Far Cry 4 Review (Playstation 4)

The Far Cry series has had a pretty intriguing history, first appearing from German developer Crytek and then coming from Ubisoft's biggest internal studio, the Montreal one. After Far Cry 3 surprised everyone with its great gameplay and intense action, the large publisher quickly greenlit work on a sequel, while allowing the team to let loose and come up with something really fun in the form of Blood Dragon, a standalone expansion for the third game.

Now, the next major iteration, Far Cry 4, is finally available worldwide across the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One platforms, allowing fans to embark on a fresh adventure, in a new fictional setting alongside a different protagonist and a new antagonist.

Does the new first-person shooter manage to continue the stellar streak of the series or should fans stray far away from the new game? Let's find out.

Story

Far Cry 4 continues the tradition of having nothing to do with past installments in the series, as it brings forth all-new elements, from the fictional setting of Kyrat, a country set in the Himalaya mountain range with heavy influences from India, Nepal, and other such real-life regions, to the protagonist, Ajay Ghale, or the villain, Pagan Min.

Ajay was raised in the U.S. by his mother, but upon her death, he wants to honor her last wish, which is to have her ashes scattered in her native country of Kyrat. However, Ajay's arrival in the territory sparks a lot of interest, from both relatives, who lead the Golden Path rebellion, and Pagan Min, the dictator of the small country.

What follows is a pretty intense ride for Ajay and the player and quite a few choices can be made concerning the fate of Kyrat and how it evolves in the future. While Pagan Min certainly stands out as the most impressive character, the rest of the cast is also quite good and manages to really put into perspective what's going on in Kyrat and what might happen with it when Min gets taken down. There are also quite a few lighthearted and even humorous moments, in order to lighten things up.

Choose the fate of Kyrat

Gameplay

Far Cry 4 features quite a lot of gameplay elements from its predecessor, but that's not necessarily a bad thing, as Far Cry 3 was among the most polished and impressive open world first-person shooters of the last few years.

You once again wield a varied array of weapons, from rifles to shotguns or sub-machine guns, but also stealthier tools, like small crossbows, throwing knives, or even bait for wild animals. Grenades can also be used to cause havoc and other explosives are unlocked as you progress through the campaign.

You'll fight enemies across the breadth of Kyrat's huge world, from the lowlands, which are similar to the tropical island in Far Cry 3, to the midlands, which introduce quite a few hills and cliffs, and the Himalayas, which are some of the most intense environments seen in the franchise so far. Each can be explored using different methods, and provided you're willing to look around, you can find paths to practically all the areas on the map, so don't expect any invisible walls or barriers in your way.

You'll also be able to fight over outposts, just like in the previous game, in order to weaken the grasp Pagan Min's army has on Kyrat, but also beefier fortresses that require a much bigger effort to liberate. Unlike in Far Cry 3, you have the option to reset the outposts and fortresses, so that you can retake them, as standard. During the campaign, the dictator's army will also stage attacks that can result in the retaking of the actual zone.

The game also features quite a few all-new elements in terms of gameplay, including way more animals, from elephants to honey badgers and much more. They're all quite fun to hunt and interact with, especially since you can ride the big pachyderms into combat as your own animal tank.

You can also interact more when it comes to vehicles, performing more impressive features such as taking down enemies while jumping from car to car. You can also deploy a wing suit to help cross the huge crevasses found in the Himalayas and engage in other side activities, such as hunting and crafting upgrades or syringes, races, and collectible-based missions.

The most important secondary plot revolves around Kyrat's mythical history, as uncovering certain shrines allows players to take on the role of a legendary warrior that, with the help of a white tiger, goes up against demons across various supernatural plains. This Shangri-La chain of missions is really impressive, offering a change of pace in terms of gameplay but also some memorable moments.

The actual story missions are pretty well done, but a fair amount of them force players into stealth or other play styles that they might not be comfortable with. Some also have ambiguous goals and it can become hard to keep track of what you're trying to do.

Take a selfie

Multiplayer

Far Cry 4 features both a competitive and a cooperative multiplayer mode. The co-op one is baked right into the single-player campaign, as you can call in a friend and just roam around the open world, taking over outposts and engaging in various hijinks. Unfortunately, you can't do any story missions with a buddy. The feature isn't seamless, as you need to start the campaign in the online setting to ensure that a friend can join in at any point during it.

The competitive mode is called Battles of Kyrat and sees Golden Path rebels take on Pagan Min's supernatural soldiers. While that may sound like an imbalanced battle, things are actually pretty good. The rebels can use modern weapons like rifles, while the soldiers can only use bows and their supernatural abilities. At the halfway point of any match the sides switch, so things are balanced.

The overall multiplayer experience is pretty fun and you can even craft your own maps for it, but overall you might have a better time in the single-player campaign, with or without a friend by your side.

Visuals and Sound

Far Cry 4 is a truly spectacular game in terms of visuals, as it's filled with lush colors, particularly in the Shangri-La missions, and boasts a stable 30fps framerate on the PS4. The character models are impressive, the animations are smooth, and the textures look quite good. While you can find a few jagged edges here and there, things are very polished.

The soundtrack is also quite impressive, managing to combine fast-paced orchestral scores with Indian and oriental-themed influences to flesh out the Kyrat world. The voice acting is good, but the standout performance goes to Troy Baker as Pagan Min, managing to make the villain quite a charismatic antagonist.

Battle vicious and imposing animals

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion