Far Cry 4 (PlayStation 4) Review

By Drew Hurley 28.05.2016

Review for Far Cry 4 on PlayStation 4

There truly is nothing quite like Far Cry. The sandbox shooter series has seen random tourists become Rambo-like killing machines that tear a bloody path across tropical locals, and this latest addition to the series continues that trend. Much like the Saint's Row games, the big draw of this one is the freedom it offers. Now, with a whole new land to discover, new gadgets to play with, and the return of multiplayer, there's plenty to be excited about.

This instalment in the series is once again a whole new and original tale, following the story of Ajay Ghale as he returns to his homeland of Kyrat to scatter his mother's ashes. His trip takes a sudden, and extremely violent detour, however, when the fabulously mad evil dictator/king of the country "Pagan Min" shows up (an award-winning scene performance by the always fantastic Troy Baker). Pagan claims to have been romantically involved with Ajay's mother, and plans to take Ajay under his wing as they "Tear stuff up" together. Ajay sees that this dangerous, unbalanced psycho, might not be the smartest choice as a new BFF, and escapes from his lavish palace to join the resistance fighting against Pagan, a resistance Ajay's father founded, known as The Golden Path.

Ajay's journey to aid the people of Kyrat and to stop Pagan pairs him up with two very different leaders of The Golden Path, and each one has its own ideas and ways to take the battle to him, and at numerous points across the course of the game there is a choice on how to proceed, resulting in different missions to play through, Ajay and The Golden Path travel across Kyrat, with Ajay taking on much the same activities as Jason Brody took on across the Rook Islands in Far Cry 3. There are plenty of animals to hunt which can be used to craft equipment, herbs to craft up concoctions, outposts to conquer and, of course, an unbelievable amount of collectables to track down.

Screenshot for Far Cry 4 on PlayStation 4

It's not just a rehash of features from Far Cry 3, however. Core mechanics have had a serious overhaul, noticeably so with the re-tweak of enemy AI, since they are now much smarter and implement interesting tricks to take on Ajay. Injured foes will fall back and take cover or flee out of sight, seemingly ending the combat, then sneak back to attack. Outposts now have the ability to be replayed after being completed, to extend the life of the game after completion, and they can even be attacked by enemy raiding parties seeking to take the outpost back.

There are plenty of brand new additions and features too. Kyrat is filled to bursting with the usual Far Cry activities, but also some new side-quests to complete, including performing assassinations, taking on convoys, diffusing bombs, and plenty more. A particular highpoint of these new tasks are the "Kyrat Fashion Week" missions; special hunting objectives to track down rare animals for a fashion designer, killing each one with a specific weapon, including having to burn an Elephant to death, and going fishing for the one that got away using explosives - and these missions really embrace the eccentric nature of the game.

Screenshot for Far Cry 4 on PlayStation 4

Taking on the wildlife is a regular task in Far Cry 4. The wilderness is filled with new animals to hunt and be hunted by, tigers and wolves stalk the forests, while heavily armoured behemoth Rhino and Elephants can smash up anything in their path. Thankfully, Ajay has a ton of new toys to play with in this iteration to help combat both man and beast; able to ride upon gyrocopters and lay down bombing runes of molotovs, and able to scale and fly across the terrain with grappling hook and wing suit.

Every Sandbox game claims to give the player freedom in how they want to accomplish missions and side-quests, and this title delivers completely. Oh look! An outpost overrun with enemies, Ajay could storm the front gate with guns blazing, sneak through with a dagger to silently slaughter the sentries, or he could ride an Elephant into the camp shooting rockets.

Screenshot for Far Cry 4 on PlayStation 4

The big crazy sandbox where just about anything can happen is even more fun with friends, and the multiplayer does a fine job here. The cooperative multiplayer opens up the entire map to travel around, take on any of the outposts or any of the side missions, but, not the story missions. There is a limit to how far the two players can range away from each other, but, it's big enough to not impact the gameplay much.

On top of the cooperative, there's PVP multiplayer too; a five versus five battle, which sees the Golden Path using their guns and vehicles to fight against the mystical Rakshasa who use arrows and summon animals. The gameplay has some familiar elements: there's Demon Mask, which is the classic Capture the Flag, Outpost sets the teams to try and claim an outpost Warsong Gulch style, then, finally, there's Propaganda, where one team is tasked with setting bombs and destroying three targets whilst the others race to disarm them. Both PVP and Co-op are insanely fun, and give reason to revisit the game again and again.

The open world, whether multiplayer or solo is by far the biggest strength of the game, the single player story, however, is somewhat lacklustre and brief, with many of the most compelling aspects left unexplored. Instead, the game thrives off the strength of the open-ended fun. There is an exception to that rule, and that's Pagan. The psychotic yet charismatic Vaas from Far Cry 3 set the villain bar pretty high, but Pagan blows that bar into the stratosphere. His over the top personality and performance makes for a memorable and likeable character, in that "love to hate" kind of way.

Screenshot for Far Cry 4 on PlayStation 4

Cubed3 Rating

8/10
Rated 8 out of 10

Great - Silver Award

Rated 8 out of 10

Far Cry 4 may just be more of the same from Far Cry 3, but, in the best possible way. Ubisoft took what was great about the third game, and improved it in almost every way, making this one of the most refreshing, fun and addictive open-world titles available. With solid fundamental mechanics, a superb open gameworld, multiplayer to come back for, and some fantastic DLC, this psychotic voyage through a deadly paradise is worth setting a course for.

Developer

Ubisoft Montreal

Publisher

Ubisoft

Genre

First Person Shooter

Players

1

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  8/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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