I've been playing an awful lot of Far Cry 4 lately -- over 20 hours now to be exact. However what may be distinctive in that regard is about 80% of my time has been spent frollicking about within its world and what it has to offer. I've actually undertaken very few of the story missions, just enough to get out of the prologue, for them to let me off the leash and go wild.

Ever since then I've just been going around making my own fun, exploring at my leisure, doing whatever stuff is available that isn't actually related to pushing the narrative forward. The story itself so far is pretty weak and doesn't get much better I'm to believe, but who cares! Far Cry 4 is a game that excels because of its open world and the mechanics within, not down to its story. I'd go as far as to say it's fair game if you simply view the story missions as another set of side content! Just another set of reasons to go blow up stuff or shank some fellows; the why behind it all doesn't really seem to matter and it's probably best you don't ask very many questions.

Disclaimer: I played very little of Far Cry 3, so... it's possible Far Cry 4 wouldn't prove to be as fun had I already gotten into a very similar rhythm with Far Cry 3 before hand. Nonetheless!

AI on AI Fighting!

Don't you just love it?! Actually killing your fellow man is all well and good (very good in fact), but part of what I've loved so much about Far Cry 4 is watching everyone and everything else kill each other.

Since the crux of the game's story is about this civil war thing, that means you've got two AI factions that are constantly duking it out with one another. You can barely cross the street without dem blues & reds going at each other's necks, completely unscripted! That on its own can be fun to witness, and also use to your advantage by then shanking all the reds in the back while they're preoccupied, but then you of course have the wildlife.

They function as a third faction that are basically out to kill every single one of us. So, not only do you have the Blue v Red, however there may also be a fucking rhino that'll come charging out of nowhere, effortlessly knocking everything aside like ragdolls. Or perhaps an eagle will swoop down from the skies, or a pack of wild dogs will start chewing at a squad of bad guy's ankles, or a single determined Honey Badger will arrive and LEAVE NOTHING IN ITS WAKE.

Hell, animals won't simply just attack us, either. Being the barbaric fuckers that they are, they can routinely be seen attacking other wildlife as well. I've seen a pack of wolves chasing after poor, defenseless boars, and have on innumerable occasions witnessed an eagle picking up pigs & goats and then dropping them to their death. Bears will aggressively bear hug (and scratch, maul, and so on) one another for funzies, vultures will start pecking at corpses, tigers will actually crouch down into the bushes to stay out of you sight while they silently sneak their way towards you, the rising undead, human sacrifices, dogs and cats living together - Mass Hysteria!

Witnessing all three factions dynamically interact with one another is eternally entertaining, and that's without any of my own meddling at that!

Making Traversal Fun

High Gliding, gyrocopters, wingsuit, cars, elephants, simply using your own two feet - getting around Kyrat is about as engaging as murdering everything within it. While it's not quite a platformer, there's a great amount of maneuverability at your fingertips and shoe soles; clambering up buildings is easy and intuitive, as is sprinting along and then sliding behind a car to keep yourself hidden. The way you'll actually poke your head out, be it above or to the side, when aiming next to a flat surface is ever appreciative, as is the easy accessibility of your wingsuit. Being able to leap off a cliff and immediately start soaring along like a bird only to then lead it into a parachute drop is simply invigorating.

The gyrocopter is easy to fly and highly maneuverable, and riding a rampaging elephant isn't as difficult as one may expect. Being able to turn around on your elephant as easily as if you're still on foot is perhaps a tad unrealistic... but regardless, everything feels like it's been designed to be immediately accessible and emphasise the sheer variety rather than realism.

Gah, and then there's all the vehicles! Leaping off of cliffs on a quadbike, sitting underwater in a car somehow immune to the predicament of drowning or getting electrocuted... It's as if the world of Kyrat is your own little box of toys. A... sandbox if you will.

Interacting With The World Around Me

The world of Far Cry 4 isn't the most lifelike. Los Santos for example this is not, but the way I can interact with it all more than makes up that. The simple blending of action and stealth, as is becoming more and more popular these days, is still a brilliant mix of systems. Crouching around only before rushing and gutting a bad guy, then pulling out his sidearm and killing another two nearby is the purest of power-fantasy! Being able to leap off and gut a guy from above, or pulling a guy over a piece of cover and... gutting him thataway too! How the Hell Ajay Ghale hasn't achieved some creepy ominous nickname like 'The Butcher' amongst the Kyratians (?) I have no idea.

Far Cry 4 can be played as much of a stealth or action game as you want it to be... usually. Still, mixing the two together is what I find works. Sleuthing around, doing some more of that gutting, throwing knives from a distance, hiding corpses -- only until that one bugger you forget to tag turns around a corner and now it's time to switch to that portable grenade launcher and start throwing molotovs in every direction. Or I could start throwing down proximity mines to cover my flank while I slink back into stealth, while also perhaps tossing in some bait to keep the guards busy with a leopard or whatever else is immediately lured into the fray. Kind of ridiculous for how a wild animal will (usually) spawn immediately within the vicinity, making it seem as if you're summoning the animal with a pokeball or something, but realism ain't welcome in Kyrat!

Obviously the outposts are what most come to to have everything blend together, though I find they're not always necessary. Simple patrols that you can spot may sometimes be enough incentive for me to start throwing molotovs while out of their sight purely to start freaking them out, if not just charging right in them and plunging my machete into one while then immediately throwing his own knife into the other. mmmmm, good stuff. I suppose the outposts do offer a more contained environment to see what kind of havoc you can unleash, though I still ultimately prefer the freedom of the open world itself. It's more satisfying to watch a group of bad blokes getting jumped by a leopard as opposed to I myself somehow making that leopard materialise into existence.

Though I do have some degree of infamy at least. The way seemingly everyone knows my name and will comment on me being the one to finally get off my ass and start taking over outposts is rather neat. If also somewhat hilarious because of how Ghale is basically The One True Savior that is an expert in virtually anything and everything, while at the same time having so little personality or character that he might as well be a silent protagonist.

There are a number of actual official dynamic events that'll occur throughout your travels, too. Clearly inspired by the sort of stuff from Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto V, they add a little structure to your open-world madness and go to great lengths to make it seem like there's always something going on around every corner. Unfortunately the actual list of events themselves is pretty slim, but because of the sheer randomness that can occur (again usually involving the surprise cameo of a rhino or what have you), they're worth checking out all the same.

Even the simple act of booting things and watching them go puff is so weirdly satisfying. I do wish Ajay would always resort to the boot rather than switching between that and his disappointingly unsatisfying machete depending on the angle (I think), but alas. The collectables too are actually well implemented purely as means to give me more reason to scour around such an expansive world. Those creepy Yalung masks in particular add an extra layer of appeal for how you have to find them by ear due to weird chanting sound that emanates from it. Plus, I really enjoy many of the caves and underwater graveyards that are filled with details left behind by this 'Goat' serial killer.

The way the NPCs themselves will react to everything happening can be entertaining in its own right, too. Believe me, they get just as freaked out by that recognisable shriek of an eagle that's preparing to skydive itself towards any unlucky prey. That the regular soldiers will actually call out to their troops what specific animal it is is kind of impressive. It's such a little detail they didn't need to implement. In fact the AI in general and how they adapt is not the worst I've seen! They'll actually coordinate with one another and try to surround you, though that very same coordination works to your own advantage as they happen to enjoy shouting very loudly every action they are about to undertake.

The Jank!

'Jank' is such a strange concept, as it typically refers to a game's scripting breaking in some way, but to the benefit of the player. It's the weird sort of bullet point that technically shouldn't be praised, but sometimes it can result in so many laugh out loud scenarios that it's hard not to deny that it has its appeal. Jumping in for a ride alongside some AIs while they're at the wheel is one of the best ways to have some jank fed right down your gullet. Their driving often makes it all feel as if they're driving on ice, as they slip around all over the place while keeping the same level of acceleration. Maybe that's just how all driving looks in this game from more of a third-person perspective, however!

Some of the ordinary folk and how they will often get very confused in traffic jams, or can be found skinning a dead animal with their bare hands (no actual bear hands yet unfortunately) is another common example.

Oh! Conclusion!

I admittedly don't blog about games I actually enjoy that much, so it was a nice change of pace to write about a game I've been spending my time playing so much purely for the sake of playing it! Rather than so I can better write up an authoritative list of criticisms or something.

THOUGH ON THE NOTE THAT STORY IS AGAIN PRETTY WEAK AND MANY OF THE SIDE-CHARACTERS HAVE THIS 'LARGER THAN LIFE' QUALITY TO THEM THAT MAKES ITS ATTEMPTS AT TRYING TO IMITATE GRAND THEFT AUTO KINDA PAINFULLY OBVIOUS. LIKE THAT 'RUDE AND CRUDE' DJ GUY WHO LITERALLY SOUNDS LIKE A CHARACTER RIPPED RIGHT OUT OF LOS SANTOS. ALSO, THERE ARE LIKE THREE GENERIC NPC FACES IN THIS WHOLE DAMN GAME. MAKES ME FEEL AS IF I'M BACK IN COLUMBIA OR SOMETHING. OH, AND WHILE MUCH OF THE MUSIC IS FUCKING SUPERB AND CAN SOMETIMES CREATE A WEIRDLY SOOTHING AMBIENCE, THERE'S SIMPLY NOT ENOUGH OF IT WITHIN THE OPEN WORLD AND IT TENDS TO LOOP A LITTLE TOO OFTEN.

...Far Cry 4 is a really fun time, one that has left me taking my sweet time with just about everything. I rarely ever actually fast travel and prefer to hoof it (or... fly/glide my way there) purely because I simply enjoy inhabiting this world. I do take part in many of the side activities, but for the most part it's been very easy for me to lose the track of time by simply running around seeing what dumb stuff I can instigate. That is if don't choose to take a seat and watch as the game does it all on its own. This is all without also getting into the huge variety of actual firepower on hand -- the sidearm grenade launcher and double-barrelled shotgun being two of my personal favourites!

There is the fear that I'll perhaps burn myself out on the game before I actually reach the end, however. But for now I've got a pretty good balance of playing a story mission in between every five hours of random nonsense.

THE MUSIC FOR THE OUTRO