Far Cry 4 - Game Review

Let's run it down now...

Far Cry 1 - Hawaiian Shirts and Sneakiness don't mix

Far Cry 2 - You get sick.  Everyone hates you and then you die - How cheery

Far Cry 3 - An epic first person adventure feast with a tasty dessert (Blood Dragon DLC)

Far Cry 4 - Too much (good in some cases bad in others)

Don't you just love it when productions take this direction?  You see them everywhere.  You take a well crafted product (like Far Cry 3)...and figure if you crank it up several notches, it will be all that much better.  It's not:  

"You like Da Vinci's  Mona Lisa?  NOW WE MADE A BETTER ONE!!!  Her lips are redder (and she's licking them)!  Her eyes more alluring! (and she's winking)"

"You like SALT!!???  We've added so much salt that you can't TASTE anything else!!!"

...and this attitude shows up everywhere.   I used to watch Pawn Stars on TV.   NEWS FLASH!  Reality TV show stars make shitty actors...and it shows.   Watching Chumlee look like he's reading lines off of someone's face again just makes me roll my eyes.   Who was the spod monkey employed to say 'Cut! Yeah that's good enough for the idiots who watch this show.'   No sir, it's not...and would you kindly walk out into the desert, get bit by something and die...or at least move from Vegas to Pahrump and get paid for what you do best - SUCKING.  But that's a rant for another time.  Lets get back to the review at hand.  

In keeping with the theme of "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!"  It seems the number of writers and directors to the story weren't safe from that impetus.  For those of you who don't know:  the best stories are the ones where you have one writer and one director.  The reason for this is that the artistic vision gets muddied if you have too many people in the process.  Far Cry 3 had one director and one writer with an assistant writer (makes sense).  Far Cry 4 had - 4 WRITERS AND 6 DIRECTORS!!!  For those of you not so good at math that is 7  "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!".  It seems the Wikipedia page and the IMDB page have differing facts.  IMDB lists 2 Directors (one creative, one 'Realization' - Well that's alright) and 3 writers.

Lets look at the quality of those writers:  maybe they have some good credits:

C.J. Kershner - He did a shitty game called "Homefront" In 2011

Lucien Soulban - Did some script writing for some shitty game in 2007.  He also, however, did the writing for 'Blood Dragon'...but that game could have been written by a drunken fraternity on '80s night. 

Liz Albl - "Script Intern" for Assassin's Creed IV. 

Li Kuo - Game Reviews for TV back in 2002 to 2006.  He was assistant writer to Jeffrey Yohalem for Far Cry 3. 

So it looks like   "MMOOOOOEEEEERRRRR!!!!" doesn't extend to experience.

Far Cry 4 was written and directed by a committee of 10.   Given what I saw, some were probably fired for their incompetence...with the damage having already been done.  There is at least one person who knew what they were doing in the writing and/or directing because some of the characterization is superb.  The rest of it looks like it was created by Mathew Costello (Stupid overt silliness). 

Far Cry 4 is a soulless clone of Far Cry 3 with regard to its story.  There is no character arc.  You start with options you can spend points on to upgrade your talents and abilities.  There is no back story as to why...you just can!  There is no good reason as to why you are invested in the country apart from your 'Mother's' desire to send you into a war to 'Learn the truth' when she could have  just fucking written it down!!!  GUESS WHAT, WRITERS?  NO MOTHER WANTS TO SEND HER KID INTO A WAR ZONE!!!   The main villain doesn't really make sense.  Vaas was crazy...but he made sense.  "Pagan" looks like someone took several colors of crazy...threw them against a canvas and said "That's our man - because that's all the fuck I'm going to give about it".

For some reason, you know how to fight... and join the resistance for no other good reason than 'Your daddy did'...and 'I got to get north to drop my mother's ashes'.  I can't imagine the frustration of the few good writers and/or directors on this staff having to put up with the rest of these guys being complete boobs.  As you progress through the story elements that seem like oversights and errors are explained (So 'Tell' don't 'Show'!?) and it seems as believable as someone trying to retroactively cover up someone else's shit.

The part that really pisses me off about this:  How many millions of dollars were put toward making this game?  Interfaces...guns...AI...Terrain...EVERYTHING...and a moderately competent writer individually could come up with better characterizations (for the most part), better insight into those characters and a more cohesive story structure.  What really disturbs me is that this may be a trend.  Story is relegated to the 'Good enough' category while I'm getting force-fed multiplayer at every angle.  A game to me is a story that you become part of.  Multiplayer is fun if you are doing it with people that you know (and can smack if they get out of line).  Multiplayer with strangers from the Internet?  I honestly don't see the point of it.

So what does it have?  Well this is where the game gets fun.  You've got Gyrocopters to fly around with.  You can ride an elephant into an enemy base and lay some serious 'Smackdown' on the troops there.  Signature Weapons in Far Cry 3 were too easy to get.  You could have the best stuff really early in the game.  In the second part of that game, you are introduced to a whole new set of firearms that aren't as good as the signature firearms you got in the first part.  In FC4 you don't get some of those Signature Weapons until way late into the game.  The early signature firearms do not even come close to the quality of the ones you get later on.  This makes a decent upgrade arc.  There is also Throwing knives (Great for silent kills) and 'Bait' that you can use to lure local animals into a base with.

There is only one save slot...so that slot you may have used in Far Cry 3 to appease your OCD self
by spacing out the 100% achievement isn't here.  You have one game.

Speaking of animals...Far Cry 4 must have some sort of Zombie animal apocalypse going on!?  Dangerous animals are fucking Everywhere!!! (no...an adjective not a verb... well... probably that too given the spawn rate).  Anytime I see anyone not in a vehicle or at a base....I think "Oh you poor bastard".   Then you have wandering lone salesmen.  These guys must have a death wish.  If I happen to see one on the road...I'd better buy my shit quick because their life expectancy is about 10 seconds.

Events are also very predictable.  You will constantly be running into the exact same events at the exact same places.  Also the same animals spawn in the exact locations as well.  The rate of respawn is quite disquieting.  There is one base where 6 wolves always spawn.  I like to call that place the Gulag...because it's where I don't fucking want to be.  Wait a minute!  You guys didn't get that guy back from FC2 to handle that shit, did you!?

The Genus: Canis (dogs, wolves, hyenas) in this game clearly do not give a shit.  Back in Far Cry 3... they wandered around in groups of 3.  you could kill 2 dogs attacking you and the third would be like "Fuck that! I'm going home".  In FC4 they can come in as many as groups of 6 full size wolves and they have no regard for self preservation.  They will attack you relentlessly 'til the last. 

The Skill set seems to make more sense than in FC3.  You can have some of the really good skills relatively early but they will cost you a ton of points that may be better spent buying more of 'lesser' skills.

There is also a function on your mini map that will show you where 'downed' animals are.  Anyone who has ever played FC3 and shot an animal will know the frustration of playing CSI: Rook Island trying to find where the fucking thing went to based on blood splatter, slopes, the direction it was travelling when it was shot...etc.   The little + signs on your mini map represent a downed animal.  This also may be used to find a predator in the area that freshly killed a non-predator.

The environment of the game seems to have been made with the Attention deficit in mind.  Shit happens ALL over the place.   You get into a Gyrocopter with a clear objective in mind.  Then "Charmic Event:  Supply Truck!"...Okay.  Might as well.  "Oh No!  Enemy Courier"...Better take him out.  On the way out of the truck to get what he is carrying - "Charmic Event: Hostages!!!"  Okay...saved them.  Great!... Turning back toward the truck you hear behind you from the hostages you just saved "EAGLE!!!" about this time I say; 'I don't give a shit anymore'.  Not only do you have the shit packed in to burn you out at the beginning of the game, toward the end of the game, when sometimes you want to give a shit, there really isn't any reason to do so.  Your Karmic levels are maxed and you don't need any more money or experience.  You've got an in-game voice saying "I'm the hero...I've got to save people" while your out-of-game voice is saying "You are literally wasting your time" - Which blows emersion all to hell.
 
UBISOFT must have gotten that guy employment from the Assassin's Creed Series...You know 'That guy!?'  The one that has to put useless 'Collectables' everywhere to waste your time with.  Because you must feel 'Invested'...by wasting your GOOD TIME collecting crap in a game written and paced by Millennial Morons.  Seriously...I don't really want collectables in a MMORPG.  Bragging rights!?  All it really tells people is that you have too much time on your hands.
 
It's not realistic anymore and the more shit they throw my way past the reality barrier, the more I detach from being invested in it.  This may have been okay for "Rex Power-Colt in a Blood Dragon 2 DLC"  where unreality is the norm... but not Far Cry.  Lets face it;  Blood Dragon was what Far Cry couldn't be in the realm of its context.  It was a great way of saying "Lets have a bunch of fun and not give a shit about anything else"....and it worked.  BUT JUST BECAUSE YOU HAVE YOUR DESSERT AFTER DINNER DOESN'T MEAN IT IS BETTER TO MIX YOUR DESSERT WITH YOUR FUCKING DINNER!!
 
The wandering portion (Karmic events, Animals) can't play it for too long before it just gets on your fucking nerves.  There is a reason why I get passionate about what I review is that I see the potential.  A lesser game I really wouldn't bother with.  I mean seriously: Elephant assaults and Gyrocopter carpet bombing?  How fun is that!!

**Okay...I've been playing the story missions and the side quests more.  They're actually pretty damn fun.  The pace is heavier earlier than FC3.  You really will be at the edge of your seat.  All this game really needs to do is to have less idiot characters, lay off the Animal apocalypse, a more random event generator, and have a proper  background story with more character development.  You would think that is a lot but given how much this game has going for it...compensates for plenty of shortcomings. 

Given the fun I've been having with the missions...I'm going to crank it up another full point.  -  7./10
 (SEE POST MORTEM FOR REDUCED NUMBER)

Dylann Roof - A Gamer? A Racist? A Loner? A Product of a distorted thought process.

The other night I saw a video of a young man being escorted by police.  He had a meekness to him and a disturbed look on the delicate features of his face.

He killed nine people for the 'Crime' of being Black.  Now there is increased tension between blacks and whites again in the US.  Ironically, the hatred toward each other is the enemy...not the people. 

This seriously bothers me.  This kid is my son's age.  This is what black and white...yet flawed... thinking will do.  Why is garbage thinking festering in the minds of the people? 

Lee Boyd Malvo:  A DC sniper that killed 16 people...for the 'crime' of being White.  Are we seeing a theme here?  Maybe our Blacks aren't all that black and our Whites aren't all that white.

Then I see shit like this: 

Sure...fan the flames some more...like that has done so much good in the past.  Lets have more violence...because that's the way to resolve this.  It's so much fun to hate...lets be a group and hate another group until they cease to hate us back. (idiot)

The point is Racism begats Racism.  Around here we have the 'First Nation' Peoples.  In a nutshell, they were discriminated against...couldn't get a job...had their lands taken...and fell to drink.  It all started with Racism.  Now, because of the long term effects of that, the group, collectively is in a bad position...and people identify "THEM" for what "THEY" are generally known to be like now.  I've known tribes who have it together and they are a pleasure to be around. 

So, getting back to the point, lets call this a crime of ignorance.  All Blacks or all Whites aren't collectively responsible for anything.  Malvo and Roof were on the action end of wrong thinking.  That thinking needs to be brought to the light...where it will vanish.