Non-RPG General News - Far Cry 6 Review @ PCGamesN

PCGamesN checked out Far Cry 6:

Far Cry 6 review - far from revolutionary

Another gorgeous open world to explore, but the format could use a revamp

Dani is a guerrilla. Or at least, that's what they're told throughout Far Cry 6. Despite a story that's all about revolutionaries, an abundance of DIY superweapons, and a lush new tropical setting, this is still Far Cry as you've been playing it for nearly ten years now. That formula still makes a fun game, but after another 20-plus hours fending off animal attacks, liberating outposts, and making friends with the local oddballs, there's more than a hint of irony that you're meant to be carrying out a 'revolution' on the island of Yara.

Following in the footsteps of Assassin's Creed Odyssey - albeit a few years behind the curve - Ubisoft infuses its FPS series with light RPG mechanics, namely an obsession with collecting and crafting gear. Rather than leveling up and unlocking new skills, Dani's abilities are defined by the guns and gear they equip. Initially, this feels a little limiting. Why can't I have all the different stealth takedowns and resistances to all of the damage types? But after a while you'll start to complete sets and settle on a build that suits the way you prefer to play, and as you get more comfortable you'll spot new ways to enhance Dani's arsenal so that you excel in your chosen field.

[...]

The series' foundations have been rejigged to offer an exciting and satisfying new gameplay loop. Not all of the revisions work in its favour, but unfortunately it's the complete lack of change with its approach to storytelling and structure that really holds Far Cry 6 back.

Score: 7/10

Click to expand...

More information.

I must have played 2 games in this series long ago, the first and another one. I was quite frustrated when I realized it was a non-persistent open world in which the enemies spawned back, same no-memory issue as GTA. This was somewhat breaking the realism for me, but the game had nice graphics and a fun gameplay, or at least for a while; it lacked any depth or good story to keep the interest very long.
A good shoot-em-up.

Redglyph said:

I must have played 2 games in this series long ago, the first and another one. I was quite frustrated when I realized it was a non-persistent open world in which the enemies spawned back, same no-memory issue as GTA. This was somewhat breaking the realism for me, but the game had nice graphics and a fun gameplay, or at least for a while; it lacked any depth or good story to keep the interest very long.
A good shoot-em-up.

Click to expand...

That sounds like you played #2, which is quite a bit more limited. The sequels are much more story focused and bases don't respawn. #3 & $4 are way better IMO. Those two could be considered RPG-lite with upgradeable equipment, quests, and skill trees. There's no branching dialog but the story's are decent with some adult themes and situations. The villain in #3 might be the best villain in video games, certainly the best voice acted. I would recommend #3 & #4 for RPG players who enjoy the occasional shooter.

#5 is only a shooter though, it lost the skill tree and equipment upgrading. And while the Far Cry series started getting a reputation for forcing the player to face some uncomfortable truths about society and war, #5 could have tackled the ugly side of American Evangelicalism but completely pussed out because they got scared of losing a dollar. It was easy for Ubisoft to tackle the ugly sides of a fake Caribbean island but they didn't have the stones to risk losing sales by asking America to look in the mirror.

FC3 - masterpiece!
FC4&5 - boring as f
FC stone age whatever it's called - avoidware
FC blood dragon - awsome
FC postnuclear spinoff - awsome

FC6 - honestly don't plan to buy, I have too many games on my plate already and this one looks 4&5 boredom clone. If I saw anything that resembles FC3, I'd go for it, but I see nothing of a sort.

It's the 3rd one I played I think (after the 1st one), with the guy and his motto "what's the definition of insanity?", I liked him. It was funnier than the 1st one, but nothing to make me buy another one. To each their own.

Apparently Ars Technica doesn't like the 6th very much..

Far Cry 6 review: A familiar return to open-world stupidity

Ubisoft's latest open-world shooter offers some dumb fun - if you let it.

[. . .]

In short, if you're already a Far Cry fan, you'll probably still find some enjoyment here. This sequel's playground remains at odds with its darker "grounded" story to a greater degree than its spastic action can support, it contains a number of questionable decisions, and a lot of very stupid story beats that aren't explained or are abruptly dropped without comment. Taking all that into account, if you're good with the relatively shallow, similar combat experience—which is kind of fun in spite of itself—it's unlikely you'll be too fussed about these trappings around it. Everyone else may feel iffy.

Verdict: I wouldn't call Far Cry 6 "good," exactly, but it has its moments of silly entertainment. Next time Ubisoft should either pick a lane or remake Far Cry 2.

Click to expand...

Redglyph said:

It's the 3rd one I played I think (after the 1st one), with the guy and his motto "what's the definition of insanity?", I liked him. It was funnier than the 1st one, but nothing to make me buy another one. To each their own.

Apparently Ars Technica doesn't like the 6th very much..

Click to expand...

From Far Cry 3 onwards, it's just the same game with a different skin, honestly.
Even thought I own and have played all of them (FC6 included) I agree with the reviewer that Ubisoft has done little to try and change the formula. All they do is change the setting and that's it. They don't even bother to change the hook/rope thing from game to game.

Already had a thread discussing the game so here was my past replies.

Couchpotato said:

Skip the first two unless you like playing older games.

My order based on how much I liked the game.

1. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
2. Far Cry 3
3. Far Cry 4
4. Far Cry Primal
5. Far Cry New Dawn
6. Far Cry 5
7. Far Cry
8. Far Cry 2

Click to expand...

Couchpotato said:

Can't say it's a day one buy for me as I know it will have a season pass. As for being the same that's a given the entire Far Cry formula is well known by now. Rinse and repeat.

Click to expand...

Player feedback from the first week isn't that great either. Some have stuttering or other problems, and Ubisoft looks to have just re-skinned the same weapons again.

I really liked the original Far Cry when it was released, but that was developed by Crytek not Ubisoft. Iirc, it was the first commercial game to use DirectX 9. It looked amazing at the time.

I always wonder how much better this series might have been if someone other than Ubisoft had acquired it.

Couchpotato said:

Already had a thread discussing the game so here was my past replies.

Player feedback from the first week isn't that great either. Some have stuttering or other problems, and Ubisoft looks to have just re-skinned the same weapons again.

Click to expand...

My order:

Far Cry (mostly nostalgic reasons I guess - it was amazing when it came out. I imagine the Suck Fairy has whacked it a few times since, and those linear sections at the end were a big fall in quality)
Far Cry 3 (great antagonist, fun game)
Far Cry 4 (another great antagonist, formula not tiresome yet - but noticeable)
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (saved by not taking itself seriously)
Far Cry Primal (Should've loved it. In practice got a little bored)
Far Cry 2 (Respawn central. Was disappointed it was nothing like FC1, but it eventually won me over.)
Far Cry 5 (Okay, formula got real tired. Great antagonists, but was so so bored)

I own Far Cry New Dawn, but have been waiting until the stink of FC5 washes off of me. Will be a long while before I consider getting FC6.

Yeah not to many good things I can say about Far Cry 5. It was a very polarizing game and man that ending was terrible. At least the spinoff after the ending was a ton better.

I'd put it lower on my rankings but I didn't enjoy the first two games.

I remember the first Far Cry playable demo was a big deal at the time. The tropical setting and the system pushing graphics tech.

I basically only played Far Cry 4 and had some fun with it. I didn't have the MOTS syndrome because I didn't play the others. Don't know if I can bother with another huge open world game, RPG or not. Still finishing the Witcher 3, and Elex, and then there's games like Mad Max and Horizon Zero Dawn, which to me are fantastic experiences, but not worth seeing to the repetitive end. Assassin's Creed games are another tough time sink so I never played past AC4.

The first Stalker was one of the best non-RPG or RPG lite open world game experiences. I'm much more compelled by a Stalker type game than Far Cry or Assassin's Creed.

I played the first one, but not the second one, and played the third one, and recently played Far Cry 5.

My favorite is still Far Cry 3, but I do like Far Cry 5, and liked it better than I thought I would. I don't mind how goofy the story is in Far cry 5, basically I have just largely ignored the story, and roamed the map doing exploration, and I really like the wilderness areas and how they did those in the game.

The Montana atmosphere and ambience is surprisingly great. I get vibes reminiscent of Far Cry 3 in terms of the immersiveness of the game at times, and that's a good thing.

I also think the music in Far Cry 5 is awesome, and the companions are good too. I got this black lady, Grace, who is a sniper, and she basically stays quiet most of the time, which I like (I don't like chatty companions) but occasionally she says something funny and I enjoy that type of interaction.

That said, at first I was excited about Far Cry 6, but not any more. I watched reviews from good reviewers who have an old school sensiblity like me, and they said its just a retread of the previous games, but worse.

For example, taking away the skill tree system? -- gimme a break. Instead, they tie skills to equipment -- dumb move. And I also don't like how all the cars in Far Cry 6 are those 1950s cars. I get lots of people think those are classic cars, but most of them are not my thing, and it also reminds me too much of the Fallout series, with that silly too much of a good thing - the 1950s vibe going on.

I will skip Far Cry 6 and I think its true what reviewers are saying, that its gotten stale and Ubisoft needs to do something new and different for the next one.

I've had problems with every game in the series, but the fact is FC 3,4 and 5 were at least mod-able so you could skip most of the missions and just play open world, and crucial to me, One head-shot kills enemies/you.
And I am constantly going back to these 3, hell with the story.
If FC-6 can be modded the same way eventually, I'll get it.

There just aren't that many games where you have the tactical freedom to approach your target from any angle without fake restrictions.
These FC games always exposed most of those those 'Sniper Elite' type games as a joke, I have contempt for games like that, and I'll always appreciate these qualities the series has had.

I guess since I'm actually playing Far Cry 6 (is anyone else?), I'll chime in with my rankings. I didn't play the first two, and I skipped most of the spin-offs too.

1 - Far Cry 3
2 - Far Cry 4
3 - Far Cry 5
4 - Far Cry: Primal

#3 has the best antagonist, #4 is the game I played most thoroughly, #5's ending soured me like it did a lot of other people. Primal, with its setting being what it is, lacks the batshit cast of characters Far Cry usually has and imo suffered for it. In other words, I got bored. It's the only one of the four I didn't finish.

I like 6 so far. As usual for Far Cry games, it has very good graphics and is optimized very well. The gunplay is similar to what it has been, but I don't consider that a bad thing. There are a bunch of so called "Resolver" weapons and a lot more modifications, so there is more variety than in previous games. I've always liked the guns in Far Cry more than most games because they are distinct and I find a use for all of them.

The lack of a perk tree doesn't bother me. It felt kinda limited and perfunctory to me in the other games. Linking perks to gear lets you change things up for different missions or moods, and also means there are more quirky ones (that are too specific to be overall perk tree choices).

As usual, the characters are well voiced and colorful, with good facial animations. The story is fine. The pacing is such that I'm not super far along the plot, but there have been a few impactful dramatic story missions.

The setting is fantastic. It's the most varied of the series by far, I think. Nothing is cut and paste, not the buildings/towns/facilities, not the natural environments, nothing. Compared to something like AC: Odyssey, it's so much more rewarding just to explore around. I loved AC:O, don't get me wrong, but everything looked damn near the same across its gigantic map.

Too bad the only difficulties on offer are "too easy" and "so absurdly easy, even a game journalist can play it".

Are they so disillusioned about their target audience that they don't even bother putting in a hard mode anymore?

I have played Far Cry 1,2,3,4 so far.

In Far Cry 2 I was a top 10 leaderboard player worldwide in Team Deathmatch.
I knew every inch of each multiplayer map.

Later too many cheaters hacked the game and I left.

When people are being silly

Animal rights group urges removal of Far Cry 6’s cockfighting mini-game

Animal rights group PETA has urged Ubisoft to remove a Far Cry 6 mini-game based on cockfighting. [. . .]

Click to expand...

I'm hoping no animal group will force to remove the rat race in Encased, it would be sad.

The issue is that it is made news about, and it gets visibility.

I'm sure plenty of extremist organisations of every end of the axis want many things not to be in games.

The only way to go about it is just to ignore it and move on.

TheSHEEEP said:

Too bad the only difficulties on offer are "too easy" and "so absurdly easy, even a game journalist can play it".

Are they so disillusioned about their target audience that they don't even bother putting in a hard mode anymore?

Click to expand...

Have you played the game?

Redglyph said:

When people are being silly

I'm hoping no animal group will force to remove the rat race in Encased, it would be sad.

Click to expand...

Not the first time an article about the Far Cry series like that was released. The entire series has been criticized for the last 15 years. Outrage headlines sell and get clicks.