Far Cry 5

Far Cry 5 is my first Far Cry game, and from what I understand, it's like the other Far Cry games, which means I've been missing out. It is loads of fun. However, if you're wanting this game to be the kind of dark tone "commentary" that it was initially painted to be, please note that Far Cry 5 is not that game. It has some dark moments, but they're typically only there to try and force-feed you how evil your enemies are, and given the rest of the game's general silliness, they don't really hit as hard as they probably should. There are times I wish I could take it more seriously, but probably many more times I've enjoyed the silly crap. Honestly, I wonder if the team behind this even could have pulled off a serious game. Just go in knowing that it isn't that, and you'll likely have a much better time.

I really appreciate that Far Cry 5 doesn't hold your hand with mini-maps and icon barf. They clearly put considerable effort into trying to have you discover things fairly organically instead of waypointing everything, and the experience is better for it. Some of the way that happens is semi-cheesy, like characters you save directly going, "hey, thanks; here's a prepper stash location", but I still find it massively preferable to prior Ubisoft games, and I appreciate that they listened to feedback, ditched the towers, and made navigation/progression much less video game-y. I made a thread here not too long ago about my disdain for obtrusive HUDs, and it's like they made this game with that in mind. It adds to the immersion for me.

Speaking of prepper stashes, I've found them to be fairly neat. There are some simple puzzle elements to them along the lines of an easier tomb in the recent Tomb Raider games. They make for a fun side mission, and contain some good rewards for doing them. One of them involved me having to snipe a lock through a window by finding the right angle to do so to allow me to get through the door. (Yes, I yelled "SHOOT THE LOCK!", and that was actually how the objective was written, so that makes me wonder if they made a nod to GB there, which would be cool.) Anyway, these prepper stashes are typically highly rewarding in terms of in-game unlocks and currency, in addition to generally being a good time, so they're a good way to have some fun and make some bank, especially early on.

I will say that I really hope they patch in the ability to re-bind controller buttons. Having X be the same button for looting a body, for switching out the gun that's likely right by that same body, and for entering a vehicle that also might be right by that body unsurprisingly creates issues. Thankfully, it otherwise plays arguably better than you might expect overall in terms of controls. The driving isn't Forza, the shooting mechanics aren't Titanfall, and the flying isn't a flight sim, but all are solid in an arcadey sense and fit the style of the gameplay. The Clutch Nixon stunt side missions are the only exception, as they seem to have intentionally bad controls to ramp up the difficulty. In an overall sense, though, the game plays somewhere between fine to good, which is a bit of an achievement given that many open-world games fall woefully short there.

The characters are disappointing, to say the least. Most of them skew more towards caricatures, which isn't great. Hurk is by far the worst. He is a borderline offensive portrayal of a "Southern" stereotype in every way. He isn't relatable or endearing at all, nor does the character remotely succeed in being some hilariously scathing mockery of far-right rednecks. Hurk is simply very annoying, and is arguably the worst part of the entire game. He has a wildly effective rocket launcher, yet I can't imagine anyone even uses him as their sidekick because he's that irritating. Hurk is damn near a cheat code that isn't even worth it because you have to put up with him constantly saying cringeworthy, dumbass shit.

The villains are more one-note than I'd like as well. There are also perhaps too many allies. I often had trouble recalling who was who and mostly never became overly attached to them. I get what the game was trying to do with having available "buddies" with differing benefits who would seemingly appeal to varying people to allow you choose the one(s) you liked, but I think the game may have been better served focusing on fewer characters that were a bit more fleshed out. Ultimately, I used allies largely as pawns to draw fire and occasionally resurrect me (often carelessly marching them into certain death), which I suppose is both a criticism of myself and of the general weakness of the game's NPCs. I went with the pet bear (and later, also ammo lady whose name I literally can't remember) for most of my playthrough, largely because few others grabbed my attention and also because it's a pet bear.

Graphically, the game is pretty great. I'm playing it on a One X on a 4K TV that's literally next to my buddy's regular HDTV with a regular Xbox One hooked into it, and both versions look good, with the One X of course looking better as it should. Environmentally, the game maybe goes a bit over the top on atmospheric haze/fog at spots, but otherwise, virtual Montana is a joy to behold and explore. Little touches here and there like my co-op buddy's mullet majestically flowing in the breeze as we drive along are fun, and art-wise, it's neat to see a setting that's fairly uncommon to games. There is some pop-in here and there, but the "you can go there" concept of what is a very large map is legitimately impressive. It runs well and looks good.

Unfortunately, the co-op campaign progress is only saved on the "host" profile, meaning that you either need to do campaign stuff only when your buddy is with you or be cool with trading off hosting and replaying missions to catch each other back up. That, or just purely focus on non-story-related shenanigans when you're playing co-op (thankfully, that is typically a blast). The game allows you to keep perk points and cash you earn in co-op as a non-host, but little else. I imagine this is because reconciling each player's respective progression for a co-op session is a pain in the ass from a technical standpoint, but it's still a bit annoying. It's not a dealbreaker for me, as I actually sort of enjoy being able to watch my buddy experience some things, as well as helping him find some better stuff and level up his guy, but I can certainly see where some others might get really irritated with it.

The weapons are fairly good overall. There are the types of guns you'd want, and you can typically customize them the way you'd like. (The .50 sniper rifle is dope.) You can buy some dumb gun skins with real money or in-game money if you so choose, and the same goes for character outfits, vehicles, etc. In this day and age, I don't find the microtransactions here particularly irritating, and the "progression" balance has been completely fine, as it's neither been too grindy nor too easy to be able to get what you want, and the process is clear and 1:1 in terms of "here's what you need to do to get this", which is sadly refreshing compared with some other games. Having the ability to spec out your character's skills via perks works well here, as you can tailor things to fit your playstyle. I found several of them very helpful in terms of making my character a more lethal sniper.

The difficulty level seems solid. There are some frustrating bullet-sponge enemies, but you can level the playing the field on them with better weaponry/strategy. My co-op buddy and I managed to have some actual teamwork and productive communication on par with the "Ubisoft canned multiplayer experience videos from E3", and we became a highly effective sniper team taking out outposts before they knew what hit them. Still, we would occasionally get overwhelmed and killed despite our characters being fairly overleveled. I never felt truly "safe" in Far Cry's world, which is a good thing. Also, I found one of the Clutch Nixon levels where you had to fly a wingsuit through rings to be frustratingly difficult, to the point that my co-op buddy and I had to split up into individual games because there was zero chance we would both beat it together on the same run. Hours later, we would each beat it individually, replete with cheers and high-fives. Triumph of the human spirit.

There is a bit of open-world jank, but it's typically more amusing than annoying. The AI sometimes does wonky things (I've had friendlies around me pretend they were in combat against non-existent enemies) and scripting breaks here and there, but I haven't encountered any game-breaking or progress-impeding bugs yet (fingers crossed there). The weirdest one I've had was that a convoy got taken out and I got credit for it without actually doing anything. I don't know if that was some rogue badass friendly doing work, or jank from afar being interpreted as me defeating something I didn't, but that was a WTF moment. I might be a bit too forgiving of the game's occasional lack of polish because it weirdly kind of adds to the game for me. The Battlefield series has those "Battlefield moments" where a plane stunningly blazes out of the sky and crashes spectacularly as your infantry charges towards a tank cresting a hill. Far Cry 5 has what I'd call "Far Cry moments" like a bison ramming a cult truck and the cult members ragdolling ridiculously out of the windows. They're fantastic, even if slightly broken.

Also, I'm enjoying the game's sound design, which generally enhances the experience of the world around you. The soundtrack is also mostly very good/fitting (but leans a little too heavily into the "creepy hymn" thing at times). The voicework is typically fine, but the dialogue itself is often somewhere between bad and lame, which is a large part of the character criticisms levied above. The typical NPC lines feel so damn wink, wink to try and entertain you as the gamer rather than being a believable, meaningful interaction between them and your character. It force-feeds you largely stereotype-heavy, thin humor as if it's expecting you to respond to the characters with a "oh, that goofy rascal" endearment to them, but it falls almost completely flat there. HITMAN it is not. Far Cry 5 on the whole isn't devoid of charm, but its characters very nearly are.

There are, however, some really cool moments. As I began "liberating" an area, the NPCs started to change from being 99% cult members trying to kill me to more and more cops/park rangers just hanging out. How I discovered this was especially fun. There is a spot near where I often fished that was a campfire. Early on, I walked up on it and discovered a couple of cult members singing creepy cult hymns. (I threw a stick of dynamite at them.) Later on, when I returned to that spot, I heard music and assumed it would be the same group, but this time it was friendlies, with one playing a version of Where Did You Sleep Last Night on a guitar and two others slow dancing to it. It was a neat, semi-touching little moment where it felt like your actions had made a positive impact. Also, hearing a jetski (ahem, boatercycle) come towards you stopped being this "oh, gotta shoot this cult guy" on-guard situation (don't fuck with me while I'm fishing); instead it became an enjoyable little thing to watch a friendly NPC just gleefully driving around recreationally.

Far Cry 5 has its issues, but it's mostly a great deal of fun, and there is some substance to be found here and there. I'm willing to forgive a lot of its shortcomings (maybe too many) due to the fun factor, as it's a great sandbox. My buddy and I have had no trouble consistently getting into/causing a bunch of random hilarious nonsense, and that has been the most enjoyable multiplayer gaming experience I've had in years. Co-op is the best way to play it, but it's enjoyable enough solo as well if you're willing to explore and get creative from a "what if I did this" standpoint. The game is arguably at its best when you're just kind of fucking around. Ultimately, if you're looking for quality characters/dialogue/narrative, Far Cry 5 is not the game for you, but if you want to do dumb shit in a pretty open-world playground (especially with a buddy), Far Cry 5 is often terrific.