I haven’t played any of the previous games in the Far Cry series, but I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t heard of them. I’m sure you’ve heard of the saying, “too much of a good thing can be bad”. And if you’re familiar with any of Ubisoft’s series, you know they make a lot of them. This is pretty much the case with Far Cry and its newest instalment, Far Cry 6. That being said, I wasn’t disappointed with the product I received.
“In typical Ubisoft fashion, there’s a whole bunch of collectibles”
Far Cry 6 is everything it needs to be. It’s a rather generic plot that sees the player, as the protagonist Dani Rojas, slowly overcoming all that is thrown at them. As per usual the main antagonist of the game Anton Castillo (played by Giancarlo Esposito) is a stunningly charismatic, yet punishingly brutal dictator. Aside from that, there isn’t much to say from its plot. It’s a pretty generic overthrow the dictator/ rebel protagonist plot where you liberate a country. I never found myself growing too attached to the characters, but I did enjoy the performance of the main character, Dani Rojas.
The overarching campaign involves slowly taking over each region and beating the respective crony. Most of these end up being small mini-campaigns that end in a boss fight of some sort. I wasn’t expecting much more. Fortunately, the more formulated system let me know how far I was into the game, as well as how much I had progressed.
In typical Ubisoft fashion, there’s a whole bunch of collectibles, side quests and minigames to tie you through it. Most of these are pretty harmless and only take up a little bit of time in case you wanted a break. These activities range from finding chests to freeing captive resistance members or stealing airdrops. I found myself doing most of these as I went from mission to mission or wanted to slow down the plot and enjoy Yara a bit more.
“Far Cry 6’s enemy AI are dreadful.”
Guns feel pretty good to shoot and there’s a large variety of them available to you. This plentiful arsenal adds to the chaotic feel of Far Cry 6. At some points, you’ll be playing dominoes with some hombre and the next you’ll be causing destruction via an RPG. On top of that, there are some great meme weapons too. A disc launcher that fires records and plays music while being aimed, and a heavy crossbow that makes a great clunk sound when you embed it into an enemy.
Unfortunately, while the guns feel amazing, Far Cry 6‘s enemy AI are dreadful. Enemies can easily die via any sort of weapon it making a lot of the fights trivial. The enemy AI is quite simple, with minimal variation, so they’re also easy to predict. Alongside the vague progression system, I wasn’t sure if I was too overpowered or if Ubisoft wanted to make the game a cakewalk.
“Companions also make a return in Far Cry 6, having been a fundamental aspect of Far Cry 5.”
Most of the escort missions within Far Cry 6 were either frustratingly hilarious or hilariously frustrating. Friendly AI sometimes stops randomly or starts to walk insanely slow. They would even forget how to enter a vehicle or simply be knocked unconscious by touching it. While this was frustrating, there was a sweet level of satisfaction in “accidentally” letting my trigger finger slip when the AI was just a bit too slow.
Companions also make a return in Far Cry 6, having been a fundamental aspect of Far Cry 5. This time bringing some South American themed creatures to assist you along the way. In all honesty, I only used Chorizo, he’s supposed to be a stealth-based companion, who’s used to distract enemies so you can silently pick em off. However, I did not play stealth at all; I just kept him around because he is way too cute. He wouldn’t do much, but at least you could pet him. Other companions included a very angry chicken and an incredibly handsome crocodile.
“Far Cry 6 doesn’t necessarily reinvent the open-world action-adventure franchise.”
I played through the main story and almost all the side content in a co-op campaign, which doubled the chaos. More enemies, more guns, and more explosions. However, the co-op isn’t cross-progression. If you join a friend, Far Cry 6 limits you to what they can do. When you return to your game, you must continue from where you are in the story, regardless of where you were. I particularly remember an instance where my friend had received the wingsuit for upgrading his camp, while I was left wingsuitless and saddened.
Far Cry 6 doesn’t necessarily reinvent the open-world action-adventure franchise, nor does it take Far Cry a place it hasn’t been before. There can definitely be arguments made against Ubisoft’s cookie-cutter style of game design from one instalment to the next. Overall, Far Cry 6 still fulfils its duty of being an enjoyable chaos-filled time-sinking experience. Especially when you can chill with the good boy, Chorizo.
Far Cry 6 is out on PC, Xbox Series S|X, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and other game streaming services.