FAR CRY 3 Review

First things first: Far Cry 3 is a deeper experience than you think.and it's a game where you shoot bad men in the face, but there's plenty happening behind the scenes. For example, the devs are keen to ask: what's the difference between a so-called 'bad guy' and the man who kills him and hundreds like him? Jason Brody may start out as an innocent, globe-trotting member of Generation Y, but he'll be a very different person at the end, after being forced to fight for survival on a chain of islands filled with deadly creatures, insane gangs of human-trafficking pirates, and a whole lot of hallucinogenic mushrooms.

"Well, as Jason, you come to the island, you've never killed anybody - he's not a super-soldier, so doesn't have those skills - and when you meet Vaas you see him as this terrible man, who murders and kidnaps people," explains producer Dan Hay. "You're very different. But then, as you learn more about Vaas - by reading a series of logs, or reflecting on your interactions with him - and then you start to meet up with your friends again, later in the game, you start to think 'How much have I changed? What have I - as Jason - become'."

Of course, all this naval-gazing is for nothing if the game simply doesn't deliver as a shooter. Thankfully, it does. Our demo starts with Jason looking up at the writhing body of Sutra, the girl with dreadlocks from the CG 'stranded' trailer, who has mounted him on top of a stone altar. She whispers into his ear that he's now a warrior, and that enemies deserve to die by his hand. Sutra has been training Jason to survive, to fight back against Vaas - the insane mercenary who kidnaps his friends at the start of the game - and it looks like he's ready. He looks down at his arms, which are covered in tribal tattoos. They shimmer, hinting at some kind of magical or hallucinogenic properties.
In fact, the tattoos are an important part of the game. You get a new tattoo every time you complete part of the game or make a certain decision, be that rescuing a friend as part of the 'main story', discovering specific parts of the island, or completing an in-game goal. Essentially, it's like wearing war medals on your body, and they form a unique record of the way you've played Far Cry 3. They tell Jason's story, and in all likelihood will have a bearing on the way the game ends.

 Jason gives a rousing speech to a gathering of indigenous tribes-people, who he seems to now be leading. White man comes to the islands to lead the locals in revolt against their oppressors? Apparently, the political message isn't that clear-cut - don't expect to just lead the rebellion and end up as BFFs with the indigenous people.The devs are desperate to pull the rug from under the feet of the player. "At the start you're absolutely sure who your friends are, but as you go on you start to question whether or not you still have that harmony,"

so we head to the edge of a nearby cliff and dive into the beautifully blue ocean below. Underwater, the game is alive. Fish swim past in shoals, crustaceans roam the seabed, and a giant ray floats past. We return to the surface for air and spot a guard patrolling a nearby jetty. We dive back under the water and swim towards him, waiting for the button prompt that tells us we can pull off a close-combat kill, in this case yanking our victim into the water and stabbing him with our machete. We're pleased to see a cloud of blood drift through the water after the kill - it's a nice detail.
The beach is now clear, so we hop out and quickly head into the jungle, towards Vaas' bandit camp. There are a handful of guards lazily patrolling the perimeter. Two are beating a woman they've captured, taunting her as she crawls around on the floor. We creep up behind them, rush forward and stab the first in the neck with our blade, towards the next opponent and Jason automatically pulls off a second kill. Apparently you can chain kills like this indefinitely, although don't expect too many enemies to stand in close groups while you butcher your way through them.

 he whips out a bow and arrow, using it to silently dispatch one sentry in a watchtower and another four hanging around in a nearby ditch. We manage to infiltrate the camp silently, never raising the alarm, although - if you're that way inclined - you can just rush in all guns blazing. We spot other animals roaming the jungle, like a baboon. Hunting will play a part in Far Cry 3, training you to fight and providing you with trophies and pelts to trade.

We sneak into one of the compound's buildings. The door slams behind us - a trap. A stack of TV screens flicker to life, showing main villain Vaas on each one. He seems angry that we've even dared to bring the fight to him, and suddenly the building is on fire. So we race to get out, and end up on the corrugated roof. Below us Vaas' men know where we are, and buzz around like angry hornets. Hornets with assault rifles. We leap off the roof and break our fall by smashing our machete into a enemy's neck. As he goes down, we pick another off with a burst from our assault rifle.
The next kill is heaps of fun. We approach an enemy as hit the melee button, quickly followed by a tap of the grenade button. Jason shoves a grenade into the stomach of his startled opponent then kicks him towards a couple of his comrades. The resulting explosion is messy. Fighting is ferocious, and shooting feels both quick and meaty - think Battlefield 3, especially in multiplayer. Although we kill the rest of the pirates with an assault rifle, there are plenty of options here. You can commandeer a parked up jeep and use the .50 cal on the back to gun down foes. You can shoot the Molatov cocktails out of enemy hands and start a fire, using the game's dynamic flames system carried over from Far Cry 2. You can even find the massive tiger caged behind one of the huts, shoot the lock off its prison, and let it rampage through its captors.

The fight ends with a heavily armoured pirate lumbering out of a nearby building carrying a flame-thrower. We nip onto the back of the jeep and use the .50 cal gun to shoot a massive hole in his backpack, turning him into a huge ball of flames and burning a cluster of nearby shrubs. Jason then surges into another camp building, calling Vaas out. He yanks open a door and Vaas appears next to him, stabbing him in the stomach with a strange looking knife. Jason falls to the ground, and we flash to a dream-like sequence to end the demo. Here we walk past the characters we've met, but as we approach them each one turns into Vaas. Finally pushing our pistol against his head... and he morphs into one of Jason's friends. There's a gunshot and the screen goes blank. End of demo. We're left intrigued and excited about Far Cry 3.If the developers manage to combine a smart, interesting story with the slick action we've played in this demo, they'll be on to a winner.by andy hartup