Far Cry 5 Review

The first 15 minutes of Far Cry 5 are grounded in material so unsettling and so unbelievably plausible that it genuinely feels like a departure from what we've come to expect from a Far Cry game. It definitely seemed (at least to me) that Ubisoft was going in a new direction, and for a moment I genuinely questioned if the controversy surrounding the game really had been created solely for publicity. Unbelievably, it seemed that Far Cry 5 might really have something meaningful to say about religion, gun ownership, and the state of U.S. politics.

Then, not even an hour later, you're off on a side quest befriending a diabetic grizzly bear named Cheeseburger.

Let's just get this out of the way, if you came into Far Cry 5 expecting an insightful political commentary, you're going to be disappointed. If you don't care about any of that crap and just want to shoot stuff in the face and make stuff go boom, you're in for a delight. Far Cry 5 is more Far Cry, and thankfully, Far Cry is still really, really fun.

WHAT I LIKED.

Visually, the game is stunning. Hope County, Montana is beautifully rendered with glistening lakes, winding rivers, and towering mountain ranges that are populated with pine trees so dense they block out the sun. The environments are truly breathtaking, and not once did I feel like the decision to bring the game to the United States was a misstep for the series. In fact, I think I preferred this locale more to the "exotic" locations from prior Far Cry games. Facial animations are passable and while the game's character models do retain some of that Ubisoft "stiffness," nothing is too distracting.

Not only does Far Cry 5 look amazing, but Ubisoft has created an open-world sandbox filled to the brim with stuff to do, and there are absolutely no limitations on where you can go or what you can do at any given moment. After the first main story mission, you're told there are three regions of the map with a primary antagonist in charge of each. Your mission is to take these guys (and gal) down, but the order and the method you choose to do it is entirely up to you. I'm always pleased when developers choose to hand over that level of freedom to the player.

For the most part, regardless of what you choose to do in Far Cry 5, you're going to have fun doing it. Even seemingly mundane activities like hunting rabbits can be fun, especially if you're hunting them in a military attack chopper armed with missile launchers. Side quests are engaging for the most part and are frequently hilarious-- one side mission has you collecting bull testicles for the annual Testicle Festival. You can also go fly-fishing in Far Cry 5, and while I thought it was a little too easy (you can easily catch any kind of fish regardless of what kind of bait you use?), it was nevertheless a fun diversion from the regular story missions.

Finding and exploring Doomsday prepper bunkers was also a lot more fun than I thought they would be. Think of them as mini-tomb locations that require some light puzzle solving and/or some parkouring to open. There are a lot of these bunkers scattered throughout Hope County, and all of them are unique and have short narratives to accompany them. For instance, one bunker you'll explore has a note on the door that reads, "This bunker is my pride and joy. The gov'ment said I couldn't use it due to faulty wiring, but it seems just fine to me!" After locating the power source inside the darkened interior, you flip the switch and immediately fire begins erupting from the generator. You're then required to turn on the sprinkler so you can safely collect your loot-- bundles of money, crafting materials, and perk points.

You progress in Far Cry 5 by obtaining perk points. These are used to unlock certain abilities in an upgrade tree, and are obtainable by completing in-game challenges, such as "kill 100 enemies with SMG's" or "loot 20 prepper bunkers." There are challenges for almost everything you do in the game, so you're constantly acquiring perk points to upgrade your character. No longer are you required to hunt and collect pelts from animals to unlock abilities. Since everything you do is beneficial and contributes to your character's progression, I was often incentivized away from the main path to explore something that had caught my eye-- and I absolutely loved that.

Lastly, I know this is something not everyone cares about, but the soundtrack in Far Cry 5 is really, really good. The game has a very mundane, down-to-earth, good ole' boy vibe to accompany it's American setting, and the soundtrack perfectly accents this. When you liberate an outpost, you're congratulated with a fanfare of stringed instruments- banjos, cellos, violins- and it never get's old. The music every time you open the menu is a little less raucous, but I often found myself stopping to listen before continuing on. Here's the theme, for anyone interested:

WHAT I DISLIKED.

The story is just . . . not that good.

"But Jake!" you exclaim, "People don't play shooter's for the story, they play them because they're fun!" Well, yes, dear reader. They certainly can be mindlessly entertaining, and there's a place for that-- absolutely. There's a reason millions of people buy Call of Duty every year. But games like Wolfenstein 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, and even older games like Bioshock and Halo have somewhat ruined me in this regard. When I play a shooter these days, I expect an experience that invokes some sort of emotional response. I want to feel something, although I fully understand not everybody is looking for this in their video games.

Without giving away any spoilers, you play as a rookie police offer tasked with bringing down a preacher man named Joseph Seed-- the leader of a cult he calls the Project at Eden's Gate. He believes tragedy will soon befall Montana, and it is his destiny to save the residents of Hope County (both literally and spiritually). This ultimately involves a fair amount of brainwashing and drug use, which I understand is generally frowned upon. You show up with your ragtag team of police officers, and long story short, it doesn't go well. Each member of your team is kidnapped by a member of the Seed family, and you have to go rescue them. That's pretty much the story.

On paper, that sounds okay. The problem is that aside from a short conversation in a helicopter, you have zero interaction with any of your squad mates before they get kidnapped-- so you don't care when they do, and you certainly don't care about rescuing them, which means you don't really feel invested in the story. The game also doesn't really manage to convince me that Joseph Seed is as evil as it wants him to be. He's menacing, sure, but the game could have done something else to give him some more depth or highlight his motivations. The villains of Far Cry have struggled to top the antagonist from Far Cry 3, and unfortunately Joseph Seed is not the exception.

Silent protagonists aren't new to video games, and while it's not always necessary for video game characters to have a voice, there are times when it can lend itself to awkward story telling. Far Cry 5 is an example of exactly this. At some point in the game you walk up on one of your allies, and mistaking you for the enemy, they turn on you, pinning you to the ground and holding a knife to your throat for what seems like an unusual amount of time considering they know you and can see you. In that moment, your character should have said something, but because the developers chose to not give him a voice, this moment feels . . . off. There are several moments in the game where your muteness is distracting, such as this one.

My only other real complaint, is that the vast majority of the game is far too easy. I breezed through almost all of the game's outposts, story missions, and boss fights. Even some of the side activities (like fishing), that could have offered some degree of challenge, were almost always beaten without any difficulty whatsoever. Some people have found that restricting themselves from a certain playstyle (i.e., not going in guns blazing and choosing to only use the bow) can improve the overall experience, but I believe you shouldn't have to do this to challenge yourself in a video game. Needless to say, Far Cry 5 could really benefit from a difficulty setting.

Buy, Rent, or Skip???

Here's what ya'll came here for.

Far Cry 5 may not have the best campaign or the best writing, but if you can look past that, what's left is a hell of a good time. There's always something new to find in Hope County, and if you're a completionist like me, you're looking at easily 30-40 hours until the credits roll. If you want to play beyond that, there is a level editor that many are using to create surprisingly decent Battle Royale modes, and I'm sure these will only improve as time goes on. There are also three expansions lined up for Far Cry 5, so depending on their length and quality, it looks like the game will have some decent longevity. Because of that, I believe Far Cry 5 is definitely worth your money. Using the "Buy, Rent, or Skip" scale that I'm sure no one has ever used before, this game is a buy for me.

Thanks for reading!

Jake