4.5 out of 5 stars

Ubisoft’s fourth installment in the Far Cry series, Far Cry 4, had some high expectations after the successful launch of Far Cry 3. Ubisoft heavily focused on every strength to make it a great open-world adventure game, while falling flat to make enjoyable characters.

Players will take on the role of Ajay Ghale, the protagonist of the story. Ajay Ghale is an American who returns to Kyrat in the Himalaya’s to scatter his mother’s ashes on the tallest mountain. While traveling up the mountain on a bus, the bus gets ambushed by soldiers.

Pagan Min (the king of Kyrat), captured Ajay and decided to have a little dinner party in Pagan’s compound. While having an intense dinner, Pagan leaves the room to go get Ajay’s mothers ashes. The player can either decide to escape or just sit in the room for about fifteen minutes.

Most players don’t know that if they wait for fifteen minutes and don’t attempt to escape, then they beat the game because when Pagan left the dining room, he promised that he’s getting the ashes and doesn’t want Ajay to leave. Most players think that Pagan will come back to kill Ajay, but that’s not the case.

If the player decides to escape, then the player gets has a very similar objective just like in Far Cry 3. The objective of the story is to stop Pagan and his private military from taking over Kyrat. Before players begin their journey, people who are new to the Far Cry series are taught the basic survival skills. Once again, players learn how to scavenge supplies that they can sell to stores for some money, harvest plants to craft into syringes that enhance players abilities, and craft important items from animal skin.

Skinning animals is different in Far Cry 4. If players want to get more animal skin, then players must use any kind of knife or use a bow to kill the animal. Using any kind of explosive or gun gives players half the animal skin. This means to try and use a bow because players will spend a lot less time hunting and faster time crafting.

The progression system is still the same in Far Cry 4. As players kill animals and enemies, players will gain experience where they can spend skill points that turns Ajay into a bloodthirsty murderer. These skill points can be used to make syringes more effective, perform stealthy takedowns, and learn new kill chains.

Liberating outposts in Far Cry 4 is more difficult than what it was like before. Players still have to stealthily navigate the outpost without alarming guards, but players now have to try and counter the hunter. The hunter is an enemy with a silent bow and is able to tame animals to attack the player.

Ubisoft decided to add fortresses into Far Cry 4. It’s the same concept as liberating outposts, but fortresses are a lot harder to liberate. It’s hard to liberate fortresses because it’s piled with enemies and a lot of alarms to disable. This makes it near impossible to get around and not get caught. Players best bet is to stock up on ammunition and go in loud.

The characters in Far Cry 4 does not really keep the players interested. There are some characters in the story like Pagan, Amita, and Sabal (both are leaders that are trying to destroy Pagan and his army) who keep the player entertained, but not all missions have these characters. It’s not that the other characters are boring, it’s the fact that the other characters keep players confused about which side the player should be fighting for.

Ubisoft executed another successful open-world game packed with action around every corner but failed to keep players entertained when it came to the characters confusing players. This game is definitely recommended especially if you enjoyed Far Cry 3.