Well, I’ve done an editorial and I’ve done a video review. So, I might as well do a proper review of Far Cry 5. It is a depressing little game if you are just in it for the story. However, it is a great and fun experience if you focus on the gameplay. An anomaly in the wider triple-A market of cinematic this, and cinematic that, you might as well call it a Just Cause-lite that is at times calling itself a serious video game.

The little reference I made at the top of the video description over on our YouTube channel, is a perfect example of what the game is trying to be. It is trying to have the best of worth worlds, and with the shade and the hair, it attempts to blend what is labeled far-right conspiracy nuts with left-wing multiculturalist hipster vegans. It is very much the Ubisoft vibe of “politics is bad for business,” as they use very relevant political times for not only this time, but set their sequel to a game about a virus ravishing New York in Washington DC. Yet neither one is political?

With that, Far Cry 5 is set in America: Specifically, it is centered around a doomsday cult of religious fanatics that have overrun a county in the fictional land of Montana. They are led by a charismatic leader and his disciples. One boss and his lieutenants, all of whom share roughly the same identity, aside from the woman who is the same but female. There is little to no difference, making them just a thing to knock off before you go take on Jim Jones in his little mansion that you have to wait to be called to.

The only good thing about moving forward with the story is that you don’t have to bother with it, at least not much. It is a proper sandbox, you can go about the place blowing up cult-owned paraphernalia if you can’t be bothered with the story. All of the missions and gameplay bits fill the little bar for each lieutenant and their area. It fits well as a proper open-world game should when it comes to fighting back for territory. The typical Far Cry-style camps to claim back make a return, but you also have silos to blow up and roaming vans with captured civilians to liberate. As I said, Just Cause is blended with Far Cry, making the best of both worlds.

I believe my editor will ask me, “Could you stop with the Hannah Montana references?” Sure, but nobody’s perfect. Which brings me to the issues I have with Far Cry 5 that don’t involve the story of lead villains: Animals are a bit strong, aren’t they? I’ve been attacked by more cougars in Far Cry 5 than that one time I worked at a country club. You can put three bullets in their head and they just keep coming for you.

Ok, joking aside, the animals were scary enough before. I genuinely avoid the waters of Far Cry 3 for fear that a shark is going to bite my bum unexpectedly. You can hear a bear, cougar, wolverine, skunks, or a bull, but you aren’t going to hear a shark. That reminds me, I will snap a Bald Eagles neck. I don’t care if it would get me arrested in America, I’m sick of eagles in Far Cry games. They are cheap and bottom tier predators.

That said, I do like the addition of a predator from the sky. It is America and the county is fairly land-locked compared to Far Cry 3, so there are a few planes. Games like Far Cry are the water cooler type of games. You can go into work (well, you used to) and stand around the water cooler talking about how you’d shot a bear cage and emptied a camp with a single bullet, only to fight a bear off with a stick. Great fun!

Well, after getting a car back from the cult, attacking the airfield, and blowing up the car, I was left to walk back home. Rather, I was walking into town alone and afraid with very few bullets left. As I was crossing the fields around Falls End, a typical midwestern town with half a dozen homes, I heard something above. What then transpired was a melee between a woman with a baker’s dozen of bullets and a handful of explosives, a field (not of wheat) to run through, and a plane dive-bombing (and actually bombing) me. It was something out of a stupid action film, and I love it!

I won’t pray on it, but this is why I disagree with Mike so much on Far Cry 5. That is brilliantly fun and everything I want from a Far Cry game; something where I can describe it and no one believes it was that epic and fun until they’ve done it themselves. That’s simply something you don’t get from many other games. Experiences where a completely unscripted series of events coalesce into something strange and wonderful. It is just a shame when it comes to actual missions that the free and open nature goes out the window.

It is a problem with all Far Cry games. The open-world is only open until you are given general orders to do something, such as a mission. Then if you simply gaze outside of the very constrained path you must walk to go through a mission, you’ll be told you are a failure. Even if you are doing as the game says, you are the biggest failure Hope County has ever seen, off with your head! It is stupid and supremely annoying to have such a fun game (and series) hampered by the urge of a game designer to rein in the player.

So much of that fun and energic frivolity given to the open world is always yanked away by the story, which happens to be the worst thing Far Cry 5 has going for it. Every mission is your typical Far Cry mission of going to a place and shooting the things. Alternately, you’ll try to sneak up on something, get away quietly, and then accidentally get into a firefight because it all goes wrong solely because it is a Far Cry game and that’s what they do. ‘You know what is the best comparison? Red Dead Redemption 2.

When the story is getting in the way, you are tottering along mildly entertained or bored to death. However, when you are left to fish, hunt, and kill the villains in the open world, you are having the best of times. I’m more than happy standing by a lake, fishing, then seeing a bear come out from behind the tree line attacking a bloke who’s attacking a skunk. It is stupid and fun. I’ve stood on a hill shooting down a helicopter with a pistol as I watched a bear and bull fight. That is brilliantly stupid and none of it is part of the main plot which is tripe.

Though while I’m on the subject of hunting, it is kind of useless. In a change to the Far Cry formula, you no longer skin the animals to use the pelts for upgrades. Instead, you pay hundreds of dollars for everything. It is a bit like American healthcare, if you want something you need to pay lots to get it. People will also pay you small amounts of money for hunting, giving you an economy to work with, though it is a fairly rigged one.

Yes, Ubisoft has to Ubisoft, and thus the microtransaction money is there too. I will say it isn’t as pervasive as it COULD be, but it is there nonetheless. You do gain little bits of it through unlocking safes in camps you liberate, but it is only 40 silver bars. For reference it costs something like 400 to get Wrench’s mask from Watch Dogs 2.

Yes, dressing up your nameless and voiceless lead character with zero personality is part of the game. With costumes and dressing up comes ways for Ubisoft to crossover their universes, where you can dress up as Assassin’s Creed characters or wear the aforementioned Wrench mask. Not that these clothing options are exclusively bought with the microtransaction currency, but rather it is the “cheaper” option. You can pay 400 silver bars or 7.2K of in-game money. So either you want to touch up as many men as you possibly can, or you will be waiting a long time for that Wrench mask. Yes, I want that beautiful man’s mask, shut up!

Overall, I really do enjoy Far Cry 5 when it leaves me alone and lets me fight the mental people on drugs shouting about the frogs turning the water gay, or whatever they are shouting about. It is not a game that has to be held up by a story or complex narrative. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that the story is simply poo, a soggy poo on a twig. Yet, the gameplay is some of the best the series has ever featured, with an all-out guerrilla war happening at your fingertips.

Phenixx Gaming is everywhere you are. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram.

Also, if you’d like to join the Phenixx Gaming team, check out our recruitment article for details on working with us.

Phenixx Gaming is proud to be a Humble Partner! Purchases made through our affiliate links support our writers and charity!

Far Cry 5

$59.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• The Law and Order reference in the logo.
• Organic water cooler moments.

Cons

• Dreadful story.
• Copy-paste villains.
• An attempt to play both side of extremes.