Friday, December 28, 2012

Far Cry 3 Impressions

One of the gifts I received for Christmas was Far Cry 3.  I had never played either of the first two, but it doesn't seem to be any kind of essential story aspects I am missing.  Basically, it seems like far Cry 3 is a GTA type game, but in the jungle.

First, let me get some hate out of the way.  I don't know whose idea it was to have the start menu connect to the Internet, but arrgggghhhh!  Nothing like a minute delay while it tries to connect to some servers and fails, just by hitting the start button.  It's a terrible idea which will hopefully never be repeated.

The game received some pretty high praise (nominations, awards) from the media leading up to release, so I had high expectations for the title.  I'm about 5 hours in and I just don't see it.  It's a decent game, but so far nothing stands out as excellent to me.

It kind of reminds me of the Mercenaries games, by the now defunct Pandemic Studios.  I run around killing the bad guys and a lot of animals while unlocking new parts of the island.  It all gets you experience which you use to unlock skills.  It even has 3 skill trees, like MMO's are so fond of doing.

Then there is crafting.  I actually find it kind of annoying.  For example, I had to find special animal skin so I could craft a bigger wallet.  Otherwise I could not collect any more cash.  I also have to get certain animal skins to craft a larger bag.   The same goes for ammo and the syringes/potions.  The limitations are frustrating.

I'll continue to play some more and hope it gets more entertaining.