By Jonathan Castillo
There is something funny running around the wilderness being accompanied by a bear named Cheeseburger. Together, you find a compound that you need to take over. You sneak around with your bow, quietly dispatching one enemy after the other, until by some chance you’re spotted, and Cheeseburger goes full berserker mode. The compound is yours and your friends come in take it away from you as if they did all the work.
Then you’re off to the next mission.
A huge factor of Far Cry 5’s fun is how massive the map is. There’s a lot to explore. You come across vast lakes, hidden bunkers, settlements, farmlands. While driving across the highway, you will encounter armed men and women and they will shoot at you. If you run through the wilderness, expect jaguars and bears to attack you. I was hoping you can come across mosquitos or other insects that can harm you as you enter deeper into the forests
The mountainous landscape of Hope County – the game’s setting – is a sight to behold. You can stand atop a hill and stare at the gorgeous vistas for hours. Ubisoft did something truly spectacular here.
In Hope County, your primary objective is to stir trouble for the religious cult called Eden’s Gate. You capture their bases, destroy their properties, free hostages, and engage in awesome aerial dog fights against enemy planes.
Accomplishing tasks and missions will reward you with Perks, points that you can use to upgrade your character. There’s plenty room for customization and almost all skills have no pre-requisite requirements.
Along your long treks across Hope County, things can get lonely – thankfully for Ubisoft, has allowed you to hire a soldier that will tail behind you, follow your orders, and revive you when you’ve been knocked down. Each of these guns for hire has a special set of skills, encouraging you to switch soldiers between missions. For instance, one soldier has a skill where she automatically fixes any vehicle you’re driving. I found this extremely useful in several occasions, especially while flying a plane and engaging enemies from the air.
Aside for the typical soldiers are “Specialists” which are pretty much guns for hire but with story backgrounds and have unique skills to utilize. If you open your map you will find them sending SOS messages, complete their story mission and you can call on to them to help.
If you need take a break from all the action, Far Cry 5 lets you relax by going hunting for animal skins or go fishing. It adds value by letting you sell your catch for some in-game money, which, in turn allows you to purchase more weapons, vehicles, and clothing.
I think the biggest attraction here is the Arcade – Far Cry 5’s fascinating Level Editor. It allows you to use assets from other Ubisoft’s games such as previous Far Cry games and Assassin’s Creed to create your own levels with unique challenges and objectives. As evidence from other games that allows you to build entire levels – people love to create and design, and share those levels for others to play in. The simple fact that others have played levels that you designed is its own satisfaction and reward.
The only wasted potential here is the story. It was an opportunity for Ubisoft to say something, to deliver a subtle message about real-world issues. Or at least try, despite being in development for some time. We also have to consider that Ubisoft, as a business, would probably want to stay on the safe side of the road. I suppose we can’t blame the company for that. We can, however, at most, enjoy this massive world filled with a large list of objectives that wouldn’t feel stale after several hours clocked in.
Far Cry 5 is an awesome game with a rich world to explore. But it’s the Arcade mode that makes it worthwhile.