Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is quite possibly the greatest nostalgia ride I have ever taken. This game came basically out of nowhere and completely surprised me. It is fun, it is funny, and it just plain rocks!
Blood Dragon is ’80s nostalgia, pure and simple. Fusing what was great, or at least just memorable, about the ’80s with Far Cry 3’s excellent gameplay, Blood Dragon is a fantastically immersive experience.
The crux of the story is that in a post-apocalyptic America in 2007, you are a cybernetic soldier, voiced by none other than Michael Bean (Terminator, Aliens), fighting to avenge a fallen comrade and saving the world at the same time.
The game oozes ’80s, with an atmosphere, score, and aesthetic that recalls movies such as Terminator, Aliens, Total Recall, those movies with the overly bombastic rock guitar instrumentals, and even manages to insert themes reminiscent of John Carpenter’s The Thing. It is like immersing yourself in all of those movies at once, and it is absolutely awesome.
The gameplay itself takes what made Far Cry 3 amazing but streamlines it, as the game is much shorter. The leveling process unlocks health bars and other abilities rather than allowing you to choose from a skill tree, but I found this did not hinder my enjoyment at all, and I quickly started to really like it. You can still capture outposts, of course, and in typical Far Cry fashion, there are a number of ways to go about it. You can lure one of the infamous blood dragons into the compound and watch it wreak havoc. You can unleash a captured animal inside. You can go total stealth, disabling the alarm and taking enemies out with just a bow and arrow, or you can just go guns-a-blazing and take on everyone that appears.
Once captured, you have a store from which you can buy items as well as optional side missions. The side missions consist of either silently rescuing a scientist or killing a wild beast. On top of experience, you unlock new things to purchase by completing these tasks. Like Far Cry 3, you do not need to do any of this, but it sure does make the game easier and more fun. There are also some side things you can do for additional experience and unlockables, like collecting VHS tapes of old ’80s movies or TV sets of old ’80s TV shows.
The humor here is absolutely palpable, from the hilariously over-the-top (but good) voice work, to the descriptions of various items and weapons, to the loading screens, where you will be shown hilarious jabs at conventional video game logic.
Alas, there is no multiplayer or co-op, or any sort of other mode—just the main game—but at $14.99 for one of the funniest and most fun games I have ever played, I can confidently say you owe it to yourself to check out Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, especially if you are a fan of ’80s movies.
(Note: Screenshots are not my own)
