This game was a day one buy for me because I have this love/hate relationship with Far Cry games, just like everyone else who plays this series. What made it a day one buy though wasn’t the franchise, but the new take on the franchise that usually puts you in the shoes of some random dude going to a different country and finding himself in whole mess of a situation. This game promised to be different though as it took things “home” for us Americans who play. This intrigued me, not because of the location, but because I wanted to know how the Far Cry franchise could possibly pull off what they normally do in the US and how were they going to do it. It took me a while to get through this game and because I finally have the platinum, it’s time for a review.
In Far Cry 5 you first of all get to finally choose the gender of your character! I know this isn’t a big deal because it’s a first person shooter and all you see is a hand waving around in front of you, but it’s a big progress for this franchise which has been an absolute sausage fest before this. Anyway, you’ll play as the unnamed Junior Deputy of Hope County, Montana and go on a mission with the Deputy Marshall, the Sherriff of Hope County, and some other deputies in order to arrest and bring in Joseph Seed. What did Joseph Seed do to warrant all of this attention? Well he kind of formed this military based cult because God had chosen him as the savior and he was going to save the county from it’s inevitable collapse. The initial arrest goes smoothly as Joseph cryptically warns you that God will not allow him to be taken. What could possibly go wrong though? Oh I don’t know, the helicopter you’re taking him in on could crash and you can find out that people you thought were working with you were working against you and now it’s just you who has to do everything like rescue the Marshall, rescue the sheriff, and rescue your other deputies. Not to mention this new unknown, unnamed deputy has to take down an entire cult.
I really enjoyed the main story aspect of this game. It felt different than the Far Cry’s that came out before it. I liked how it brought the normal Far Cry things into the mix, like liberating outposts, and helping out random people, but still gave the franchise an overhaul story wise. Basically in the past you’ve had to take down resistances in other countries, but now you were taking down an entire cult of just brainwashed people. I even liked how in the end you ended up feeling like the bad guy no matter what you choose. Was Joseph Seed right this whole time? Were the followers, basically his family, that you had to take down also right? The game made you question a lot and I like games that do that. They put you in the shoes of someone who’s supposed to be the good guy, but maybe you’re the bad guy. You really don’t know as the black and white morality lines are blurred in this game and are kind of grey. That was one of the best parts for me because when I initially finished this game, I had to sit there and think about what I had done throughout the whole game and if I made the right choices or if I made the wrong ones. Games that do this, games that put you in this moral grey areas are the games are the ones that are actually great because they make you think. Don’t get me wrong, I do love those brainless games that you can just run around and do random things, but it’s games like this that are just genius.
The playability of this game was your typical Far Cry game and even though the plot and setting changed, it was nice to see that the playability didn’t change. Some of the more annoying aspects of Far Cry were taken out and replaced with some new annoying aspects, like the Clutch Nixon missions, but for the most part the game remained the same. There were still random people to help, outposts to liberate, and collectibles to be found. What was good about this though was that not everything had to be done in order to be able to enjoy the game fully. You could do about half of these things and still have a good feel for the game. The most important part though was that even though Far Cry 5 was an overhaul from the previous games that it still felt like a Far Cry game and it did.
Graphically this game was just beautiful. Montana was a great setting for this game and it was a treat to drive through the open country and explore this huge map. Everything down to the tiniest detail was beautifully crafted and a huge kudos goes out to the Ubisoft art department for this game. Not to mention that each and every main character, not the side characters like the random people of Hope County, but the characters who really mattered looked amazing. They looked like actual real people and I’m in no way a graphics person, but I was blown away by how real everything looked. It was really amazing and just added to the overall game.
Trophies, trophies, trophies. There are a total of 51 trophies for the main game. Even more are being added as DLC is added into this game, but I’m not really concerned about the DLC for this game since I never play any Far Cry DLC. Anyway, the 51 main trophies are your basic Far Cry trophies. You get trophies for doing the main missions, side missions, liberating outposts, helping people, and of course there are some stupid trophies thrown in there because they’re fun to do and funny to see. This game unfortunately sees the return of multiplayer trophies, but we’ll get to that in a moment. I have to say that my favorite trophy out of this whole list had to be the “Where’s the Beef?” trophy. This is a throwback to an old 80’s commercial, but what you have to do to get it and how you get it is probably the funniest thing in this pretty serious game.
Now onto the multiplayer. Unfortunately, Far Cry 5 did not learn from Far Cry 4 when it came to the multiplayer. I thought that maybe Far Cry 5 wouldn’t have multiplayer since Far Cry Primal did better without it but because the whole franchise was being revamped this meant the multiplayer was being revamped as well. What the multiplayer basically turned into was an “arcade mode.” This meant that you could do the multiplayer single player, co-op, or with a group of people on either maps that were created by Ubisoft or the Ubisoft community meaning that a lot of the maps are just plain crap. So think, user generated Little Big Planet content brought into the Far Cry universe and that’s what you get for the user created content of the Far Cry 5 arcade mode. This mode is not great and it really put a damper on the game as a whole because if you want to get the platinum trophy for this game be ready for one hell of a grind.
Special Thanks! A special thanks goes out to my buddy TJ. I had seriously given up on getting the platinum for this game because I was suffering from what we like to joke about as Far Cry fatigue. I had spent so much time playing this game when it came out and was so close to getting the platinum, but just couldn’t grind out those last 13 trophies that I needed. When this game finally went on sale for him though, he immediately bought it and helped me grind out those trophies that I needed so that we could both get the platinum for this game. Without him this review would have never been possible so a huge thank you goes out to him. I have to say that playing with someone else really made this game more fun as we basically just acted like a bunch of jackasses and had a great time playing. So thank you TJ, my 89th platinum would have never happened without you!
Overall I give this game a 4 out of 5.
What’s Great:
+ A total re-vamp of the Far Cry franchise really paid off and the story was just amazing and captivating for this game. It’s a story that makes you think and puts you in that grey area of right and wrong.
+ The more annoying aspects of the Far Cry franchise were taken out and not everything you usually have to do in order to get the full Far Cry experience were necessary to do but you were still able to get the full Far Cry experience.
+ The graphics for this game were off the charts and were just amazing. Everything looked beautiful and graphically this is one of the better games that I’ve played recently. Even the main characters of this game looked extremely real and this was a bonus for this game.
What’s Not So Great:
– Multiplayer is back and worse than ever with user generated content making this more like Far Cry 5 – Little Big Planet Edition.
– Even though some of the more annoying aspects of the Far Cry franchise were taken out, they were replaced with some new annoying aspects that have to be done in order to get all of the trophies. Sometimes you can’t have everything.
Overall this was a really great game and one of the better additions to the Far Cry franchise. If you could overlook the multiplayer side of this game with the user generated content and some of the more annoying missions, then this game will just blow you away. It has a great story, characters that act and feel real, great graphics, and overall a great playability that had no bugs or glitches. If you’re a fan of the Far Cry franchise I think that this will be the game for you as it takes the Far Cry formula and revamps it for the better. If you’re not a fan of the Far Cry franchise, I would say that this is a great starting point and that it might just get you into the Far Cry franchise. Either way this is one of those games that shouldn’t be missed.
1 Broke Gamer Girl 