So I scouted the enemy outpost, using my binoculars to target all the bad guys so they are visible on my map. I located the alarms and pondered whether to try to take them all out with my silenced sniper rifle but risk being detected by curious enemies nearby, or sneak inside so that I can disable one by hand, therefore disabling all of them, thus assuring a runner might not activate an alarm I missed. I chose the latter, and managed to sneak in and deactivate the alarms. Afterward I used a combination of my silenced sniper, and my bow and arrow to take the rest of them out without detection. I was rewarded for its capture with a large amount of experience from both being undetected and no alarms raised.

That is Far Cry 3; a game where you can go in guns blazing in most cases, but rewards you for your patience, and at least some stealth on your part. I had a blast with this game from beginning to end, and as someone who despises stealth, that is saying something about the game’s accessibility.

Far Cry 3 is the story of a bunch of young adults on a wild vacation in Southeast Asia who end up getting kidnapped by slave pirates. As the only one to escape, you are rescued by the natives who are waging a guerrilla war against those devious slavers, and are brought up as their savior.

The story is simple, but very effective and engaging. The cast is fun, the voice acting is great, and the animations are wonderful. It is a very pretty game, but do not be fooled, the jungle is a very dangerous place, but that is where you will gain your strength to combat the slavers.

Far Cry 3 is a survival adventure game more than anything else, but there is an unbelievable amount of freedom to accomplish your goals. You can simply jump from main mission to main mission, but it makes the game a whole lot easier and more fun when you take the time to explore and accomplish side tasks, as you will need the experience gained to unlock additional abilities to aid in your quest. You go around, capturing outposts that provide you with new side missions as well as a rebel bastion that makes the surrounding area much safer to travel through. You can also liberate radio towers that not only reveal the map, but also get you new, discounted, and even free stuff at the stores.

There is a simple, but incentivized crafting system where you kill animals for their hides to increase your wallet size, weapon carrying limit, ammo capacity, etc. You also harvest plants to use for a variety of first aid and enhancement remedies. The incentive part comes in as you progress through the game, trying out various weapons and tactics. Personally, I was having so much fun with the bow that I went out of my way to find and hunt down every beast necessary to unlock the highest quiver capacity. A noteworthy aspect of the crafting system is that some hides are only available in side missions, which encourages you to accomplish those or capture outposts to unlock such missions.

The environment also plays a huge role in how you conduct combat. You can lay down an ambush on the road using mines and hide yourself in bushes nearby, but beware as the sound may attract nearby pirates. You can use the high ground of the mountains to snipe at an outpost, while the enemy can really do nothing but try to take cover. You can even light the bushes on fire and watch the enemies get engulfed in a spreading sea of flames. Another, and very fun tactic, is to lure dangerous animals to patrols or outposts, or even free animals caged in outposts and watch the chaos ensue.

What is great about this world is how alive it is. Things are happening, even when you are not affecting anything. I remember trying to sneak into an outpost, but then a tiger came at me from behind. I got away, but the tiger got into the outpost and ended up knocking over a lamp which started a massive fire that burned the surrounding grasslands all the while the animal was rampaging throughout the outpost. I just sat by, and when it was over, mopped up and took the outpost. I have even encountered outposts that were already under attack by animals and they took care of all the guards for me. I just walked right in afterwards and took it.

While the main game took me around 20 hours to complete including capturing all the outpost and radio towers, as well as doing some of the side missions, there were plenty of things left I could have done, such as more missions, relics to find, even lost letters from former Japanese soldiers that tell the tale of the island while under their occupation during World War II.

Apart from the main game, there is Co-op and Multiplayer. Co-op is unique in that it is actually its own story set six months prior to the main game. You and up to three others battle your way on the island, trying to take down a betraying captain. It was a lot of fun when I played it with my friend.

The multiplayer is also quite engaging with a number of modes and gameplay options. Like pretty much every other first-person shooter multiplayer experience, you basically shoot people and level up. It does manage to provide some flair of its own, but it is not the draw of the package. There is, however, pretty creative selection of maps you can play that are made by players themselves from the map editor that comes with the game. There is a decent mod community, as well, out there for the game, which should provide players with even more fun with the game.

Far Cry 3 is a great and rewarding game. It manages to mesh an engaging story with fantastically fun gameplay and it behooves you to give it a try. I doubt you will be disappointed.

(Note: Screenshots are not my own)