Far Cry 3

Gameplay

Far Cry 3 is a first-person shooter, which also features role-playing game elements including experience points, skill trees, and a crafting system. The player has the ability to take cover behind objects to break enemies' lines of sight and to peek around and over cover and blindfire. The player has the ability to perform silent takedowns by performing melee attacks from above, below, or close behind. The game's narrative director, Jason Vandenberghe, said that the story mode map is around ten times larger than the game's previous installments. Players are given the ability to survey and plan out their attacks with stealth takedown combinations and tag enemies with the camera in order to track their movement once they break the player's line of sight.

Equipment is controlled by a simple system. As missions are completed, new items are unlocked to be purchased or crafted by Jason, using the pelts of various animals found around the island to improve items, weapons, and ammunition carrying capabilities. When scramblers on radio towers are removed, areas of the map are opened and weapons in the shop are first made available for purchase, and ultimately made available for free. Apart from the basic models of each category which can be picked up from slain enemies or at the start of several missions, most weapons can be upgraded with one or more additions such as silencers, larger magazines, and better optics. A special group of "signature" weapons possess maxed-out statistics and/or unique abilities. Apart from guns, the player also has access to a few unique items and tools. Ammunition for each weapon category can be picked up, or, in the case of arrows, retrieved after use.

As outposts of Vaas' pirate group are attacked and retaken, the vicinity around the outpost becomes safer and new side quests are unlocked for that area, involving missions like hunting the many different wildlife species on the island to upgrade one's equipment.

Skills are collected by gaining experience from completing missions and killing enemies, and are unlocked in three skill trees, which correspond to the Spider, the Heron, and the Shark. Each skill tree upgrades different aspects of Jason's abilities, with the Spider upgrading his stealth takedowns and hunting skills, the Shark upgrading assault takedowns and health, and the Heron upgrading his long-range takedowns and mobility. As skills are collected, the tribal tattoo on Jason's forearm grows correspondingly.

Plot

Jason Brody is on vacation with a group of friends in the Rook Islands, celebrating his younger brother Riley getting a pilot license. However, on a skydiving trip, they land on a pirate-infested island and are kidnapped by a pirate lord named Vaas, who plans to extort ransom money from their parents, and then sell them into slavery. With the help of his older brother Grant, Jason breaks out of captivity, but Grant is killed by Vaas in the escape. Jason is rescued by Dennis, who is part of the Rakyat (the island natives who suffer due to the activities of the pirates). Dennis recognizes Jason's potential as a warrior, and gives him the Tatau, the tattoos of a Rakyat warrior. Jason then helps the Rakyat in a number of missions and ends up finding one of his friends, Daisy, at the house of Dr. Earnhardt. Impressed with Jason's prowess, the Rakyat allow him to be the second outsider to enter their sacred temple (Dennis was the first being born in Liberia) and their leader Citra initiates him into the tribe, after Jason finds and returns the Silver Dragon knife, a Rakyat relic, having seen it in a previous dream. He runs a series of missions during which he rescues his captive friends Keith, Oliver and Jason's girlfriend Liza while simultaneously helping the Rakyat retake their island, helped at times by Dr. Earnhardt and Willis Huntley, a CIA agent. After a few run-ins with Vaas, Jason discovers that he is employed by Hoyt Volker, a slave trader and drug lord, and that Vaas is Citra's brother. Throughout the adventure, Jason matures into a fearsome warrior and is revered by the Rakyat, begins to enjoy all the killing, and grows more distant from his friends, especially after receiving information that Riley is dead. After Citra asks him to stay in the island, Jason returns to Dr. Earnhardt's house (where his friends are hiding and preparing their escape by boat), and tells them that he is staying, completely distant from his friends and family, leaving them disturbed. Meanwhile, Jason has an affair with Citra after she drugs him and has sex with him while he is in a hallucination.

After bidding goodbye to his friends, Jason goes to the pirates base where Vaas is. Believing that Jason was dead after a confrontation between the two, Vaas is celebrating Jason's death, although it transpires he was actually waiting for him. After Jason kills numerous pirates and reaches a warehouse, he and Vaas fight, but Jason enters a delusional state, fighting multiple duplicates of Vaas in his dream. He reaches a final Vaas, and after a brief struggle, he impales him through the chest with the Dragon Knife and collapses right besides him. He wakes up to Citra in the Rakyat's temple, and promises her that he will kill Hoyt for her. After Huntley helps him get into Hoyt's island, Jason infiltrates Hoyt's personal army with the help of Sam Becker, Huntley's fellow operative. During this time, Jason discovers that Riley is alive, but a prisoner of Hoyt. Jason works his way into Hoyt's confidence, until Hoyt eventually invites him and Sam to a poker night. After making a plan to kill Hoyt, Sam and Jason sit down at the poker game, but Hoyt stabs Sam in the throat and kills him, knowing the two are traitors. After Jason gets one of his fingers cut by Hoyt, the two have a knife fight, with Jason emerging victorious and killing Hoyt. Jason then goes to rescue Riley; he receives a call from Liza, but the signal is cut before she can say anything. Jason rescues Riley and the two escape by helicopter.

The two then fly to Earnhardt's house, but find it burning and the doctor dying on the ground. With his last words, he tells them that the house was attacked by the Rakyat, and that they have captured Jason's friends. Jason and Riley arrive at the Rakyat Temple. Jason asks Citra why his friends were captured, but she sprays him unconscious with a sleep powder and captures Riley. Citra has fallen in love with Jason, believing him to be a powerful warrior of Rakyat legend, and that she will free him. He starts dreaming of walking a fiery path with the Dragon Knife, and having Liza as a monster in his dream. He wakes up holding Liza at knife point with the Dragon Knife, and is given the choice either to kill his friends or to spare them.

Endings

Development

In August 2010, PC Gamer reported that development of Far Cry 3 was in "full swing" at Ubisoft Montreal. In the same month, Game and Swedish retailer Webhallen listed the game for a 2010 release, which did not happen. In January 2011, Ubisoft declined to comment on speculation that Far Cry 3 would be hitting shelves in October after Game Informer listed the game as an October arrival in its 2011 preview feature.

In February, the Official PlayStation Magazine suggested that the game was due for release at the end of 2011 as the following quote suggested, "Start taking the malaria medicine in preparation: Far Cry 3 could be arriving before the end of the year." This statement was withdrawn in next month's edition where it was stated that the game would be shown on 2011's E3 and that the release date would be bumped back to 2012. In May, the CVs of a couple of stuntmen listed Far Cry 3 as one of their previous projects.

Far Cry 3 features a sandbox editor. Furthermore, after confirmations of PC split screen on the Far Cry 3 official site as well as content delivery service Steam, the feature was dropped days before release.

The game's writer Jeffrey Yohalem claimed that the intention of the game's plot was to make a statement about "what shooting means and what it does to humanity". The game's protagonist Jason Brody is not a trained soldier, but rather an everyman who is forced to become a killer over the course of the game. Yohalem claims that as a result the game examines "what happens when that guy is put into a situation where he has to survive minute by minute and save his friends? Will he pick up a gun and how does that affect him? [...] This is a story about a normal guy who picks up a gun and that can't end well". Producer Dan Hay emphasized that the emotional "turns" in the characters were a major theme in the game, stating that "that was the emotional thing we wanted and when we first saw it, it was with Vaas." Hay further commented that the game merged the systemic feel and emotional feel from the previous two Far Cry games in order to take the game in a "very, very surprising direction."

Marketing and release

Players who pre-ordered Far Cry 3 received The Lost Expeditions Edition of the game. It contains two exclusive missions not available in the regular version. These missions, "The Forgotten Experiment" and "Ignition in the Deep", offer 40 minutes of additional playtime, plus a Type 10 Japanese World War II flare gun for use in the game's multiplayer modes. Players in America who pre-ordered Far Cry 3 from GameStop received The Monkey Business bonus pack. It includes four more missions "hosted by Hurk and his bomb-carrying monkeys", and "two bonus ways to humiliate your friends" in multiplayer. The Insane Edition of the game includes all pre-order bonuses and all other forms of launch DLC, along with a Vaas bobblehead and a manual teaching survival skills for usage in real situations of danger.

Ubisoft commissioned Michael Lambert, a Minecraft enthusiast, and artists Axel Janssen and Yohann Delcourt to create a custom map and texture pack mimicking Far Cry 3's setting and characters within the popular indie game Minecraft. The Far Cry 3 Minecraft texture pack, was released, along with a Far Cry 3 Minecraft custom adventure map, on October 26, 2012 on the official Far Cry 3 website.

Ubisoft released the free exclusive DLC High Tides for the PlayStation 3 version of Far Cry 3. The DLC was later released for PC on February 1, 2013 as a free Uplay reward.

Soundtrack

The game's soundtrack was composed by Brian Tyler and was released digitally on December 4, 2012. The game also features some licensed music.

Critical reception

Far Cry 3 received widespread critical acclaim. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 89.18% and 90/100, the Xbox 360 version 89.14% and 90/100 and the PC version 88.12% and 88/100.

The game was highly praised by Eurogamer, who awarded it a 10/10, claiming that "Far Cry 3 is all the best things about open-world gaming". Edge also added to the praise, calling the game "wild, reactive and unpredictable", giving Far Cry 3 an 8/10. G4TV gave the game a 5/5, praising the game's open world, long and satisfying campaign missions, solid gunplay with a variety of weapons to unlock and customize, and a compelling story. Game Informer gave the game a score of 9.0/10, praising the game's story, characters, open world exploration, and gameplay. GameTrailers gave the game an 8.6/10, criticizing the repetitive feel of the island, but praising the story, characters and its likeness to Assassin's Creed. IGN gave the game a 9.0/10, praising the game's excellent cast of characters, unpredictable enemy encounters, and its open world environment.

Parts of the story were not universally praised; some commentators felt the story was unrealistic, the player and his companions unlikeable, and the inconsistency of the plot's tone awkward.

Sales

Far Cry 3 was a commercial success. It had sold about 4.5 million units as of February 2013, and more than 6 million copies as of May 2013. On October 30, 2014, Ubisoft revealed that Far Cry 3 had shipped 10 million units.

Awards

For the 2013 D.I.C.E. Interactive Achievement Awards, Far Cry 3 was nominated for seven awards including: "Game of the Year", "Action Game of the Year", "Outstanding Character Performance" for Vaas Montenegro, "Outstanding Achievement in Game Direction", "Outstanding Achievement in Animation", "Outstanding Achievement in Art Direction", and "Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composition". Far Cry 3 also received two Game Developer's Choice Awards nominations for Best Visual Arts and Best Technology. Also received numerous nominations at the 9th British Academy Video Games Awards in the categories of Best Game, Artistic Achievement, Audio Achievement, Game Design and Story, while winning the category for Best Action game.

Sequel

In June 2013, in light of the acclaim garnered by Far Cry 3, Ubisoft promised they had plans for a Far Cry 4. Ubisoft said it would most likely be an open world game, which they believe is the future of gaming. In March 2014, Eurogamer published an article stating that Far Cry 4 will be set in the Himalayas and will have "ridable elephants." Also stated was the game's release will be in the "first half of 2015." On May 15, 2014, Far Cry 4 was officially confirmed by a Ubisoft financial report and was released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC on November 18, 2014 in North America and November 20 in Europe.