Far Cry 4 Review

Ajay Ghale the protagonist of the game travels to Kyrat, a fictional nation of the Himalayas, to scatter his mother’s ashes, per her wishes. In the process he finds himself in the service of the Golden Path, an army of freedom fighters founded by his late father. They’re locked in a brutal civil war with Pagan Min, the despotic ruler of Kyrat, and it’s up to you—the prodigal son—to free it from his tyranny. Pagan Min is a nasty piece of work and is as colorful as Vaas Montenegro was in Far Cry 3.

He is the vain and arrogant despot that welcomes you to the fictional Himalayan nation of Kyrat with a depraved display of violence. Min is a horrific man, and you are meant to despise him, it would seem so until he ends his tirade by inviting you to "tear shit up". Afterwards, Min covers your head with a sack and escorts you to his opulent residence.

It’s a neat twist on the classic Far Cry setup. You are, as in earlier games, a tourist stranded in an exotic, dangerous, alien place, but now you have a more personal reason attached. Collectible calling cards had me on the trail of a serial killer, and gorgeous vistas had me in awe of Kyrat’s lakes, mountains, and other spectacular scenery. This is sometimes compromised by lower-resolution textures and an inferior draw distance on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but Far Cry 4 is comparable to Far Cry 3 in terms of visual fidelity, and up to expectations for old-generation hardware.

Real-life companions are even better and are the fun part. A friend can join you on your adventure, and the two of you can wreak even more havoc on Kyrat's struggling economy by ruining and pillaging everything in sight. It’s also an extremely entertaining playground, and we had more fun here than we ever did in Far Cry 3’s tropical archipelago. Kyrat is full of sheer drops, huge mountains, rocky cliffs, and deep valleys. The terrain is remarkably varied and vertiginous, which lets you take full advantage of the wingsuit—which you can now buy from a shop straight away. The feeling of sprinting towards the edge of a mountain, leaping off, and floating down gracefully into a valley is absolutely exhilarating.

Diversity is one of Far Cry 4’s strongest assets, and it overwhelms the mostly disappointing story with countless opportunities for free-form adventure and fun. There's the sense that the Dunia engine hasn't been radically overhauled from its last-gen iteration - but it's a great fit for the new console hardware, and the upgrades that have been implemented add an excellent layer of additional sheen. Additionally, the weapons feel great, there are genuine opportunities for creativity, and it all takes place in a dynamic world where random tiger attacks are commonplace.

The PC version could have been brilliant - and in some respects it is - but we're surprised that the game shipped with obvious issues not found in the console releases.  Over all it’s a little safe, its competitive multiplayer stands out as a gamble that paid off , in that it has many familiar elements from Far Cry 3 transplanted to an amazing new place, but those elements are incredibly empowering and rewarding.