After completing the astonishing Far Cry 3 my mind was mainly jumbled with thoughts of:  1) Wow what a beautiful game, 2) I wish I played this on PC instead, 3) I MUST check out the past two games!

Admittedly, me being my lazy self, I’ve never really scavenged the time to play the first two games and check out how the past series played as. That was never an issue with me though, I knew I thoroughly enjoyed the third iteration of the series and was immediately looking forward to the inevitable fourth iteration ( I mean – was there really any doubt that there wouldn’t be another one?!).

The reveal trailer for Far Cry 4 introduces the brand new villain Pagan Min who seems to be just as intimidating and frightening as Vaas was in Far Cry 3. As far as I could tell (and please correct me if I’m wrong) but villains Jackal or Kreiger in the previous two games didn’t portray the villain to be as demented and emotionally invested as Vaas acted; a style which is imitated by Pagan Min, most likely due to the ultimate success of the third game. But that’s where my issue is, I don’t want Ubisoft to be too closed minded in the creation of this.

It cannot be another clone…

Only due to Ubisofts recent track record of repetitive gameplay mechanics in their repeating series (a quick reminder of Assassins Creed or Just Dance anyone?) and this game has to be unique. We’ve already clarified that there seems to be a mimicked Vaas in the game, yet I won’t primarily complain about that because any villain that can replicate how chilling Vaas’ character was deserves to exist! Instead I’m focusing more on gameplay mechanics.

 

With just a quick glance of the initial E3 gameplay (of course minus the fictional Himalayas landscape & perhaps even the grappling hook) there doesn’t seem to be much differentiation of the shooting mechanics and such. Instead the gameplay kickstarts immediately into the enemy base where they start a massive shootout; which technically connects to my second concern:

Please refrain from lacking stealth!

I’ve personally noticed that with each year when a new Assassins Creed is released, the stealth decreases with each version. Stealth used to be such a fundamental aspect in Assassins Creed, yet now it’s very simple to break out into combat to appeal to its mainstream audience. Ubisoft, I’m begging please don’t strip Far Cry from its stealth too! I must admit that it is pleasing to play games and have the risk of ‘will they see me or not?’ towards the enemies. Of course Far Cry 3 itself (again I will refrain to talk about the previous games and not write bullshit) wasn’t primarily stealth based, but in many missions it was always an easy option and sometimes even encouraged to stay in the shadows and be stealthy, it would be reassuring if Far Cry 4 could possibly have it too!

Also, Ajay Ghale needs to stretch his legs…

I was afraid whilst watching the gameplay demo at E3 that the game seemed slightly a bit too comforted in a linear route and lacks the options of multiple directions.  I understand that climbing around mountainous terrains of course provides some limitations to exploration, and that also the grappling hook could lead to more spacious, explorable lands; but of course you can understand my disappointment of what appears to be a linear map. I’m seriously hoping that either it’s just me who’s seeing that scene as linear or that it’s only that one part in the game.

Part of what made Far Cry 3 what it is today is the beautiful spacious land to explore, and Far Cry 4 also needs to  replicate the idea of a gigantic map (which completely contradicts my first point) in order to perhaps give the game a bit more ‘feeling’ so that it’s meaningful by retaining all the right aspects of the previous game and replicating and improving the open sandbox map.

What do you think?

Far Cry 4 is expected to be released around November 18th  on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One & PC, so there’s still quite a bit of time for things to change.

What are your expectations compared to your desires of the next Far Cry? Has your excitement/view altered over time from the initial conference? Let us know in the comments below!