Father approved shooter with far away cries

Review

Played on: Xbox One X
Released: 2018

This year saw the return of the FarCry series. A first person shooter franchise I've enjoyed since the very first release back in 2004. The current blueprint for the series, though, originates from FarCry 3. FC5 follows this formula too: we have a main nutcase that needs taking down and areas to liberate on a free roaming map. With access to vehicles, nature to traverse and wild animals to defeat.

It's a thoroughly tested structure from Ubisoft, but it's one that works incredibly well too. This time around I felt they had gone the extra mile to pull me in again after FC4, the latter was a little tame compared to FC3 in my opinion.

What helps FC5 deliver a fantastic package, is the focus on enriching the game world. There's so much more to discover, with side missions that feel like you're drawn even further into it's world and lots of mini games like stunt racing or fishing, completing it's immersive world.

In fact, I'd go so far that this is probably the best FC made to date, let's take a closer look.



FC5's story revolves around the main character Joseph Seed, a religious nutter going by the name "The Father". Who, after a violent take-over of a whole valley in North America, is set to be arrested by the deputy. Much expected for the story progression, the arrest goes to hell and the rest of the game takes you through the three main areas of the valley.

Each part is ruled by leaders under The Father. These three areas are liberated by performing tasks and saving the locals living there. There's some fantastic cutscenes and voiceovers, heightening the story to a new level.

Gameplay is solid and, as always, has punchy and weighty gunplay. Even the cars, helicopters and air planes feel like they have improved weight to their physics and are excellent for traversing the vast distances. Discovering and climbing trough hidden doomsday prepper bunkers. Finding their loot of money and weapons feels satisfying. There's a lot to randomly discover in the forests and farmlands.

The freedom of the sandbox world never feels limiting, while not going overboard, with just the right size of map. You can even let a real friend, or A.I., walk around with you for support in firefights. There's a selection of sidekicks to walk around with: a sniper, a pilot with a support helicopter, a surveillance dog or even a fighting bear!



Mission variety has clearly been a stronger focus from the developers this time around: every main mission feels distinctly different, throwing you into a varied mix of situations, with a healthy dose of craziness thrown in. Even the side missions seem less cut and paste, and more like proper story missions without the filler padding plaguing the equivalent in FC4.

The leveling system is perhaps a tad slow, as I'd only come about halfway on the perk chart by the time the story reached it's end. You have to grind to fully level your character up. The main story is a healthy 20-25 hours long, but if you dig down and try to unlock everything, you can easily reach the 50 hour mark.

The visuals are stunning. Dense forests, and foliage especially, look great. The incredibly draw distance, that really gets put through it's paces when jumping into a airplane or helicopter, is amazing. Everything works well: close up indoor detail, large landscapes on foot and the vast scopes of nature when you're high up in the air.

Running at an impressive native 4K on the Xbox One X version, which I played, really helps keep all the small foliage details like leaves and trees so crisp and clear. It's a beautiful game with a fantastic, woodland, rural America setting that appealed even further to me personally, as it reminds me of forests here in Norway. I liked the calm folk music in the menus too, heightening the whole atmosphere of the setting.

Update: This game has now got a 60fps update, allowing it to run an impressive 4K@60fps on the Xbox Series X, and a healthy 1080p@60fps on the Series S!



If there's negatives to mention, I really dislike the way the game suddenly stops you mid-game to pull you into a fight with one of the leaders of each area. Once you reach a certain percentage of liberation, you're warned they're hunting you. Suddenly, and abruptly, you're spawned into a cutscene. A weird design choice that could have been done differently.

I would also have liked to see the roads and airspace have less hostile enemy spawning. It's like you are constantly attacked if you follow roads, or attacked by an annoying airplane repeatedly in woodlands. I ended up mainly sticking to walking cross country, as I enjoy mostly walking by foot in forests!

I went into FarCry 5 slightly sceptical of the redneck and religious setting, feeling it was a scenario I wasn't particular intrigued by. I still went ahead and ended up playing the best FarCry so far, with an ending that really took my by surprise. The charming farmland America pulled me in and the atmosphere absolutely nailed the feeling of being there. The main villain does and excellent job and far excels FC4's effort too.

One of this years absolute best releases and an excellent first person shooter to boot. Highly recommended!