Far Cry 3: A video game review by Andrew C. Cary

Far Cry 3 is an expansive game, and I say expansive for many reasons. Not only is the game's world huge and filled with things to do, the game’s main storyline is also full of an expansive range of life and emotion. Far Cry 3 is a vast tale about a group of irresponsible college-age kids on a vacation gone awry, and you play as the most innocent and doe-eyed of all those kids, Jason Brody. In the midst of partying and not having a care in the world, the group ends up skydiving directly onto an uncharted, pirate-infested, powered-by-drug-trafficking island. No, this game is not for the faint of heart. Danger is literally everywhere. The pirates and their leader, Vaas Montenegro, mean business, and will not stop until they either sell you and your friends into slavery or kill you. Along with psycho pirates, the island is host to dozens of different breeds of deadly animals that sneak up behind you and kill you out in the middle of nowhere without a second’s notice. It’s actually a little ridiculous how dangerous the game world is. That is where most of the fun/frustration lies. Creeping into a pirate camp in the middle of the night and releasing a group of tigers to ravage your unsuspecting enemies is one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had in games. Instances like this are littered throughout the story and the world, ready to be found at any time. However, as a stressed out college student with little free time to spend, the game can be a little draining. It is almost impossible to simply go up to a group of enemies, shoot them all, and just be fine afterwards. Healing and crafting ammo pouches takes precious resources, and until later in the game when these things become more prevalent, it is often hard to justify spending your hard-earned ammo and health on a group of enemies. When I did decide to put time, health, and ammo on the line, though, I had more fun than I’ve had with any other game this year, including Assassins Creed 3, Dishonored, Borderlands 2, and many more. I, like Jason, really grew to hate these pirates, and exacting my revenge in often creative ways is just awesome. This brings me to an important part of Far Cry that sets it apart, the hunting and crafting. It may sound similar to Red Dead Redemption, Assassins Creed 3, or other games with similar mechanics, but it is more important in Far Cry 3. When starting the game, you only can carry one gun, around two or three magazines of ammo for your weapon, two grenades, and $1000. To even able to carry two guns to swap between, you have to kill and skin a certain type of animal enough times to be able to “craft” another weapon slot, or a bigger ammo or grenade pouch, or a bigger cash pouch. This is a gutsy choice by the developer—to make you work for something (hunting is not easy) in a games industry where everything is often handed to the gamer immediately without question. In the same vein, the game does away with the “magical regenerating health” system that permeates games like Call of Duty of Battlefield. The player instead crafts syringes that Jason must inject in himself to regenerate health. It is design choices like this, along with the grand and fierce open world, and the deep, psychological main storyline that set Far Cry 3 apart. Unfortunately, these things also make the game a little tedious at times. After I get back to my dorm, after a long day of schooling and work, sometimes I just don’t feel like putting in the work to not suck at Far Cry 3, and sometimes, after an hour or so of playing, I start to run low on resources, or maybe I start getting stuck on taking down a certain base, and I give up, to take on something less stimulating. I actually feel bad when I do badly. This especially happens when something ridiculous or terrible (in a good way) happens in the story (I’m not emotionally stable enough right now to handle this unsuspected turn!). Yes, I realize that I’m complaining that this game is too immersive, and that’s dumb, but really it was hard to fight this feeling through the 20+ hour campaign (add side missions and screwing around to that, and it’s more like 30). With that length also, the game can, very rarely, drag on at times and feel like it is taking a bit too long. And now, I realize that I’m complaining that there is too much to do in the game; another bad complaint, but one that was relevant in my playthrough. However, this is really my only gripe with the game. The action is fantastic, the story and main characters (especially the villains) are fleshed out and captivating, the island is alive, and the graphics are some of the prettiest in this generation. Jason, as a character, goes through such a cool and fascinating transformation through the game—one that explores motifs such as vengeance, insanity, murder, and love—and that was really the highlight of the game for me. I was often blown away by how ridiculously awesome this game was, and I would recommend it to anyone willing to put the time towards a fantastic modern RPG-FPS. 9.5/10 +So fun when the action is rolling +Beautiful Graphics +The game's map is huge; like, gigantic +Immersive storyline; Jason is a really cool character, and Vaas is played a lot like Heath Ledger’s Joker (which is quite a good thing) -Can get monotonous at times