them react to Jason's transformation into a cold-blooded killer-- but you meet Alec Earnhardt once, get him some mushrooms, and the next time you really get to see him, he's dying in a gazebo. Why even have the character? That mansion could've just as easily been abandoned.

Now, for the ending. I'm just going to out and out say it: the ending choice was entirely unnecessary- IN MY OPINION. I felt as though, narratively, it didn't make sense for Jason to want to stay with the Rakyat anymore- much less murder the people he went through all this for- something Citra and her people don't seem to understand. Jason didn't kill Vaas and Hoyt for THEM, he killed them for the very people they have tied up... and they really think he's going to murder them? Even discounting his remaining humanity, that would've just made his efforts an entire waste of time. But lets go back to his humanity. I feel if they had kept Riley dead, there could've been an argument made for Jason going fully native and killing his friends. But having him alive reconnected Jason to what he was losing- and, again, made the choice not needed.

This next paragraph's a different aspect of the ending, just a warning.

From a gameplay perspective, I can see this having been a mandate from the higher ups at Ubisoft. "Kids these days love choices in their games. Fart one out at the end they'll go ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ crazy for it," And there's nothing wrong with having choices in your games- but don't give us a token singular option in the last five minutes. Either put us on the A to B story railroad you wrote and want us to experience, or keep the optional tracks available the entire ride. After a whole game of being told almost exactly what to do, it's a bit jarring and smacks of trying to trick the player into thinking they're personalizing the story and "making it theirs", but it's not. It's Jason's story. We're just along for the ride. I'm just glad we didn't have to kill Dennis.

Despite the two paragraphs I just whipped up, I thoroughly enjoyed this game. What passes for the urban areas and the jungle itself both provided challenges that will keep you on your toes throughout the entire game, amd while woefully short, is a game you'll probably be bugging your friends about for months trying to bore them with stories about exciting kills, discussing the plot, and all around good times.

8/10. If you're late to the Far Cry franchise, PICK THIS UP. FAR CRY 4 IS ON THE HORIZON AND YOU HAVE SOME CATCHING UP TO DO.