Far Cry 5 is ironically the sixth part of the franchise and it's time to see what the controversial game has to offer. The first reviews have been released and it looks like Ubisoft has created a worthy successor of
Far Cry 3 and
Far Cry 4 that's a joy to play, but apparently the series' old and worn out schemas require a refreshment
Assassin's Creed Origins style. Don't you worry,
Far Cry 5 is a well-crafted product.
The best elements of
Far Cry 4 are still here. Despite setting the action in much less interesting (when it comes to exotic things) Montana, the map is huge and filled with plenty of actives, from destroying the guard posts, to enjoying the weather and fishing. The biggest innovation, "Guns for Hire", is a welcome change as they help you in a lot of creative ways (fetching enemies' guns included).
According to critics, the Seed family is kind of a letdown. Greg Bryk's Joseph "The Father" is underdevelopment & underutilized and his brothers and sister don't live up to Vaas, and even Pagan Min's school of villainy. The game's message is also an object of controversy, as
Far Cry 5's extreme satire of modern America doesn't have much to say about the current situation. Take a look:
Far Cry 5 is hands down the best yet for the series, and may be the best Ubisoft title ever. I have loved my time with this game, and with the 35 or so hours I have invested so far, I feel that I still have a lot of content left to discover, with more side quests and character missions to do beyond the main story. The areas are unique, the gameplay is tight and the characters are memorable. This honestly disturbing look at an alternate America is the exact thing this series needed stand out and make a name for itself amid all of the other open world RPG games out there.
At the end of the day, Far Cry 5 is an artistic lesson in juxtaposition. On one hand you have a group of devoted followers of a “message of peace” that live in violence. You have a calm and charismatic leader who insights calamity. There are communities united in anarchy. Far Cry 5 provokes its audience to think and wrestle with the uncomfortable answers to our own “what-ifs” about faith, family, and the power of community.
Simply put, Far Cry 5 is the best Far Cry game to date. It has the best story, the best progression and introduces a lot of changes (for the good) while maintaining that explosive old formula that works so freaking well. God Bless Hope County.
Far Cry 5 doesn’t strike me as a reformation of a series formula that has worked well for years, but rather a baptismal into something new. It can be hard for Ubisoft to wash away the sins of open-world game design, yet there’s the beginning of something greater to behold in Hope County. Whether making the trip to Hope County alone or with friends, the idyllic scenery makes such a stark contrast to the action of a Far Cry title that it’s going to be impossible to fly over and skip this one.
Far Cry 5 is a game that struggles in trying to serve two purposes. On one hand, there's a dark, horrific tale of a cult taking over a small town. On the other, it's a playground of destruction, letting players fly and drive around, blowing up things with a bear and a dog. Both sides are good, but they don't really meet in the middle. If you can survive the tonal whiplash, you'll find a great game here and Far Cry Arcade only makes it better.
Far Cry 5 as a great surprise for the franchise. As soon as the franchise started to feel a little stale Far Cry 5 comes around and makes it fresh again. The setting and characters themselves are worth the price of admission but the great changes Far Cry 5 has made to the core mechanics and Far Cry Arcade gives the title an almost limitless amount of content.
Choice is the driving theme in Far Cry 5, a game which opts to venture out of its comfort zone while fine-tuning every aspect of what makes the series so great. It’s incredibly relevant, Montana is a gorgeous slice of new terrain that is fraught with peril and the road ahead that Far Cry Arcade represents is exciting to say the least. Simply put, the fifth numbered chapter in Ubisoft’s series of madness, freedom and exploration is Far Cry perfected.
We cannot deny that Far Cry 5 is another "more of the same" entry, warts and all, but the religious fanatic setting is spot-on, and Montana is simply wonderful (and Joseph Seed is one of the best villains the series has ever had). The open-world approach to the game works as usual, and the more you look at it as a big, sumptuous playground, the better. The Arcade mode has a lot, plenty of potential that will show its best in the upcoming weeks and months, when the community starts toying with the powerful editor. Even as it is now, Far Cry 5 is an excellent chapter in the series.
The Seeds make great Far Cry villains, disrupting the flow when it threatens to grow dull, and there’s something familiar and unsettling about the Montana setting that brings the whole game to life. Yet there’s still a sense that Far Cry needs to push things further, with too many mundane and repetitive tasks littering its map screen, and that more variety is needed in its core mission design. This is a phenomenal open-world shooter and an excellent Far Cry. With a little extra push, it could have been even more.
Public executions aside, Far Cry 5’s world is meticulously constructed, and it’s a remarkable facsimile of Big Sky Country. Unfortunately, too much of the action in it is uninspired. It’s a beautiful but bland recitation of what’s come before, from both the series and Ubisoft’s open-world playbook. It’s never bad, but considering how great the past games have been, its overall predictability is disappointing.
There are great individual moments in Far Cry 5. The gunplay is excellent, its unpredictable world generates daring stories of accidental heroism, and when it leans into the whole red-blooded American patriotism schtick, it’s genuinely funny. It doesn’t always fit together as well as it should, sometimes forcing the player to work around the game rather than with it – but the wildly vacillating tone is the bigger issue. It’s at once disorienting and noncommittal. Paradoxically, this is an extreme satire of modern America that says pretty much nothing about it.
Welcome to Hope County, Montana, home to a fanatical doomsday cult known as The Project at Eden’s Gate that is threatening the community's freedom. Stand up to the cult’s leader, Joseph Seed and the Heralds, and spark the fires of resistance that will liberate the besieged community. In this expansive world, your limits and creativity will be tested against the biggest and most ruthless baddest enemy Far Cry has ever seen. It’ll be wild and it’ll get weird, but as long as you keep your wits about you, the residents of Hope County can rest assured you’re their beacon of hope.
Join the Resistance TOMORROW, with Far Cry 5. Available on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.