Far Cry 3: How Does It Hold Up Today?

Video Games

Sep 8

Have I ever told you the definition… of insanity? For a while now I have loved the Far Cry games and there are a group of people that have loved them longer than I have. I recently went back to play Far Cry 3 and see how it holds up to video games today.

Far Cry originally came out in 2012 and a new edition was released for XBOX One and PS4 in 2018. The game was fantastic, especially when considering that it came out in 2012. From the story to the game mechanics to the fun side missions that keep the game interesting for quite some time. There are several good things and just a couple bad things concerning this game. Let’s take consider them.

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Good 1. Character Development

I have always been a sucker for a good story in a game. It is one of the main selling points for someone to buy and love their game and Far Cry 3 has a riveting story. Beginning with the main villain (at least he appears at first to be) who seems to be just a typical kidnapping, sex trafficking, drug addicted psychopath, named Vaas ends up having much more depth than just that. Beginning with his relationship with his sister, Citra, Queen of the Rakyat, a tribe on Rook Island fighting the corruption of Hoyt and his slave and drug empire. Citra has a history with Vaas and if her interaction with Jason Brody, the protagonist of the story, is any indication on how she was with Vaas, she manipulated Vaas and probably pushed him to become the criminal he was.

On top of that outstanding villain, you have Jason Brody, a young guy from southern California, kidnapped on the island with his friends during their vacation. What could have been a typical and boring story in just Jason saving his friends and brothers, turns out to be much more. You have the dynamic of a great villain and supposed allies who help you save your friends but ultimately use you to free their island. All the while they are attempting to produce the ultimate warrior for the Rakyat.

You go from being a young kid having gone through a traumatic experience, to freeing an entire island from a criminal empire. All the way to having to choose whether you follow your bloodlust that you’ve had to rely on this whole time or stick with those who you fought to rescue and head back to America. The subtle and natural arc of Jason Brody was exceptionally done, factoring in the outside influences of both environmental, circumstantial, and human, to get to that final decision at the end of the game that you must make.

Bad 1. Delayed Game Mechanics

The game mechanics are slow and lag at times. You can try to jump but end up not jumping far enough or jumping farther than you intended to. You can tell the date of the game in times like this. Sometimes it is simple user error, but when going from a new game like Far Cry 6 where things are more fluent and you don’t have to delay your reaction to time it just right, to going to these moments in Far Cry 3, you can tell the age on the game.

Good 2. Story Pacing

The speed of the game is very well done. You begin with the sense of helplessness and running full speed. You get started immediately with rescuing your friends without having to sit through a long tutorial to learn how the game is designed to be played. At the same time, it doesn’t have the story speed of Christopher Nolan’s, Oppenheimer where the story is being told at supersonic speeds. Rather you are able to experience the emotions that Jason Brody works through as the story progresses.

Then just when you are feeling the story wind down after rescuing Keith, your second brother is dead and Jason is consumed with rage, vowing to stay and destroy Hoyt and Vaas’ empire. It picks speed back up and you survive murder attempts by Vaas twice, including getting shot in the chest, to finally killing Vaas (maybe), and catching a ride with Agent Willis to go begin taking down Hoyt on the southern island. The pacing of the game then gets back to the normal pace until the climax. The pacing was very well done to tell a good, riveting story that keeps you involved until the end.

Bad 2. Graphics

While this is not a terrible aspect of the game, and since it has been redesigned for new gen consoles it has improved since the original release date, but you can tell the age on the game. The graphics have a shiny tint to them that give them an old arcade feel which hurts the immersion at times. The story makes up for this at many times, but that sheen on the game can be distracting at times unless you are used to playing old games such as this one is.

Good 3. Music and Timing

The music in this Far Cry game and when that music showed up was very well done. If you can imagine being an action hero in an action movie, making the decisions and attacking the enemy yourself, while still hearing and feeling as epic as an action hero in a movie, that’s how well the music was timed on Far Cry 3.

When you walked up to an enemy outpost, the music began to play while you staked out the outpost and picked up pace when you began blowing heads. The suspense music that played while on a mission or interacting with a main villain was masterfully placed to fit the feel you were intended to have as Jason Brody. Overall, it keeps you on your toes, involved with the story in the game, and fully immersed in the events on your screen.

Good 4. Support Characters and Side Missions

In the middle of following an outstanding story, you can take a side note and encounter fun characters like Hurk, who is fun and wild and comedically ridiculous. Or you encounter interesting characters in the middle of the story like Agent Willis who is too pro-America to be taken entirely seriously. They add a different element to a rather dark and intense story.

You also have some side missions that add layers to the game that you didn’t know you wanted. From exploring old underground structures like you are Laura Croft or Indiana Jones, to finding old laboratories and seeing an Abstergo logo from Assassin’s Creed, giving indication to a much larger universe to find Far Cry located in. Added layers to an already fantastic game to keep you interested and invested in the larger series.

Overall, Far Cry 3 holds up very well today. The main thrust of Far Cry games is the surviving in an inhospitable place while carrying on like Bruce Willis, fighting evil and keeping it suspenseful. In Far Cry 3 you have a riveting story, a heinous yet human villain in Vaas and the ones controlling and manipulating him like Hoyt and Citra, and an environment that adds suspense to the game without making it miserable. On top of all of that it can be played on its own and you have a complete story, or you can play it in order with the rest of the Far Cry games and it adds more depth to an already complete game. Despite the 11-year time gap from the release of the game, Far Cry 3 is still a game worth playing again today.

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