Far Cry 4

Far Cry 4
Developer(s)	Ubisoft Montreal[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)	Ubisoft
Director(s)	Alex Hutchinson Patrik Méthé Liam Wong[2][3][4] Tony Gronick Scott Mitchell Alexandre Neszvecsko
Producer(s)	Cedric Decelle
Programmer(s)	Cedric Decelle Raphael Parent
Artist(s)	Jean-Alexis Doyon
Writer(s)	C.J. Kershner[5] Lucien Soulban[6] Liz Albl[7] Li Kuo
Composer(s)	Cliff Martinez[8][9][lower-alpha 2]
Series	Far Cry
Engine	Dunia Engine 2
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows PlayStation 3 PlayStation 4 Xbox 360 Xbox One
Release date(s)	NA 20141118November 18, 2014 EU 20141118November 18, 2014 AUS 20141118November 18, 2014 JP 20150122January 22, 2015
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, action-adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Distribution	Optical disc, download

Far Cry 4 is an open world action-adventure first-person shooter video game developed by Ubisoft Montreal and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows.^[11] The sequel to the 2012 video game Far Cry 3, it is the fourth installment in the Far Cry series. The game was released in North America, Australia, and Europe on November 18, 2014. It was also released on January 22, 2015 in Japan.^[12]

Gameplay

Far Cry 4 is a first-person shooter video game set in an open world. The game features role-playing game elements, with the player awarded with experience points for completing missions and performing various tasks. These can then be spent on skills which offer performance boosts such as additional health bars, new abilities such as taking down enemies from behind cover, or perks such as discounts at stores. The player is free to choose which of the available skills to unlock next provided that they have enough skill points and story conditions have been met.

Far Cry 4 also offers a variety of weapons, including sidearms, shot guns, assault and sniper rifles, and heavy weapons such as machine guns and rocket launchers. These can be purchased at stores throughout the game world, or taken from fallen enemies. Weapons can be customised and upgraded to improve performance, and the completion of side-quests will unlock "signature" weapons, one-of-a-kind high-performance variations of stock models. The player is initially limited in the number of weapons that they can carry and the amount of ammunition that they can hold, but can craft additional holsters and ammunition pouches by hunting animals.

The game world is divided into two halves, North and South Kyrat. The player starts in South Kyrat, and is free to explore almost immediately, but can only unlock North Kyrat over the course of the story. The map is progressively opened up by liberating bell towers, freeing them from Pagan Min's influence and allowing the Golden Path to expand. The player will also encounter outposts, or enemy checkpoints that need to be captured by eliminating all soldiers. Four larger outposts, or fortresses, can also be found, featuring stronger defences and more difficult combinations of enemies. Liberating bell towers and clearing outposts will unlock further side-quests including escort missions, hostage rescues, bomb disposal quests, and hunting missions.

The game offers a co-operative mode in which a player joins another to assist in various missions.

Synopsis

Premise

The story was inspired by the ten-year-long Maoist insurgency in Nepal. The game follows Ajay Ghale, a young Kyrati-American of Nepali origin who returns to his native country of Kyrat (a fictional Himalayan country derived from Kirati, a collection of Himalayan people originating from Tibet) to spread his deceased mother's ashes. Kyrat was once an autonomous state in the Himalayas ruled by a royal family before a series of perpetual civil wars. Ajay finds the country in a state of conflict between Kyrat's Royal Army led by the country's eccentric and tyrannical king Pagan Min and the Golden Path, a rebel movement fighting to free Kyrat from Min's oppressive rule. The choices Ajay makes will determine the fate of Kyrat.

Plot

After the death of his mother Ishwari, Ajay Ghale (James A. Woods) returns to his home country of Kyrat to carry out Ishwari's final wish by scattering her ashes in a place called Lakshmana. However, his mission is interrupted when his bus is attacked by the Royal Army and he is taken prisoner by Pagan Min (Troy Baker), the country's eccentric and violent king who claims to have been romantically involved with Ishwari. After finding his way through Pagan's mansion and basement, Ajay escapes with the aid of Sabal (Naveen Andrews), a commander in the Golden Path, a rebel movement established by Ajay's father, Mohan Ghale. Ajay is not able to leave the country as the royal army have taken control of the country's only airport, making Ajay trapped in the country with no way of getting out.

In the twenty years since Ishwari and Ajay fled Kyrat, the rebellion has stagnated, with the Golden Path fighting for their very existence. As the son of Mohan Ghale, Ajay becomes a symbol for the Golden Path to rally around, and after freeing a group of hostages and liberating territory held by Pagan, they plan on breaking Pagan's stranglehold on power by targeting his three regional governors: Paul "De Pleur" Harmon (Travis Willingham), who oversees opium production and runs Pagan's torture chambers; Noore Najjar (Mylène Dinh-Robic), who runs poaching and prostitution rings and is herself a victim of Pagan's cruelty after he kidnapped her family; and Yuma Lau (Gwendoline Yeo), Min's adopted sister and trusted general who is obsessed with uncovering the secrets of the mystical realm of Shangri-La.

However, the Golden Path's newfound momentum is threatened by deep divisions between its commanders Sabal, who favors traditional values at the expense of some outdated world views; and Amita (Janina Gavankar), who argues for progress, which includes heavily relying on drug trade. Ajay is forced to intervene on several occasions, with his decisions influencing the direction the Golden Path will take. The first governor to fall is De Pleur after Noore helps Ajay find a way to infiltrate De Pleur's stronghold, allowing the rebellion to capture him. Amita and Sabal later task Ajay with confronting and killing Noore. She dies in her fighting arena as a consequence of either Ajay killing her, or suicide upon learning Pagan had her family executed years beforehand.

As the Golden Path secures Kyrat's southern provinces, Ajay is contacted by Willis Huntley (Alain Goulem), a CIA agent who offers intelligence for the rebels and pages from his father's diary in exchange for killing Yuma's lieutenants. After Ajay kills several of them, Huntley admits they were in fact undercover CIA agents, and that he was sent to clean up after the CIA, as the agency did not see Pagan as a threat anymore. Huntley betrays Ajay to Pagan just as the Golden Path prepare to push into northern Kyrat.

Ajay ends up in Yuma's mountain prison, which he manages to escape from. In the process he finds out that Yuma has started despising Pagan, primarily because of his affections toward Ajay's late mother. The Golden Path pushes into the north, and while Ajay attempts to reconnect with another faction of the rebels, Pagan—aware of Yuma's plotting against him—betrays Yuma to the Golden Path. Ajay is drawn into a confrontation with her and prevails, but tensions between Amita and Sabal reach new heights, and Ajay is forced to make a final decision as to who will lead the Golden Path. Whichever leader he chooses then sends him to kill the other to prevent them from starting another civil war, and Ajay can choose to kill them as ordered or let them go. With the Golden Path now united under a single leader, Ajay joins them for an attack on Pagan's fortress and pushes on alone to Pagan's palace while the Golden Path holds off the military.

Endings

Ajay encounters Pagan, who chastises him for fleeing at the start of the game, claiming that he only ever intended to help him. Pagan offers Ajay a final decision: shoot him now, or listen to him. If Ajay shoots Pagan, the game ends immediately and the credits roll. If Ajay instead chooses to listen, Pagan reveals that Ajay's father sent Ishwari to spy on Pagan in the early days of the Golden Path. They fell in love and had a daughter together, Lakshmana, which would make her Ajay's half-sister. Ajay's father, Mohan Ghale, killed Lakshmana for Ishwari's betrayal, and Ishwari killed him in turn before leaving the country with the infant Ajay. Pagan shows Ajay to a shrine containing Lakshmana's ashes, and Ajay places Ishwari's ashes inside. Pagan then boards a helicopter and departs peacefully, leaving the country in Ajay's hands.

Ajay can choose to take down Pagan's helicopter as it flies away, killing Pagan in the process. In that case, Pagan's body can be found in Kyrat next to the downed helicopter. Upon looting Pagan's corpse, Ajay finds a golden pen which sells for 300,000 rupees with an inscription "For you my love, Ishwari".

In the aftermath of Pagan's death or departure, the Golden Path seizes control of Kyrat. If Amita was placed in charge, she begins conscripting children into the group as soldiers to bolster their ranks against the remnants of the Royal Army and also has her sister, Bhadra, taken away, "never to come again", subtly implying she is dead. If Sabal was placed in charge, he brutally executes all of Amita's supporters and turns Bhadra into Tarun Matara, a religious symbol for the country to rally around. Ajay then has one final choice to either kill the Golden Path's leader, or leave them.

An Easter egg ending can be found at the beginning of the game. To trigger it, Ajay simply waits at the dinner table during Darpan's torture.^[13] Pagan returns shortly and thanks Ajay for being a "gentleman" and leads him to Lakshmana's shrine, telling Ajay of his family history before he plants his mother's ashes at the shrine. After Ajay exits the shrine, Pagan then asks Ajay to join him to "finally shoot some goddamn guns".

Development

Far Cry 4‘s narrative director Mark Thompson expressed that he wanted the narrative of the game to correct shortcomings he felt the previous game Far Cry 3 had. In Far Cry 3, the open world nature of the gameplay was at odds with the plot as it allowed the player to perform protracted acts of exploration despite situations in the narrative which were supposedly time critical. For Far Cry 4 efforts were made to ensure the open world gameplay and story complemented each other.^[14] In addition, the writers chose to minimise the amount of voice over from the player character to allow the player to better immerse themselves in the role, and added humour in order to address the contrast between the game's heavy violence and any enjoyment the player will get from playing the game."^[15] The game is being designed to allow players to invite friends to play cooperatively even if those friends do not own the game. To do this eligible players will receive ten invites which they can then send out to said friends who will be able to download a version of the game and play alongside the host player on a trial basis.^[16] The game is said to be inspired by the events of Nepalese Civil War.^[17]

During Game Informer's Far Cry 4 podcast, creative director Alex Hutchinson said that the map size is relatively the same size of Far Cry 3’s Rook Island, however due to the mountainous regions, the map is far more dense than Far Cry 3. Furthermore, he describes a possible 'Hardcore' mode in which the player gets hypothermia when in cold water and contracts diseases when bitten by certain animals. Far Cry 4 has multiple endings depending on player choices, but will be "less clear" than in Far Cry 3.^[18] Far Cry 4 went gold on October 30, 2014.^[19] Far Cry 4 also contains a Map Editor, that allows users to create and share custom content. Similar to that of Far Cry 3, players can create their maps by costuming landscape, placing buildings, trees, wildlife, and vehicles.^[20] However, the Map Editor will not support competitive multiplayer levels at release, although it may be added at a later date.^[21]

Marketing and release

Ubisoft released four different editions of Far Cry 4. The Limited Edition, which includes the "Hurk's Redemption" downloadable content (DLC) pack, was offered to those who pre-ordered the game.^[22] The Kyrat Edition, which includes a statue of Pagan Min, a map of Kyrat, a propaganda poster, a journal and a collector’s box, as well the "Hurk's Redemption" DLC pack.^[23] While the standard edition will only include the game. They also announced the Ultimate Kyrat edition, including everything from the standard Kyrat Edition as well as a steelbook and Season pass.

Reception

Reception

Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings (XONE) 85.92%[24] (PS4) 83.76%[25] (PC) 81.00%[26] Metacritic (PS4) 85/100[27] (XONE) 82/100[28] (PC) 80/100[29] Review scores Publication Score Computer and Video Games 9/10[30] Destructoid 9/10[31] Electronic Gaming Monthly 8/10 [32] Eurogamer 8/10[33] Game Informer 8.75/10[34] Game Revolution 8/10[35] GameSpot 7/10[36] GamesRadar [37] GameTrailers 8.6/10[38] GameZone 9.5/10[39] Giant Bomb [40] IGN 8.5/10[41] Joystiq [42] Official Xbox Magazine (UK) 8/10[43] PC Gamer (US) 89/100[44] Polygon 9/10[45] VideoGamer.com 8/10[46]

Far Cry 4 received positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox One version 85.92% based on 12 reviews and 82/100 based on 14 reviews,^[24][28] the PlayStation 4 version 83.76% based on 57 reviews and 85/100 based on 83 reviews^[25][27] and the Microsoft Windows version 81.00% based on 9 reviews and 80/100 based on 17 reviews.^[26][29]

Justin McElroy from Polygon gave the game a 9/10, praising the drastic difference between the single-player mode and the co-operative mode, lively and unpredictable world, rich activities featured, the huge variety of side quests, stylish and fun antagonist, new gameplay features such as the grappling hook and the vertical map design, which allow players to develop strategy before action. He also praised the game for allowing players to use multiple approaches towards a single objective. However, he criticized the competitive multiplayer, calling it "uninspiring". He summarized the review by saying, "Far Cry 4 is "more Far Cry," but it's delivered in such a sophisticated fashion that I can’t really see how that's a negative."^[45]

Ludwig Kietzmann from Joystiq gave the game a 4.5/5, praising the wide range of new weapons and vehicles, the return of map editor and the asymmetrical multiplayer. He ended the review by saying that "There's a staggering number of adventures to extract from Far Cry 4, whether you chase the ones laid out by the game explicitly, or the ones that develop naturally as you take in the sights. Far Cry 4 is still the undisputed king of the open-world shooter."^[42]

Matt Bertz from Game Informer gave the game a 8.75/10, praising the setting, atmospheric soundtracks, varied environments, as well as the inclusion of gyrocopter and grappling hook, which he stated has made traversal much easier than that of Far Cry 3, but criticizing the lack of content in the co-operative mode, poor control of vehicles, texture pop-up and the lack of a larger player pool and dedicated server for the competitive multiplayer.^[34]

Mitch Dyer from IGN gave the game a 8.5/10, praising its flexible combat, memorable plot in the first-half of the game, rewarding character progression, meaningful and distant side-quests, satisfying economy, tactical co-operative multiplayer, as well as the competitive multiplayer, which he stated "has successfully captured the freedom and scale of Far Cry 4." However, he criticized the weak cast of characters, hollow and uninteresting lead character, forgettable mission and poor storytelling in the second-half of the game, as well as the disappointing antagonist.^[41]

Edwin Evans-Thirlwell from GamesRadar gave the game a 4/5, praising gigantic world, but criticizing the forgettable competitive multiplayer, tiresome characters and poor plot. He summarized the game by saying that "Far Cry 3 remains the series’ peak, but Far Cry 4 is a lovely-looking, accomplished offering that suffers from lacklustre writing and an odd lack of purpose."^[37]

Kevin VanOrd from GameSpot gave the game a 7/10, criticizing the lack of improvement in term of narrative, problematic campaign and design problem, such as forcing player to restart an entire mission from scratch if the player wanted to have another loadout. He also criticized the inconsistent missions, questionable theme and the game for constantly forcing and leading the player to certain objectives.^[36]

Ubisoft expected the game to sell at least 6 million copies in its first year of release.^[47] Far Cry 4 became the fastest-selling game and the most successful launch in the series in the first week of release.^[48] As of December 31, 2014, the game has shipped 7 million copies.^[49]

References

Notes

External links

• Official website

Far Cry series Games Main series Far Cry Far Cry 2 Far Cry 3 Far Cry 4 Other games Instincts Vengeance 3: Blood Dragon Developers Crytek Ubisoft Montreal Ubisoft Shanghai Technology CryEngine Dunia Engine Other Far Cry (film) Far Cry (series)