PLATFORM: Xbox One X (played), PS4 and PC
DEVELOPER: Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Toronto
PUBLISHER: Ubisoft
TYPE OF GAME: open-world interactive eye candy first-person shooter with great story
PLAYERS: single-player, co-op online mutli-player, custom map-making and sharing
AVAILABLE: out now
Ubisoft has had a pretty strong 2017-2018 season. The company seems to have gotten a hold on what made their games incredible and managed to improve upon their development formula. Ubisoft’s teams have time and time again proven that they will go above and beyond in order to make their games fun first and profitable second. The financial success of their games comes from the fact that the people behind them, from developers to higher ups, treat their projects like art. Art they want and should be proud of.
WHAT IS FARCRY?
If you’re not familiar with the FARCRY series, it can be basically summed-up as Ubisoft’s first-person shooting adventure sandbox. The series has progressed a lot in terms of fine tuning but the basic premise of each game starts with the introduction of a powerful, savage and very often brutal antagonist in unique situations. The environment each game takes place in is very much the product of these antagonists. The same can be said about FARCRY 5’s Joseph Seed, the leader of the Project at Eden Garden cult in the fictional Hope County in Montana.
SETTING THE MOOD
Hope County is a place ruled by cultists with guns and it is as beautiful as it is unforgiving. The game starts with a documentary style cutscene with people talking about the dangerous levels the cult has risen to as well as a found-footage style smartphone video of the execution of a ‘traitor’. It is all very creepy and sets the mood perfectly for what’s to come.
THE FATHER
A lot of the previously mentioned mood-setting can be attributed to the game’s villain. FARCRY 5 is centered around Joseph Seed, or as his followers at the Project at Eden Gardens like to call him, Father. Expertly portrayed and voice-acted by Greg Bryk, the Father is my new favourite FARCRY villain. Yes, even better than Vaas. Ruthless, devious and intimidating, Joseph Seed has a presence that invokes feelings of admiration and contempt at the same time.
A FAMILIAR SHELL ON A BRAND NEW EXPERIENCE
If you’ve ever played any of the games in the series after FARCRY 2 you probably already have a general idea of what ‘5’ has to offer. With an impressive variety of weapons ranging from pipes and shovels to bows, grenade launchers and assault rifles, you can explore Hope County on foot, by car, boat, plane, helicopter or parachute across long plains from a mountain. FARCRY 5 is essentially a culmination of everything that made the previous games so good, only this time it’s turned up to 11. After a short introductory/tutorial section, the game gives you the freedom to go about your quests however you like, even offering completing major story portions with whichever sequence you prefer. Oh, and you can also customise your character and choose your gender, which is a really nice touch this time around. My character had the sickest mullet in Hope County.
THE RESISTANCE
Through a series of events which I will not spoil, you are tasked with building The Resistance against Joseph Seed and his family. You can achieve this with 4 ways; by rescuing civilians, destroying cult properties, completing missions and liberating cult outposts. The civilians you rescue will then be available to you to hire and join the fight against The Father. They can offer support in tough spots and revive you when you’re down. These ‘companions’ don’t necessarily have to be human though. A certain canine helper can prove incredibly helpful and generally fun to be around; I’m talking, of course, about Boomer who is one of the best video game dogs I’ve seen in all my years of gaming. Better than Nintendogs. There, I said it.
ARTS AND CRAFTS
Throughout your playthrough you can collect loot or even hunt wild animals for their meat and skins. You can sell your loot in shops available in towns or shops that can be found in the form of characters like hunters in the wild. This ensures that wherever you are, you will most often have a chance to dump your loot and use the acquired cash to buy new weapons or attachments. But it doesn’t end there. FARCRY 5 has a long list of perks you can choose to give you the fighting edge you might be looking for, as well as the ability to craft explosives or homeopathics on-the-spot with the use of a utility wheel. From that same utility wheel you can swiftly switch between weapons, ammo types and throwables with great ease. If this sounds a bit too complicated for you, don’t worry, the game makes a great job explaining the controls to you and in the end you will see that everything flows seamlessly without a hitch during gameplay.
DUNIA ON MY MIND
The beauty and interactivity of Hope County is all thanks to the updated DUNIA engine and the incredible AI system the developers have crafted. Playing this on an Xbox One X hooked up to a 4K TV was an absolute joy to behold. To achieve this level of detail in a game, while keeping it very interactive and fluid, is an incredible achievement. FARCRY 5’s world-building is all about attention to detail. High quality textures can be found everywhere from weathered wooden cabins to the soil and mud you trek through while observing the flora and fauna of Hope County. My advice when playing this game; look up. Enjoy the birds soaring in the sky, the realistic sunlight piercing through beautiful volumetric fog. Just make sure you don’t get too distracted though; you might just miss that bear or mountain lion coming towards you.
IMMERSIVE ANIMATION
Adding to the experience are the superb animations found within the game. Your character’s hands, which are the things you will most likely be looking at during the whole game, move and sway realistically as you go about your business. Hell, I could even see the hair on my character’s arms while making some crazy jumps on a quad bike. NPCs, animals, trees and grass are expertly animated and move beautifully. I found it surprising how many different actions can be pulled off consecutively without a hitch. My character’s movement never felt jerky or jittery. For example, climbing on top of a small tower, zip lining down while shooting baddies, lunging over a box, breaking a baseball bat over someone’s face, then jumping in a pickup truck and driving away while shooting my revolver felt seamless and badass. That whole sequence of events I described happens in no time, with silky smooth transitions and is VERY satisfying.
INTERACTIVITY
You might have caught an idea of the interactivity in this game already but I cannot praise it enough. While this game is missing the foliage destruction and the level of fire propagation found in FARCRY 2, environmental physics and destruction still play a huge role in the game. Shrubs, fences, windows, windshields and cars still get destroyed in realistic fashion but in a way that’s not too taxing on your system’s power. Have you ever wanted to set a whole enemy outpost on fire using a blowtorch and killing everyone around using shovels like javelins? FARCRY 5 has got you covered.
FINALLY SOME GOOD AI IN A MODERN GAME
FARCRY 5 truly shines in the ways the characters interact with you and between them. For example, cut someone off while they’re talking to you by firing your weapon and they might just comment on your rudeness. Generally, the world around you feels alive. With the updated artificial intelligence system, people in Hope County have daily lives and go about their business naturally. If two or more AI systems intersect, the reactions you will witness don’t feel scripted or robotic. You will encounter NPCs hunting, fishing, bad guys relaxing with a guitar completely unaware of their impending doom, ongoing animal attacks and a whole spectrum of random events guaranteed to immerse you in the world.
LIGHT ‘EM UP
The shooting. My oh my the shooting in this game. Whether you’re firing a sniper, pistol, shotgun assault rifle, grenade launcher or a bow, the shooting mechanics in FARCRY 5, much like the whole game, feel like a culmination of all the best aspects of Ubisoft’s latest shooters (Ghost Recon Wildlands and Rainbow Six Siege). Shooting is an enjoyable experience with realistic bullet trajectories and physics implemented in order to add an extra layer of depth. Coupled with superb animation and weapon models, shooting in a FARCRY game has never felt or looked better.
BETTER THAN SKYNYRD
The game’s soundtrack as well as its environmental sound effects, weapon sounds and voice acting all work together to create the perfect tonal combination. I was genuinely surprised by how many different lines of dialogue NPCs had outside of cutscenes. No matter how minor a character might be, they will have something to say and it will help immerse you in the game further. All these components help the game’s story and mood-setting. You will feel a connection to the cause of bringing down Joseph Seed and his family. You will be creeped out at times by the villains. The feel of a FARCRY game set in a rural American county overrun with fanatics and cultists is captured expertly. Turn up the volume and enjoy it; the sound design is the final touch to FARCRY 5’s amazing world.
CONCLUSION
FARCRY 5 is one of very few games I feel are truly moving the industry forward. As generations of consoles progress, players expect new levels of interactivity and visual fidelity in their games, not just the same old tired gameplay but in 4K. FARCRY 5 achieves exactly this. It feels like you’re playing something from the future, something that will be the gold standard for open-world games in the following years, instead of an old game with a resolution boost and a new name. You will be immersed in this world, thanks to thousands of hours of hard work by the incredibly talented teams at Ubisoft. If you own anything that can run FARCRY 5, you owe it to yourself to make it your next big game purchase of the season.
Review code provided by Ubisoft for Xbox One X.
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