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Preview: Far Cry 4

Holy crap, there’s a lot to do in Far Cry 4.

As I sat down to spend some time with an almost complete build of the game, I looked at the map and was overwhelmed. Story missions, collectibles, side missions, animals to hunt, propaganda towers to disable… there was stuff everywhere. Paralysed by choice I opted to try some of the story missions only to be sidetracked instantly by a marauding hippopotamus. This is Far Cry 4 and it is beautiful chaos.

For the record I managed to kill the hippo after 10 minutes of frantic battle. Using only my Recurve Bow — to preserve the beast’s precious hide — I hit him about 20 times before he finally went down. Part way through our skirmish some interested wild boars decided to join in and were pummeling me from all sides while I tried to avoid the hippo’s charge attack. Somehow I emerged victorious and walked away with a new upgrade fashioned from hippo skin.

Dropped into the game sometime after the opening, the first thing I was tasked with was liberating an Outpost. So far, so Far Cry. It was clear that the series’ penchant for allowing players to tackle situations in any manner they choose was really at the forefront of design of the latest iteration. Ubisoft puts all the tools and toys players can use out and walks away saying, “Go nuts. Do whatever you want.” If other players are like me then will they ever.

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I’m a fan of the stealth approach so initially I tried sneaking up on the Outpost. Being a little rusty since I’d not played Far Cry 3 in a long while, I was spotted and riddled with enough bullets to stop an elephant. Funnily enough, a sizable pachyderm was sitting outside the Outpost’s front gate. Instead of trying stealth on my next attempt I decided to free the elephant from its shackles and set it upon the patrolling Royal Army goons.

Inside the Ouptost was a dead elephant being picked at by one of said goons. Apparently the living elephant was mourning its mate (platonic or otherwise, I couldn’t say) because when I unleashed it, it went straight to the poacher and tore him a new one. Well, several new ones. Unfortunately, the might of Pagan Min’s hired goons was too much for me and my feisty elephant and so I failed again.

On the map I spied a nearby hang glider so decided I’d try an aerial bombardment. It ended with my mangled corpse tangled up with a bunch of trees some distance from the Outpost. Obviously I was not a skilled hang glider pilot. Eventually my stealth approach worked and I freed the Outpost unlocking some missions and other miscellany. Seriously, there’s an obscene amount of content in Far Cry 4. You want bang for your buck? Look no further.

Activating the mission led me through a cutscene wherein two characters offered differing perspectives of the task at hand. Would I, Ajay, the saviour of The Golden Path choose to rescue some men in danger, or instead retrieve some much needed intel and leave the men to their fate? Far Cry 4’s main missions (the ones I was able to try at least) each featured a choice. Not really a black and white, binary choice, but more of a grey moral option. These choices purportedly shape the narrative as you progress. I wasn’t able to play long enough to see any of my choices effect change, but I can see where each road is heading. I think…

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With (nearly) the whole of Kyrat at my fingertips, as soon as I was able I jumped into the first gyrocopter I could find and flew in a random direction looking for random fun. It didn’t take long for another journalist to point out that you could land the gyro on the propaganda towers, disable them and fly off, without having to climb all the way up and fight through a rabid horde. The race was on. We decided whoever could unlock the most towers the fastest would be crowned the winner. Thankfully my competition got a bit too eager and ended up blowing himself up. Score one Stevivor.

This is the kind of fun and player inventiveness that Far Cry 4 thrives on. Ubisoft has created a massive open world playground for players to go wild in and it feels like the biggest and freest yet. In my nearly 5 hours with the game I barely saw more than a few percent of what will be on offer when it releases. Playing Far Cry 4 will be a huge undertaking and achieving 100% completion is going to take a very long time indeed. It’s a damn good thing then that playing it is relentlessly good fun.

November is a very busy month for gamers and with so many games to choose from and only a finite amount of money to spend there’s every chance that you won’t be able to buy everything you want. If you’re a fan of Far Cry 3 this is really a no-brainer. Hell, if you can only buy one game next month and want it to last, this will keep you going . That being said, some gamers will find themselves fatiguing at the plethora of activities available and of the lack of rigid structure. Yes, it’s an open world playground with very few rules, but without a clear push in any direction you may find yourself not really progressing. How Ubisoft incentivises the player into playing the story remains to be seen. Thankfully, we won’t have to wait long to find out.

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The only other criticism I can level at Far Cry 4 at this point is that it feels a lot like Far Cry 3.5 rather than a fully fledged sequel. Insane amount of content aside, you’re not really doing anything you won’t have already done before. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. Why reinvent the wheel? Without playing the full game yet, I’m not ready to pass judgement. Games usually keep their best tricks close to the chest and theirs every chance Far Cry 4 is doing just that. Here’s hoping because what I’ve seen oozes potential and balls-out entertainment.

Far Cry 4 will be available for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One on 20 November.

Stevivor.com was flown to Sydney recently by Ubisoft to spend hands-on time with Far Cry 4. Thoughts and feelings on the game are the writer’s own.


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