Far Cry 5 Review

Thanks to Xbox in the UK for the code, much love!

A Far Cry from the Old Games

I love Far Cry, I really do, there's something about this series that makes me smile no matter what the game. I might be horribly biased by the open world nature of the games, and like many of my favourite titles before it, it's the mix of unpredictable gonzo fun and sudden random nature elements that combine to make it such a great experience.

Far Cry 5 seeks to keep that flavour from previous Far Cry titles such as 3 and 4, and push the boundary of its design a bit further.

If you want the short, too long, don't read answer: it's a good game with some storytelling flaws and narrative flow choices that don't quite work in the nature of an open world. Read on and you might get what I'm saying.

A Railroad to the End

Far Cry and open world games, see Witcher 3, Horizon: Zero Dawn, and Ubisoft's latest entry in the Assassin's Creed series - Origins work because they have a narrative that's woven into the game world, carefully constructed to ease the player through the world and the various locations in that world, without slamming them in the face with PLOT when they reach a certain milestone.

Aloy finds out about her world by exploring it, learning things, delving into places where she knows she shouldn't really go. She interacts with the characters and the environment - she asks questions and you, the player, guide her to the next story chunk.

Geralt of Rivia finds out about Ciri because you, the player, have agency in the game - a pointer to the next bit, a conversation and a set of side quests that take you to the next part of the overall play.

Geralt doesn't fill up a meter to trigger the next inescapable chunk of Railroad Plot.

Bayek has agency in the story, he's a badass, and he's got a kick-ass wife. He doesn't fill up a meter to take on the next target in his long-list of revenge targets.

Far Cry 5 forces you to follow that railroad in 3 regions, pulling you from your chosen activity or side mission without a single care for what you're doing. Hear the Plot Train, well you better get aboard, because those Cult Outposts can wait baby, John, Jacob, and Faith Seed have got stuff for you to do!

Player Agency, what's that?

I was given a choice to make a custom character, male or female, and for the first time in a Far Cry game I'm given no voice in the game world. I have all these weapons, perks, and at least two bad-ass buddies called Guns (or Fangs) for Hire...

I'm taken down by a punk with a bow loaded with KO arrows?

No, that's just a stupid way of doing it and I'm going to rant about it.

Why is it so stupid? Read on and you'll see. Let me set the scene.

I've just blown a Cult thing sky high, great sense of accomplishment, raised my resistance meter and then I get the speech. Jacob Seed tells me some stuff, and then explains that I'm marked, his folks are coming for me.

Try and get me in a chopper at 700 feet you son of a bitch!

I climb as high as I can, and then suddenly, the chopper doesn't respond and the screen blurs... what?

Do they have Oliver Queen on speeddial, or are they training Eagles to shoot down helicopter pilots now by attaching tiny crossbows to their backs?

Here comes the plot train, right on time.

Choo choo!

If it were realistic in any kind of way, I'd argue that even if you could somehow pull off a Hawkeye or Green Arrow shot, you'd KO the pilot of a chopper over 800ft in the air and everything would end in a nice messy fireball. End of Deputy Custom, end of game.

That's bad game design 101 right there, sorry to say. Player Agency is important, and being kidnapped out of your activity or side mission is one way to completely ruin the feeling that you are some kind of resistance fighter badass doing your own thing to make Montana safe again.

Sandbox Side Missions

Far Cry 5 is a great game when you're not involved in the main story beats: the stuff where you can't escape it. The side missions, some of the main story missions that you do to help the Resistance in each region are great fun. They're just marred again by the fact that you know you're going to hit that Plot Train marker and BOOM you're back into lame main story time.

I could care less about Joseph Seed at this point, or his family. They can have Hope County for all I care story wise.

I'm having fun with my Guns for Hire, the open world, doing the Testy Festy and stealing a badass armed truck - the Widowmaker. I've got a selection of rock music blaring from the radio as I smash through cult roadblocks and take down cultists by the droves.

That's when Far Cry 5 comes alive.

Not when you're forced to escape from these psychos and you lose all your Player Agency.

Hunting, side missions, fishing, base jumping, exploring and collecting all the Prepper Stashes - great stuff.

The Sandbox of Far Cry 5 is truly fantastic and fun for me.

The game also does away with the mini-map, gives you a compass like Skyrim, AC: Origins, and basically offers you people to talk to that give you intel on things to find in the world. You can also find intel around the various locations in Hope County, it's a good direction to take the series in that regard and again teaches you by doing. Exploration brings rewards, a solid gameplay loop.

Progression

You gain Perk points for doing challenges, these can be as simple as skinning 4 deer and as complex as pulling off headshots in a certain amount of time. They award you Perk points, these get put into Perks that make you better as a character. You can also find magazines in the world and in Prepper Stashes (puzzle rooms and hidden bunkers) that grant you up to 3 Perk Points when you collect them.

With no XP bar to fill to get the next point it's a new and interesting direction for the series to take, one that I actually enjoy. The good news is that you can benefit from Perks and cash in your buddies' game too, so you can join a bunch of games and reap the rewards of their Prepper Stashes, and they can do the same with you.

You get cash from various activities; you can buy stuff in the in-game shop.

Premium Currency and so forth

Far Cry 5 has an in-game store, and it's where you buy weapons, items, vehicles, and outfits. You can also sell loot here to get some good cash. Everything in the store is purchasable by in-game money or the Premium Currency known as Silver. Silver is found around Hope County in various safes and stashed locations.

It can be used to buy things that you might not have the cash for.

If you want to take a shortcut and you're daft enough to spend real money, yep, you can buy Silver for hard-earned real life currency. I didn't feel the need to spend a single penny though, I have that much in-game cash from the hunting and fishing loop that I'm able to afford what I want, when I want.

So the Silver is pretty much redundant.

There's also NO Loot boxes: praise the freakin' Father!

There's a Season Pass, which gives you access to some stuff now, and access to the Vietnam, Mars, and Zombie DLC when it drops later on cheaper than getting them as they come out, blah blah blah.

Guns (Fangs) for Hire and AI

For the most part I found the enemy AI to be passable, it does some daft things now and then, but what AI doesn't? It can use vehicles, knows how to navigate around the world and has access to emplaced weapons. I prefer the AI to that of the bad guys in Ghost Recon: Wildlands for example.

The Guns for Hire AI is not bad, it too can make some mistakes, but your AI knows the value of vehicles and can even operate helicopters without needing you aboard. There's a simple orders system in the game on the D-Pad but for the most part they do their own thing and do it well enough you don't need to babysit them.

I'd landed a chopper in a field, left it to do some funky stuff with the cult holdings not far off where I was. Climbed a tower, zip-lined down and was quite far from my chopper with my two Guns for Hire. I went back to the copter and ordered Grace to hold position just outside it, whilst my second Gun for Hire, Adelaide was still quite far off. So I order her to come join me in the pilot's chair of the chopper.

I wait, then I see her riding up on a stolen ATV she must have borrowed off the cult guys we killed. She used that vehicle to get to me faster, that's neat AI.

There's also an Auto-Drive and for the most part it's not too bad, I've watched it swerve to avoid vehicles and travel to waypoints with either you driving, or your AI buddies in control. This all serves to let you enjoy Montana and shoot at bad guys whilst not having to worry about vehicle control overly much.

Big Gun Candy Mountain

There's a lot of guns in Far Cry 5, some specialised weapons, a couple of bows and just enough toys to play around with - from sticky grenades to remote explosives. Nothing really rocks the boat though.

There's also cars, planes, choppers, boats, and a few nice little surprises that I won't spoil in those categories.

Shooting and Driving and Flying

The shooting mechanics are good, and so are the driving mechanics. Muscle cars feel different to city cars, and there are a couple of control methods for all vehicles to let you tailor the experience to how you want it. Planes, choppers, boats, they all handle quite well and I'm really enjoying the controls for the helicopters - they are much better than say GR: Wildlands out of the gate.

Making Montana Look Great Again

Far Cry 5 is a nice looking game, looks really good on an Xbox One X, and runs smoothly with minimal pop-in and some minor texture/geometry load in issues when you get high enough in a bird or a copter. It's minor stuff, because it looks SO good.

Playing with a Buddy

You can join a buddy's game, or they can join you, your game story and resistance progression are not going to change when you're playing in someone elses' world. You can benefit from Perks, money, and unlocks - but that's it. I can see why they did it and it's not a deal breaker for me. It's great fun tearing up Montana with a friend, or just fishing with a good buddy for a few minutes before you sneak into a cult outpost with them as covering fire in a chopper above you.

There is a tether that keeps you together but it's pretty generous.

You can only employ one Gun for Hire when a friend is in the game, and your friend can't advance any of the story or talk to any of the NPCs etc.

It's still great fun to work with a friend and play the whole thing co-op, campaign, side quests, and activities.

Since the last patch as well the network code has been cleaned up and the whole thing is smoother.

Arcade

Far Cry Arcade is bonkers, in a good way. You can make your own maps with a map editor (which will evolve), and enjoy hundreds of community made maps and challenges right now. There are numerous modes and you'd need a whole review of that aspect of the game just to get the best out of it. Suffice it to say that it's some of the best map making tools and content that I've seen in the series to-date and to have it on console is great.

There's a few tweaks needed, like a decent snap to grid option to lay out walls and so on.

I'm sure it'll get tweaked down the line.

Arcade itself can be played co-op and with a lot more friends as you can all work to clear an Outpost, or do other activities - of which there's a fair few.

A Flawed Entry

So yeah, that about wraps things up. As I said before, I like the game, perhaps even love it. But I really loathe the kidnap/plot heavy/railroad train that comes for you the moment you fill certain milestones on that Resistance Meter.

If you can stand that kind of thing, or you just want to experience a good and solid fun open world when it's not ramming plot into your face, then by all means, grab this game.

I have no problems recommending it and it runs really well on an XoX.