Far Cry 4 Review: Chaos and Destruction in a Beautiful World
Far Cry 4 Review: Chaos and Destruction in a Beautiful World
I remember back in 2008 when I played Far Cry 2 on my PC and being absolutely blown away. The setting of Africa and being able to go wherever I want in a big open world is something that has always appealed to me. It was a fun experience that was held back due to the inclusion of some frustrating mechanics (in the form of Malaria and having to worry about my weapons getting jammed) and rightfully so. After Far Cry 2, the series has taken the player to numerous locations, from the tropical island of Far Cry 3, which is when the series really established itself, to Hope County Montana, which is a region that was inspired by Southwest Montana. The franchise truly took a departure in 2016 when it went back to the Stone Age period. The game ditched the modern setting and combat in favor of something that was more primitive, which ended up being a pleasant surprise. The latest entry Far Cry 6 took place on a Cuban inspired island of Yara, which was ruled by dictator Anton Castillo. Out of all the Far Cry entries, one of the games that I really wanted to go back and replay was Far Cry 4, which takes place in Kyrat, which is a combination of Indonesia and Tibet. It also introduced one of the series' best antagonists, Pagan Min. Initially, I finished Far Cry 4 back in 2014, but I haven't played it since then, until just recently when I had the itch to revisit the fictional location of Kyrat. How does the game hold up after all these years? Is it still enjoyable after all this time? You'll have to read the full review to find out!
As I already stated, Far Cry 4 takes place in a fictional Kyrat, which is essentially a combination of Indonesia and Tibet. The games puts the player in the shoes of expatriate Ajay Ghale (son of Mohan Gale), in order to spread his mother's ashes. In the process, he meets up with a resistance group known as the Golden Path. Its leaders Amita and Sabal both want to put an end to Pagan Min's violent rule in Kyrat. However, the problem is that Amita and Sabal can never come to an agreement in terms of how they want to go about doing so. They're always bickering and arguing and they never see eye-to-eye no matter what. Throughout the main campaign, there are several instances when you are tasked with deciding on who to side with. You'll hear each party's point of view. Based on your choice, the mission will play out completely different. Sabal favors tradition, values human life, and he wants to see Kyrat returned to its traditional roots. Whereas, on the other hand, Amita doesn't want to relive Kyrat's past. Instead, she plans on taking over Pagan Min's drug operations in order to build schools, hospitals, and clinics. Whoever you decide to side with can greatly impact the outcome. For my current playthrough I decided to go with Amita. I wanted to change things up after I sided with Sabal during my first playthrough. The story is pretty good overall. There are some interesting characters, especially Pagan Min who is as flamboyant as he is insane and unhinged.
Far Cry 4's main story lasts between 18-20 hours. However, if you decide to go off the beaten path and complete side missions and whatnot, you can easily spend close to 50 hours. I think my first playthrough took me around 25-30 hours I believe. Other than the main plot, there are side missions, Longinus (weapons dealer) missions, Yogi & Reggie (Shangri-La), which are drug-induced missions, Kyrati Films Racing, removing propaganda posters, arenas, Kyrat Fashion Week (where you'll have to hunt rare animals for upgrades), destroying Pagan Min's convoys, liberating Bell Towers, enemy outposts, and fortresses, etc. Even though there's a bevy of things to keep the player occupied and in my case distracted, the story never outstays its welcome. Come to think of it, none of the Far Cry entries have ever been overly long to the point where they overstayed their welcome. Their length has always been just right. As fun as Far Cry 4 is, there's something that I find to be very frustrating, which I'll address next.
I know that a lot of people are going to tell me that it's just part of the gameplay and that's how Far Cry works. While the chaos and unpredicability means that there's never a dull moment, it also means that the player will constantly get attacked by both human enemies and animals alike. It's one thing to get attacked while I'm free roaming and exploring and it's another thing entirely to get ambushed by a random pack of wolves or a bear while I'm in the process of trying to stealthily cleare out an enemy outpost or fort. Don't even get me started on the eagles. They're always a huge thorn in my side. Eventually, I've gotten used to it, but it's still frustrating, especially when I'm forced to retrace my steps on my way to a mission or when I get spotted trying to clear out an outpost because I had to kill a specific animal or animals, which caused me to get spotted. Throwing bait and attracting a Bengal Tiger or Bear and watching it as it tears enemies apart never gets old. You can also ride an elephant as you charge into an enemy outpost, which is both ridiculous and immensely satisfying. It's a good idea to disable alarms in order to prevent things from getting too difficult due to reinforcements.
Far Cry 4 features two skill trees, one for the Elephant and the other for the Tiger. The Elephant focuses on survival. You can increase Ajay's health. You can craft healing syringes and manually heal yourself once you run out of syringes. Partially drained health can regenerate. You can speed up a vehicle's repair tool. You can also deal double damage while also receiving double damage as well. On the flip side, the Tiger skills focus on Ajay's offensive capabilities by improving his stealth efficiency and proficiency with weapons. You can use an enemy's grenade against him. You can eliminate an enemy while you're hiding behind cover. You can even eliminate several foes in one sequence. Body armor can be improved by allowing it to absorb more damage. Certain skills are unlocked by completing certain missions. A lot of the skills simply require you to unlock a prior pre-requisite skill. The game is pretty good at granting the player skill points as long as you're doing something. Far Cry 4 has the typical assortment of weapons to choose from such as, pistols, sniper rifles, machine guns, rocket launcher, grenade launcher, flamethrower, throwing knives, grenades, C4 charges, mines, etc.
Enemy A.I. for both humans and animals is very aggressive, especially on the higher difficulties. However, there are times when it can leave a bit to be desired. There have been numerous instances where an enemy (and I'm not referring to a melee foe), where a guy will come charging at me instead of using cover. It doesn't make sense for him to do that, especially since I'm using a firearm. Liberated outposts can be used as fast travel locations and they can be used to restock ammo, purchase weapons, and sell items. The main form of currency is the Kyrati Rupee. Another thing that's worth mentioning is that you'll accumulate money very quickly. I find myself constantly selling unwated items. It's great knowing that I'll never run out of money, but it's excessive at the same time. There are a lot of animals to hunt, which you'll be required to do so in order to upgrade your wallet, ammo capacity, loot bag, bait, etc. Aside from the numerous animals that you'll encounter, the variety of human enemies is limited to standard guards, heavily armored foes, snipers, Hunters that use a bow and arrow, etc. For this playthrough, I played the game on the normal difficulty.
Graphically speaking, Far Cry 4 still looks great even now. For a title that released back in 2014, it holds up remarkably well. The fictional location of Kyrat is gorgeous and breathtaking. There's lush and vibrant vegetation. The game features some lovely snow caped mountains and attractive scenery. There are times when I want to just soak it all in, but it's hard to do so when I'm constantly being interrupted enemies. Character models, animals, the various structures, and locations are nicely detailed. There are obviously some low quality textures here and there, but for the most part, the graphics are relatively clean. Voice acting is solid as well, in particular when it comes to the main characters. The main antagonist Pagan Min is voiced by the very talented Troy Baker and he does a wonderful job of bringing to life the tyrant Kyrati ruler. Weapon sounds are really good as well, especially when it comes to the grenade launcher and rocket launcher. Enemies will yell to each other once the player is spotted. The soundtrack, which was composed by Cliff Martinez, fits the tone and atmosphere rather nicely. I really enjoyed listening to it. Performance-wise (on the PS4), the game ran smoothly without any freezing, slowdown, or game-breaking bugs. There are some bugs here and there and enemy bodies that ragdoll in hilarious ways, but I never encountered anything that I would consider to be serious, which is always a good thing.
To wrap things up, I thoroughly enjoyed playing Far Cry 4 for a second time. Out of all the entries in the franchise, Far Cry 4 was one of the games that I've really been wanting to replay and I'm glad that I did. It was fun revisiting the fictional location of Kyrat. The story is pretty good. Pagan Min ended up becoming one of my favorite Far Cry villains thanks to some solid voice work by Troy Baker. The game is rather beautiful even though it came out back in 2014. Voice work is solid. I also enjoyed listening to the soundtrack. Combat is chaotic and challenging (at times) and the enemy A.I. is very aggressive. That goes for both the humans and animals. Admittedly, it gets really exhausting getting attacked (what seems like every few minutes), but I got accustomed to it eventually. However, the A.I. can be questionable at times. The campaign was fun and it never outstayed its welcome. Performance-wise, I never encountered any crashes or freezing. Aside from some small bugs, my experience was smooth sailing for the most part. I highly recommend Far Cry 4 to fans of the Far Cry series and to those who enjoy playing first person shooters.