Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

......well, at least that's what happened in my experience. It got to the point where I wanted to throw the game across the room at times.

But despite the difficulty (and the fact that I'm not one of those players that sit in 24 hours a day gaining a wealth amount of gameplay experience), Far Cry 3 gradually began to grow on me.

The graphics are a little "cartoonish" but fits in with the type of universe and world that the game is set.

The character you play is a little bit whiny to the point where I was unable to be convinced that this guy could go on to do what he does but this type of situation happens in movies, too. He tends to complain and is not very confident about whatever challenges lie ahead for him.

The control scheme has a steep learning curve. Most frustrating was pressing the triangle button to heal myself whenever I was in peril but most of the time I ended up dying due to the delay between pressing the button and getting him to heal. You have to hold the button down to activate the healing process - not something that's ideal when you are in a bad situation! And when you are surrounded by fire...well, you can pretty much guarantee that you will be starting from the previous checkpoint!

The storyline is okay. Not anything original but this is a Far Cry game, after all. The whole point is for you to shoot your way around and survive the island. Speaking of the island, I found it rather mundane to explore. There isn't much to do except find the odd collectible, animal or pirate.

I never found myself upgrading my weapons because I often found the ones I wanted in battle, so the stores were a waste of time as was collecting the money. I had to top up my ammo every now and again but that's about it.

The battles themselves are quite fun although wielding an RPG was often a frustrating experience because it took forever for the character to reload and by the time he did you could find your head filled with bullets. The same goes for the flame thrower because you need to leave quite a bit of distance between yourself and the target in order not to be engulfed in the flames yourself.

Despite the shortcomings, the gameplay was pretty addictive and I found myself wanting to complete it until the end. Normally if I really dislike a game (such as the much hyped Assassins Creed III) I would sell it before completing it but the story and action managed to keep pulling me in.

Overall, Far Cry 3 is a decent little game that will provide entertainment as long as you have a lot of perseverance.