Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Worth playing"

Nobody had low expectations with Far Cry 3 to begin. Ubisoft promised a high-quality game and they delivered spot-on. Unlike the disaster that is Far Cry 2, Ubisoft nailed it on the head this time around. The game is set on a tropical island where a kid named Jason and his friends go on vacation only to be kidnapped by pirate bandits. The story revolves around Jason and how he progresses from a spoiled brat to a tribal warrior. It's a cheesy story, and at times, it gets really tedious and stupid, but it's entertaining overall. Along with the story, the gun arsenal is excellent and you'll find the more levels you complete or the more collectibles you snatch up, that more weapons will un-lock(Don't buy weapons! Go to Radio Towers and activate them). My favorite weapons overall were the Bushman and Spas-12. The guns are overall all very different and effective in their own ways. The customization is limited, but gets the job done. Speaking of limited, the crafting system is also incredibly limited. The crafting system is very un-satisfying as all you need to do to craft anything is to kill one animal or pick a flower and walla! The simplistic crafting system doesn't harm the game in any way thankfully.

The graphics in Far Cry 3 are great, but if your computer can run Far Cry 3, do yourself a favor and buy that version. Console grapics are greatly compressed down. The graphics and visuals are still spot on on the console versions, but the PC puts the console versions to shame (I still play on Xbox because I'm not a huge PC gamer).

Although I love Far Cry 3, I also had some frustrations with it. My big gripe on this game was how poor the boss fights were and how terrible the multiplayer and co-op were. In terms of boss fights, Vaas and Hoyt fights consisted of quick run-of-the-mill quick time events. Tap B! Tap A! Swing LS back and forth! Bam, he's dead. My other gripe like I stated earlier is the co-op and multiplayer. So lackluster, so choppy, and how boring! The multiplayer portion is so bad it makes Call of Duty look like a glowing master-piece. It's generic and very slow. Don't even bother. The co-op isn't half bad, but the healing system is absurd and it's way too hard. Casual difficulty is a chore as it is.

One final note, the map editor is amazing. Probably the best console map editor besides Trials Evolution.

Overall, Far Cry 3 is a winner. Despite some mediocre boss fights and a below-average, quickly thrown together multiplayer, Far Cry 3 has vivid, stylish graphics, a entertaining and fun story, and some great gun sequences. Buy this game if you can!