Far Cry 4 Review - Explore The Region of Kyrat As You Meet New Characters, Liberate Outposts, Ride an Elephant and Much More

Written by Kyle Parlane  on November 30, 2014

Reviews: Far Cry 4 does little to improve on the Far Cry 3 formula but there are enough additions and fun to be had to warrant a purchase.

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After almost two years, the Far Cry franchise is back. Following the 2012 hit Far Cry 3, and the controversies surrounding some of Ubisoft’s recent launches such as Watch Dogs and Assassin’s Creed Unity, many of us have been anxious to see how the latest installment of the Far Cry franchise holds up. The good news is, Far Cry has returned with a bang.

The story revolves around Ajay Ghale, a man returning to the mountainous region of Kyrat to scatter his mother’s ashes. Things don’t exactly go to plan however, as the bus he is a passenger-aboard is stopped by soldiers, and the majority of the occupants shot. From here you are treated to a brilliant introduction to Pagan Min, the antagonist of the game, and just like Vaas in Far Cry 3, it’s impossible to not be immediately awestruck by the brilliance of the villain. Following this, the player is let loose on the huge open world as they meet new characters, fight back against Pagan Min’s soldiers, and ultimately advance the story to its conclusion.

While not bad by any means, the story in Far Cry 4 is easily the game’s biggest let down. A villain as brilliant as Pagan Min should be a focal point of the story, but after the introduction, the man is hardly seen. He might give you the occasional phone call, but when you’re speeding across the Kyrat countryside on a quad-bike while simultaneously firing at enemies, those calls are the last thing you are focussed on. It really is a shame, because he shows more personality in his few sequences that the main character does throughout the entire game. Other supporting characters are generally nothing to write home about, but a few come with quirky, often humorous personalities to keep you entertained. If you were hoping for some Last of Us-quality storytelling, you’re in for a disappointment. The underlying story is in no way bad, but it’s really just there to give you some kind of reason to go out and kill everything.



The one thing that does keep the story interesting is balance of power choices. Two leaders of the Golden Path, the Kyrat native rebels, often have conflicting viewpoints and different plans of attack, and you must pick one side each time one of these situations arises. It’s interesting to see the missions that follow from helping one of the members, and leaves you wondering what could have been.

Just like in 2012’s excellent Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4 is a first-person shooter in which players are set free in a huge open world, filled with Bell Towers to scale to unlock new areas of the map, Outposts to liberate, a range of side missions to undertake, animals to hunt, more animals to eat you, and of course a long list of story-related missions. Rather than the Rook Islands however, players explore the mountainous region of Kyrat, and the world is huge. The map covers a lot of terrain that you’ll drive over, run over, fly over with your trusty wingsuit, hang-glider or the new gyro-copter, climb with Far cry 4’s new grappling hook, and of course plenty of water-bodies to swim in while aquatic predators grab you from behind, inducing unwanted bowel-movements.

The great thing about this giant open world is that there is always something to do. Whether you’re hunting animals to upgrade your gear, picking plants for syringes, liberating an outpost or bell tower, freeing hostages, defusing bombs, delivering supplies, hunting rare, dangerous animals for a fashion-week outfit, completing story missions and more, there is never a lack of things to do. These quests are also, thankfully, not boring or tedious. If you’re looking for a game with a substantial amount of content to keep you busy, Far Cry 4 is just the kind of meaty game you’ve been searching for.



With all the goodness that the gameplay brings with it, make no mistake, Far Cry 4 is very much the same as Far Cry 3, and does little to distinguish itself from its predecessor aside from the new setting. Guns handle the same, the driving is the same albeit a new (and horrible, in my opinion) driving control scheme which can be changed back to Far Cry 3’s controls in the settings, and a lot of the activities are similar. To me, this isn’t a bad thing because Far Cry 3, in my mind, is one of the best three games from the last generation, but if you’ve only recently played Far Cry 3 or wanted a wildly different experience from this new entry in the series, this may not be your game. However, if you are keen to experience the same gameplay, but also want to scale mountains with a grappling hook, fly in a gyro-copter, undertake new quests and experience a new story, combat new predatory animals, amongst other new additions to the series, you won’t be disappointed by Far Cry 4. Oh, and you can ride elephants into battle, and charge, stomp and crush your enemies. That alone is worth the price of admission, because riding an elephant is a legitimate blast.

The very first thing you’ll notice when booting up Far Cry 4 for the first time is how gorgeous the world is. The environment bursts with colour, the water looks refreshing, textures are clean and beautiful, human faces contain a lot of detail, and the vast array of animals look very similar to their real-world counterparts.

However, the one graphical aspect that really stands out is the draw distances. Fly up to the top of a mountain and look in any direction, and the map stretches for as far as the eye can see. This is a huge technical achievement for Ubisoft, and it really just adds that extra “something” that makes a game that much more enjoyable.



Is Far Cry 4 the best looking game on the newer generation of consoles? No. This is to be expected of any game that was simultaneously developed for 5 different systems, two of which are last-generation consoles. But make no mistake, Far Cry 4 is a graphically stunning game, which helps to keep you immersed while you explore this gigantic world.

In terms of sounds, Ubisoft hit the nail on the head with Far Cry 4. The music ranges from fast-paced, frantic, rock music when in an intense action scenario, to slow and peaceful when just exploring the world at your own pace. The fact that the game plays appropriate music for each situation helps draw you into the world that Ubisoft has created.

The weapons, whether it be the loud crack of a sniper rifle, the blast of a shotgun, the explosion of a grenade or the whistle of an arrow, all sound realistic and unique from one another, no generic, universal weapon sounds are found here, and it helps to make every weapon feel different to use, and fun to fire/detonate.



Much like the weapons, the animals also sound fantastic. Whether it’s the cry of an elephant in the distance, the chirping of birds in the trees, or the growling of a predator that stalks you, the animals all sound fantastic, and much like Ubisoft’s efforts with the graphics, these sounds help draw you further into the world. There is nothing quite like the dread that runs through your body when you’re coming up on a loot chest and hear the malicious growl of a tiger that is preparing to pounce on your poor, unsuspecting character. Heck, even the voice acting is well done, even if some of the characters leave much to be desired.

Finally, Far Cry 4 comes with some multiplayer options. Co-op involves inviting one other player into your world. This disables the story missions, but allows two people to co-ordinate to take down outposts, bell towers, and explore together. It’s a blast running through the huge world with a friend, but is also in no way forced on you, which is great for those who just want to play alone.

The competitive multiplayer is your standard team-based, first-person shooter, with typical objective modes such as capturing certain objectives. Ubisoft have attempted to make it unique by adding in the signature vehicles and predatory animals found in the campaign, but it did nothing to keep me interested and definitely isn’t a multiplayer mode I’ll be sticking with. On the flip-side, players can also use the fantastic map editor, which comes with a very large toolset, to build their own multiplayer maps or design their own one-player quests for others to beat, and a lot of these created quests are a blast to play through.



Far Cry 4 is an outstanding game that Ubisoft should absolutely be commended for. While the story leaves much to be desired and the competitive multiplayer did nothing to keep me hooked, the amazing gameplay, beautiful graphics, realistic sounds and overall just straight-up fun that is found in the game more than warrants a purchase, and on top of that, there is nary a bug or glitch to be found, which speaks to the level of polish that Ubisoft put into this game to ensure it was a high-quality product. Far Cry 4 is a blast, and should absolutely be considered for 2014’s Game Of The Year. At the very least, Far Cry 4 deserves a purchase, because there is nothing but good times awaiting.