Far Cry 5’s Shortcomings Prove New Changes Weren’t Necessary

There is a lot to like about Far Cry 5, there really is. The funny thing about Ubisoft, however, is it has a knack for bringing out the worst in its games. I don’t want get too negative, because they did do some things right this time around.

The infamous radio towers that took different forms throughout the series but were always annoying were removed. Hunting is a lot more important this time, it being the main way to to earn the crucial in-game currency. More vehicles have been added, such as planes and helicopters (although this is a bit of a double-edged sword which we’ll come to later.) Finally, the “guns for hire” mechanic has been fleshed out. There seems to be more “toys” to play with in the fifth game in the Far Cry line. But these changes didn’t better the series. In fact, some proved they weren’t necessary.

 

Warning: Spoilers below.

I may have over-hyped Far Cry 5. However, my game was running on a pre-release patch, which did add to my overall frustration with how it functioned. Ubisoft just added too many shortcuts. The inclusion of micro transactions is an obvious one. These allow you to buy new weapons and vehicles with absolutely no effort or time put in. Money isn’t that hard to earn in the game, so there really isn’t any point in them being included other than profits.

As far as the new vehicles go, things were made too easy. The Kaumbat H-04B Foxfly helicopter will allow you to decimate any enemy outpost, plane, truck, unit or creature that stands between you and that sweet end credit roll. Couple that with the lack of any cost for spawning it and fully stocked missiles and bullets, and there is no challenge.

One notable positive this year is the inclusion of scheduled community events to unlock new weapons and other rewards. The previous Far Cry games suffered from a lack of variety in terms of weapon choices, which hindered their replay-value for me. This new inclusion makes it far easier to pick up this game down the line and still feel fresh.

If Apple’s removal of the headphone jack from the iPhone 7 taught us anything, it’s that if you remove a feature people like, but don’t replace it with something better, people don’t react well. Case in point: Far Cry’s mini map. The motivation behind the absence of it in Far Cry 5 is to encourage exploration and finding things organically in Hope County. That’s all fine, but the problem arises when you don’t stuff the map full of things to find.

Alright, it’s not empty but it’s pretty sparse. All I want do in Far Cry 5 is find my way to something interesting without having to pause every few seconds and make sure I’m still going in the right direction.

Character Customisation:

The new addition of the character customisation is also lacklustre. It is the most unnecessary things in this game by far. Let me just propose to you a scenario: you’re in a hostile environment, bullets flying all around, you have only a few dollars and the choice between:

• A nice woollen hat
• An AK-M full-auto assault rifle with red-dot sights and an extended magazine
• Green trousers

Apparently, Ubisoft thinks that’s a tough decision. The clothes have absolutely no bearing on anything. Since the game is first person only, they barely even serve a cosmetic purpose. Unless players go out of their way to continuously fish, do side missions or hunt, then money is a precious commodity. You can’t afford to waste cash on something you can’t even see. I completely forgot what my character looked like, until I saw a wanted poster with a full body shot of them on a shed. If Ubisoft is going to remove the protagonist’s voice lines, reaction sounds, and anything that humanizes the character to replace it with something as inconsequential as that, then I’ll take my £50 back, please.

 

Welcome to Eden’s Gate:

Ubisoft went from terrifying characters like Vaas in Far Cry 3 and Pagan Min in the fourth game, to Joseph Seed.

The studio had all the tools there to make Seed memorable: cult leader, the supporting cast of his twisted family, and a devoted town behind him. All that and Ubisoft still managed to make the main antagonist bland. He barely shows up aside from the beginning and end, and there is nothing about Seed that made him memorable for me after I put down my controller. I know Ubisoft  wanted to do something with this game that set it apart from the rest of the series, but did that mean making the whole main cast so poor?

The freedom fighters players are allied with throughout the game are terribly inept; and the AI is at a level that would be unheard of even in a PlayStation 2 title, with cars and bears spawning in the middle of the road, and enemies setting themselves on fire.

However, the special followers players unlock through side quests are actually interesting. One of which being Hurk’s mother, Adelaide Drubman. Her job as a helicopter tour guide can be used to request air lifts to undiscovered waypoints. This is useful when you can’t find any nearby vehicles. This is what I wish Ubisoft had done with more NPCs in the game instead of just seven.

I was slightly more attached to the family of Joseph Seed, the “mini bosses” of the game; but that’s more to do with them having some resemblance of character and personality (and a good deal more screen time) than anything else. Faith Seed, Joseph’s little sister oversees the production of a mind-altering drug called “bliss”. Jacob Seed is the oldest of the three brothers and in charge of arms training the cult’s following. Finally, John Seed oversees recruitment for Eden’s Gate.

These three have pretty standard boss fights, with Jacob standing on a hill until you shoot him in the head. Faith leads the player through the bliss, into a freaky “which one is the real me” shootout with clones of herself. John, on the other hand, flies around in a plane until you shoot him down, parachute to where he lands, and finish the job.

The most challenging part of all three boss fights is their doomsday bunkers that players must enter to save the friends who have been captured. After being used to the wide-open spaces of Hope County, you are suddenly trapped in these tight spaces until you free all the prisoners. This is the only real challenge I experienced during the game, and my only major source of deaths. The other being glitches that caused cars to fall on me and re-spawning in static planes in mid-air.

All the family eventually fall under your heel and you finally “force” a confrontation with Joseph Seed. When I say confrontation, I really mean you waltz into his base, wander up to him, let him spout religious phrases, and then pick which ending you want. This was my main gripe with the game. Vaas had a cool death scene and he wasn’t even the final boss of Far Cry 3. The worst thing is, we don’t even get to kill the main antagonist! The two options boil down to: leave him to continue his work in Hope County, or allow him to destroy a large chunk of Montana with nuclear missiles and end up stuck in a bunker with him forever. The two least satisfying endings in history.

The whole time you’re playing everyone talks about how “evil” Joseph Seed is and how he “must be stopped” and it doesn’t even let you indulge that urge to kill him when you finally reach the climax. It feels like Ubisoft focused too much on making this game so different from the previous titles. They’ve forgotten the core elements of what made the previous Far Cry games memorable.