Farcry 2 became so much prettier, despite having nothing to do with the first title, like a brother disowning you because you ain't cool enough. They definitely improved graphic and story-wise, but suffered in gameplay. With mediocre character development and wash-rinse-repeat gameplay, it became more of a challenge to avoid guard posts just so you didn't have to fight respawning guys every...single...time you came within half a mile. I was still happy when my best friend in the world died saving me, just so I didn't have to kill him at the end of the game. (Spoilers)
But all of this doesn't matter! Forget everything you've read because Farcry 3 doesn't have anything to do with those loser brothers! You, your two brothers and four other friends go skydiving over a pirate infested island and you all promptly get kidnapped and held to ransom by the psycho Vaas and his merry pirates. You manage to escape, and set out on a quest to rescue your friends that quickly turns into a personal vendetta to go all batshit crazy on everyone's ass.
Storywise, Farcry 3 is cliché and forgettable, but some of the characters are very well fleshed out. My favourite part of the story was Buck, it did such a great job of making me really, really want to kill him. The story has it's moments of greatness, but there's too much bland to really make you want to remember much of it. There are side missions, which have some humour, and you can always explore the huge free-roaming island for the WWII letters, memory cards and lost relics. I will argue that the relics weren't really 'lost', and in fact were placed there deliberately for tourists like me to find them. it felt really cheap looking for all 120 of those things and there isn't even any reward for doing so, not even an achievement. I was very sad.
The island itself is a joy to get around. It varies from deep jungle to mountain ranges and open waters with beautiful beaches. The vehicles handle well and are placed around so you won't have to walk too far on foot to find a new one when you drive the last one over a cliff. Yeah, I did that a lot. The second island was pale compared to the first, making the last half of the game less fun to play, but it can keep you hooked just long enough to finish it off, just.
The ideas for crafting were very well thought out, but poorly implemented. Crafting larger wallets, bandoliers and various other equipment is pretty easy and can be done in the first few hours of the game with the exception of the 'Extended' versions which need rare skins only unlocked through hunting side-quests. Syringe crafting was clever, but I never needed to craft most of them. Even the powerful 'Special' syringes that allow you to one-shot kill everything and 30 seconds of invulnerability I never used. I was playing on Hard and never found the need. I only ever made medical syringes and the ones that let you see animal though everything, just so I could get the drop on those pesky tigers.
It does feature a Co-op mode for up to four people, which I'm playing in split screen at the moment with my girlfriend. It's very run-of-the-mill and aside from the occasional competitive section, it's just a linear storyline, no free roaming. I haven't tried multiplayer either, but from videos I've seen it's fairly solid.
If someone would ask me to recommend Farcry 3, I would. It's not the cream of the crop, but it does get a lot of thing right. It's ever reaching closer to glory; maybe it will get there some day. Also keep an eye out for the Blood Dragon DLC coming out early next month, it's insane.
As a side note, I know this blog has been dead for a while, but I thought I'll try to do this thing weekly. I know I've said this before, but let's see how we go!
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