Review | 2015.02.09

FarCry 4 screenshot lake view scenic RPG hovercraft

A weekend of running, surfing, and sun is not complete without restorative video gaming sessions. J and I recently started co-oping Far Cry 4.
The sights

FarCry 4 screenshot view mountains girl village

The game is pretty like Assassin's Creed IV, but trade the Caribbean for the fictitious Himalayan land of Kyrat. And the xbox 360 for ps4. Nicely-detailed, 3d-looking mountains for starters. Water, fire, lighting, and focus effects cannot go without mention.

Far Cry 4 mountains buggy view Far Cry 4 Lakshmana mountains Far Cry 4 mountains tower
Far Cry 4 mountains grenade launcher runway Far Cry 4 mountains bow sun Far Cry 4 helicopter lens flare blurry Far Cry 4 gyro elephant lake mountains boats
Depth

FarCry 4 screenshot unlockables

The game has ample depth elements for a shooter: xp and leveling, nice guy points, abilities, inventory. Things unlock as you focus efforts on the variety of main and side quests, so if you want the suppressed sniper rifle you can work specifically for it.

I'm not especially impressed with the abilities (other than, of course, riding elephants). Things like chained takedowns and stimulant injections just don't have much impact unless you're really going for it.

Far Cry 4 AK47 firefight

The weapons are varied but pretty standard. Some can be upgraded with scopes, suppressors, and large mags. There are other fun things like explosive arrows and c4. The map is scattered with gun and mortar emplacements. Mortars are especially fun, similar to UAVs in Call of Duty.

FarCry 4 screenshot wingsuit coop

On the plus side, I haven't set a proximity mine since Perfect Dark and... well... WING SUIT!!!
Story

FarCry 4 screenshot Pagan knife stab cinema

The plot is nothing new: the protagonist finds out about his father in a world where the peasants are rising up against the evil, murderous, drug trafficking, uber-baddie Pagan Min. Interactions are pretty good even if they don't lend to any particular depth.

Far Cry 4 pagan selfie Far Cry 4 Hurk fist bump vehicle Far Cry 4
Far Cry 4 villagers Far Cry 4 villagers conversation Far Cry 4 Far Cry 4
Vehicles

FarCry 4 screenshot hovercraft boat

The vehicles. Woo. All the toys you could possibly want to get around the remote environs of not-Nepal. Here's a decent cross section, and I'm maybe at 25% completion:

Far Cry 4 buggy Far Cry 4 tuk tuk Far Cry 4 suppressed sniper rifle snowmobile snow oxygen Far Cry 4 vehicle repair torch
Far Cry 4 lake boat view mountains Far Cry 4 fast rope gyro Far Cry 4 escort mission truck
Far Cry 4 driving tuk tuk Far Cry 4 driving atv Far Cry 4 high centered truck pickup Far Cry 4 hovercraft
Far Cry 4 burning overcraft Far Cry 4 tower gyro bow mountains Far Cry 4 rpg elephant coop outpost
Co-op

FarCry 4 screenshot buzzer coop sniper rifle

The co-op is great. Which is important because it's the reason this game rose to the top of the queue. Your co-op partner plays as Hurk, the redneck fish-out-of-water fighting for a just cause, or just fighting. Together you drive and fly around, capturing bases and getting stuff.

Teamwork can be super-useful, whether it's marking enemies at an outpost for the ensuing takedown or airlifting your buddy to the top of the tedious-to-climb radio towers.

The fun of working together is somewhat overshadowed by the knowledge that only the game host will collect full rewards from the activities, but the guest does not come away with nothing.

Far Cry 4 coop Hurk bow atv Far Cry 4 coop pickup truck Hurk Far Cry 4 coop sneaking Far Cry 4 coop gyro cave
Far Cry 4 coop hovercraft burning truck Hurk Far Cry 4 coop gyro Hurk bow hunting Far Cry 4 coop Hurk pickup truck bed rpg
Far Cry 4 coop Hurk rhino knocked help Far Cry 4 coop Hurk rhino dead
Polish

FarCry 4 screenshot glitch

There are one or two glitches in the game. And I mean more substantive than the above-depicted spoon-driving (can this be a thing?). I've been stuck underneath a hang glider and inside a bridge. More frequently, online play has simply choked. One time J couldn't see the car I was driving.
Random gallery and obligatory elephant outro

Far Cry 4 zipline Far Cry 4 dead rhino truck tree fire Far Cry 4 pickup truck underwater Far Cry 4 river bridge truck Far Cry 4 parking new activiites traffic
Far Cry 4 pickup truck gun turret Far Cry 4 ram sacrifice Far Cry 4 Arbuda

FarCry 4 screenshot elephant village



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