The latest entry to the Far Cry franchise is finally here after much anticipation. Its predecessor, Far Cry 4, delivered a pretty ruthless villain, a gorgeous open-world environment, but a story that didn't appeal to some and a gameplay that was criticised as being too similar to the previous game. The question now is whether Far Cry 5 avoided these pitfalls.
THE STORY
For the first time in the franchise, Far Cry 5 takes place in the good ol' US of A in fictional Hope County, Montana, a picturesque farming countryside complete with rivers, mountains, cows, tractors, planes and beer-guzzling, gun-toting locals. Seems like the typical American countryside, but Hope County is ruled by a doomsday cult called Eden's Gate, led by Joseph Seed, adoringly referred to as "The Father" by his followers. You take the role of a rookie sheriff's deputy who along with a handful of others are sent to arrest The Father. But when things go sideways, The Father declares the beginning of "The Reaping", which is basically the cultists purging Hope County of "sinners". Cut off from the outside world, you must help in strengthening the resistance, liberate Hope County from Eden's Gate one region at a time, and take down The Father for good.
THE GAMEPLAY
In terms of broad strokes, the game feels familiar to its predecessors: a first-person shooter and an open world you can cause destruction in. Like its predecessor, the views and vistas in Hope County are breathtaking and we played this on a PS4. Imagine just how crisp everything would look on a PC with everything turned up so it's Ultra HD. Despite the familiarity though, which in our opinion isn't a bad thing, there's a bunch of new stuff introduced to the game that we think makes it enjoyable. Far Cry 5 encourages players to explore Hope County, which we reckon you'll love doing anyway because as we said, it's beautiful. Exploration in the game is much more organic now since the towers from previous games have been done away with. To open a new region or to discover new places and things to do, all you have to do is walk or ride around or talk to some of the locals. Having said that, the whole world is open to you right after you finish the first part of the game. That means you can tackle the game in any order you see fit. A problem with sandbox games is the crapload of side missions/activities developers dump in, thinking that it makes the player want to keep playing the game more. Ubisoft, the developer, has made this mistake with some of the Assassin's Creed games. Far Cry 5 does have a lot of side missions and activities for you to do, but it offers variety. One side mission is different from the other, so it's not like you're just doing the same thing over and over again. For example, there's a side mission where you embody a local daredevil and do insane stunts on a truck or plane, and there's also a mission where you have to kill cows while they're mating (seriously).
Important story missions are triggered when the resistance metre of a region gets filled to a certain point, and it's completely up to you how you do that, whether it's by taking down cult outposts, destroying supply trucks, or freeing hostages. We loved getting on the nerves of Eden's Gate and going up against The Father and his lackeys, but do be warned that they step up their game pretty quick once you start shaking things up. We died a number of times, but it wasn't an insane amount that made us frustrated. Instead, it made us keep playing longer.
Finally, one of the best things in this game is the co-op. While you can play with friends, it's possible to have allies with you even in single player with the Guns for Hire feature, which lets you hire locals with a particular set of skills (see what we did there?). But we think it's better you liberate Hope County with the Fangs for Hire at your side. There are three of them: Boomer, the lovable scruffy dog; Peaches, the sneaky cheetah; and Cheeseburger, the mountain bear that'll tear any cultist apart.
VERDICT
Open world games can be exhausting, what with the sheer amount of things to do, the repetitive missions, and if the story is just meh, then there's nothing there to keep us playing. Fortunately, Far Cry 5 avoids all that. It's got a compelling story with a formidable villain with an army of crazy followers ready to die for him, it's set in a gorgeous countryside perfect for parachuting/paragliding and exploration, and while there are many things to do, it's all different in variety. In short, we're playing this game over and over again.
