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Far Cry 4: 10 Essential Features
It Must Have
http://www.gamebasin.com/news/far-cry-4-10-essential-features-it-
must-have-2
If you close your eyes and think of your favourite moments from Far Cry 2 and 3, they probably
involve things going haywire in beautifully chaotic ways: being attacked by an alligator while
swimming toward shore, silently taking out an enemy outpost using only your bow and a riled‐up
panther, or launching a perfectly angled grenade at an oncoming enemy humvee, it exploding
gloriously…only to land directly on your head. Far Cry 2 and 3 exemplify a special kind of sandbox
game where the game isn’t so much about all the stuff you can do, but rather what all the stuff can
do to each other. There are tons of incredible ways the games’ various systems interact, from
unleashing wild animals on foes, to starting fires that spread in real time, to attaching a grenade to
a bow and aiming directly at the gas barrel near a base’s alarm. The interplay between player and
ecosystem, and that ecosystem with itself is something few games do at all, with fewer pulling it
off. Far Cry scratches a specific itch that can ultimately leave other first person shooters feeling a
little empty. Therefore it’s wonderfully exciting to hear that Far Cry 4 is (hopefully) coming this year
to Xbox One, PS4, PS3, Xbox 360, and very possibly the TI‐82. Details are scant, but we do know
that it takes place in the Himalayas, the game’s protagonist is not Jason Brody, and according to
Ubisoft, “You will be equipped with a vast array of weapons, animals, and vehicles, and our highly
detailed and interactive open‐world will let players write their own story across an exotic and
varied landscape.” Oh, and you can ride an elephant. Yes, ride an elephant. Far Cry 2 and 3 walked
the line between reality and fantasy in interesting ways, and it’s the kind of feature that fits
perfectly into Far Cry’s particular of brand hyper‐reality. But what other features, ideas, and
mechanics should be included in this much anticipated next‐gen debut for the franchise? The
choices made by Ubisoft will define the game’s legacy on newer consoles, and in the interest of
lending a helping hand, presented in this list are ten features Far Cry 4 has to have if it wants to
impress on the same level Far Cry 2 and 3 did.
10. More Licensed Music
Far Cry 3 made wonderful use of music – With M.I.A’s “Paper Planes” setting a perfect tone for the
kind of people Jason and his friends were, the the use of Ride of Valkyries during the final mission
being a perfect summation of Jason’s arc. The key of course is using it wisely, which Ubisoft does a
decent job of – oddly enough in their Rayman Rabbids series, which featured several popular and
zany songs that made that game feel special, too. Using familiar music in Far Cry 4 could make the
foreign setting both a little more welcoming or all‐the‐more alienating. Considering how
omnipresent American media is worldwide, it’d be great to have popular songs pop up during cut‐
scenes, on the radio, or or even during loading screens. Lets remember how important music was
to Far Cry 3′s flamethrower mission, where a popular Skrillex song took on a whole new light. If Far
Cry 4 could do the same, you may never think of some music the same way again.
9. Better Takedown Mechanics
Far Cry 3′s multiple‐takedown system was a pain in the butt to use. Outside of assassination
missions which required you to kill a specific NPC with your knife, clicking in the analog stick to take
out a character with your machete felt a little awkward. Worse, there was a robust system in the
game involving those takedowns, where you could string together multiple kills using a
combination of the analog sticks and bumper buttons. It was theoretically possible to take out
three enemies quickly and silently this way, and actually pulling it off resulted in great satisfaction
and great chaining animation. But pulling it off was harder than it should be, especially since more
than the bow or the stealth elements, the ability to kill multiple enemies with a few quick buttons
presses made you feel like the tribal warrior Jason Brody was becoming in the game. With Far Cry
4 taking place in a mountain region, the kinds of melee weapons you have your disposal will likely
change, as should the controls used for them. Far Cry 4 should look to tighten up this one nitpick
from the previous game, and improve it to the point where pulling off chain kills becomes almost
second nature. Doing so will give players a whole new way to combat situations, making the game
more open than ever.
8. Creative Means Of Transportation
If you’re not excited to ride an Elephant in Far Cry 4, you’re crazy. Are there Elephants in the
Himalayas? Who cares! You’re on a freaking pachyderm! Ideally while wielding a sniper‐rifle and
crushing enemies underneath your giant leathery foot. Yet, The Himalayan setting poses a threat
to Far Cry 4 that long‐time fans of Ubisoft and Square‐Enix know all too well. There’s about an 80
percent chance that a design document exists suggesting a core gameplay mechanic of Far Cry 4
be spelunking in the Tomb Raider/Assassin’s Creed/Thief vein, and this could be a disaster.
Platforming and first‐person gaming has never gone well, nor does the idea of standing on a tiny
little ledge and shooting enemies above you sound particularly appealing – unless this all occurred
in compartmentalised sections of the game such as whatever Far Cry 4′s radio tower puzzles are.
Look, come heck or high‐water you’re gonna be climbing mountains in Far Cry 4. Making it exciting
is of paramount importance. Thankfully the idea of a ridable elephant in Far Cry 4 is encouraging
and continues to evolve the game’s relationship with motor‐vehicles which have included jet‐skis,
cars, and trucks that handled serviceably but weren’t particularly exciting, as well as non‐
motorised transport options like hang‐gliders and wing suits that made the player feel like a Navy
Seal in a summer blockbuster. With an elephant being somewhere in the middle, and skiing being
a no‐brainer, Far Cry 4 should deliver a traversal system that is entertaining as it is unique.
7. Destructible Environments
Remember Red Faction: Guerrilla? That incredible game set on Mars where entire structures
collapsed when you walloped them with your mighty Thor‐like hammer? Remember the truckload
of games that followed it up with similarly destructible environments? Yeah, didn’t think so.
Despite being so cool, destructible environments and structures seem relegated to the Battlefield
series, and that’s about it. If Far Cry 4 wants to feel truly next gen and up the ante on what gamers
can expect from first person shooters that don’t involve the military, it needs to bring the boom.
Within reason of course – Far Cry 4 should absolutely not be a game where a rocket launcher and
hand grenade are tools of world‐flattening destruction, but the idea of plowing vehicles through
huts, blowing holes in walls and knocking down radio towers is so appetising it should be on a
restaurant menu somewhere. It’s also entirely possible. Watch_Dogs on Xbox One is an open‐world
sandbox game where there are very few invisible walls. You can knock down fences, trees, light‐
posts, and its freeing as heck. Compare this to Grand Theft Auto games where you’d occasionally
run up against a fence that wouldn’t budge or a strange incline your car would just smash into. This
little change in Watch_Dogs made the idea of driving off‐road a thrilling ride because so much of
the stuff in your way could be driven through. Now extrapolate that into a First Person Shooter
where most structures appear made out of plastic. Being able to collapse a roof on enemies via a
well placed shot, plow into a camp via a truck you’ve rigged with C4 to blow up their
communications, or having the ability to cut a hole in a fence and sneak through silently adds so
many possibilities that the game’s replay factor, it would expand mission‐approaches exponentially.
A Grand Theft Auto retrospective on GameTrailers said it best; “Like toys, the best games are not
only the ones you play, but the ones you can play with” – and destructible environments would
make Far Cry 4 a macabre toy box of destruction.
6. Lots Of Things To Do (That Get
Progressively Harder)
Far Cry 3 had a wonderful way of unlocking new side missions by more‐or‐less forcing you to
engage in the best part of the game – taking down guard outposts. With a successful over‐throw
of a guard post, a message board opened up with bounty contracts, hunting missions, and some
other distractions. As you moved your way south on the Far Cry 3 map, these outposts became
more challenging – with heavily armoured guards, snipers and artillery prepared for your assault,
plus the side missions they unlocked got harder too – yielding their own rewards like upgrades,
new weapons, health bonuses, and so on. This importance of this escalation of activities cannot
be overstated. If the guard posts were all similar, or the side‐missions were randomly generated
content, the game would lose that sense of your character growing stronger and more adept over
time, and the excitement of tackling the next objective would wane. Far Cry 4 would be wise to
ape this progression. There’s nothing tastier than eliminating all threats and being rewarded with
new goodies and new kinds of objectives to tackle that were harder then the last. if Watch_Dogs
on Xbox One is any indication it seems the next gen has been kind to side‐content, with dozens of
side missions that also grow in difficulty, so hopefully Ubi’s Far Cry followup follows suit and gives
players oodles of escalating adventures to partake in.
5. Restraint
Okay, okay, this one is boring but it’s important. Despite Far Cry 3 being a game with multiple drug
trips, a hang‐glider, underground ruins and an amazonian princess that owes Zoe Saldana a royalty
check – it never winked at the camera. The characters took their situation and plight seriously,
which made the wild stuff resonate in meaningful ways. If Far Cry 4 wants to maintain the magic
the previous two games in the franchise held, it must demonstrate similar narrative authenticity.
The Far Cry 3 DLC Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon actually went full‐bore parody and it didn’t wear the
genre well. The methodical and tactical gameplay clashed with a macho 80s aesthetic and tired in‐
jokes about video game violence. It felt a bit like the jump from Saints Row 2 to Saints Row 3, where
suddenly a relatively grounded‐in‐reality game‐world turned into one with mutants, robot cars and
other goofy asides. Thus Far Cry 4 must be careful to mind the line between a movie like Lethal
Weapon and one like The Naked Gun. Far Cry 2 and 3 walked this line wonderfully. Many
unbelievable things happen in those games, but they are not impossible or out the realm of what
you’re willing to accept in an action game. If Jason Brody produces a gun out of thin air, or Far Cry
4′s antagonist is an over‐the‐top flamboyant stereotype with no depth, or they break the forth wall
in any deliberate sort of way, the whole shebang becomes a little less special and genuinely cool
and exciting events or gameplay moments become a touch hollow. If Far Cry 4 demonstrates
restraint in a few specific areas to keep players invested in the characters as human beings and
don’t ask players to accept ridiculous leaps‐of‐faith, it’s well on its way to being great.
4. Encouraged Improvisation
The core appeal of Far Cry 2 and 3 is how it lets you approach situations in seemingly limitless ways,
in lush environment teeming with options. There’s bows, explosives, grenades, wildlife to release,
vehicles to crash, and lets not forget all those fires you can start. It’s equally as satisfying to
approach an outpost with a stealthy plan in mind and execute it flawlessly as it is to have the whole
shebang go pear‐shaped and whip out that flame‐thrower for a little impromptu hide‐saving BBQ.
The more of this Ubisoft delivers to players, the better. Being able to rig a vehicle (or person) with
explosives for a Trojan horse effect would be wonderful. PETA may not like this one, but how great
would it be to use a jaguar, falcon or shark as a one‐way bomb delivery service? Naturally Ubisoft
has to be careful to not run this game into Dead Rising 2 territory where you’re combining a broom
handle and a wheel chair to create a cartoonishly makeshift chariot – nor should combining
weapons become the main focus of the game – but giving players the option to utilise the game
world’s objects like vehicles and animals in ways beyond just transportation, crafting and
distraction makes that world all the more potent and exciting to spend time in.
3. More Hallucinations
The way Jason Brody was introduced to the way of the warrior in Far Cry 3 through various drug‐
induced hallucinations and the seductive goading of Citra is actually a little bit like how child
soldiers are forced into duty in third world countries, and it’s a chilling mirror into the horrible
things people can do to brainwash others. But beyond that, Far Cry 3 was one of few games to
highlight the metaphysically expanding properties of hallucinogenic drugs.Throughout the game,
major moments in the story of Jason Brody occur when he has ingested some kind of drug and
begins to trip into a whole different plane of existence. At one point he’s literally drowning, at
another he’s climbing an ever‐growing wall, and toward the end of the game he literally battles his
inner demons and wins. These sequences have an edgy, unsettling feel because you rarely see this
kind of thing depicted in games, unless it’s a gag or Easter egg like being able to smoke a joint in
the Saints Row series. Drugs shouldn’t be in Far Cry 4 just as a neat way to show some cool stuff,
but also because it seems Far Cry 3 had an angle on the appeal, seduction and pitfalls of such
substances, genuinely seeming to have something to say about them. It’d be interesting to see how
they would build upon that surprisingly chilling foundation.
2. A Fucking Yeti
The legend of the Yeti owes its creation to the peoples of the Himalayas. With Far Cry 4 taking place
in the region, there absolutely has to be a Yeti, or Yeti‐like bad guy. Far Cry is at its best when it
walks the line between reality and outlandish visual orgies, and including the mythical abominable
snowman is a great idea as long as he makes sense. A *real* Yeti is a bad idea but some sort of
lumbering, foreboding, omnipresent mountain‐man menace clad in pounds of fur, wielding an ax
or something – not unlike the Tyrant from Resident Evil 2, could make the Far Cry 4 experience
transcendent, especially if handled correctly. Imagine finally scoring the final piece of leather or
loot you need to craft a new bow, only to hear the blood curdling yell of the Yeti. There is no escape,
he’s faster, stronger, and better armored than you. The only escape? Run and jump of a cliff and
hope to God your parachute or wing suit works. The most important part of implementing this
feature is getting it right. The Yeti should be a nearly impossible foe that pops up both randomly
and in story missions, adding an element of narrative intrigue and gameplay variety that will
happily terrify players and lead to countless stories about “that time I got killed by the Yeti”.
1. A Captivating Villain
Vaas from Far Cry 3 is so freakin’ cool. The kind of villain that never needs to raise his voice because
his unsettling aura demands attention. Far too often in video games, the ‘acting’ portion of a
character comes almost as an after‐thought. Heck, Dishonored had a cast featuring John Slattery
and Susan Sarandon and they both slept through the entire plot, without an ounce of inflection
and creative delivery between them. Which is why it’s so refreshing that Vaas’s characterisation
makes him an insidious personality. It’s not so much what he says, but how he says it. He talks
himself into circles, raising his voice, lowering it, trailing off, wildly changing moods within seconds
– it wasn’t just voiceover work, it was honest‐to‐goodness acting. It’s actually something Ubisoft is
really good at. Both Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell feature consistently memorable personalities
despite some narrative peaks and valleys, so if rumours hold true and the creepy guy on the cover
of Far Cry 4 is our bad guy, there is quite a lot of room for something truly captivating. As it’s one
thing to find yourself terrified of a man with muscles, a gun, and scars across his face, it’s a whole
new ball game to find yourself spooked by the guy in a wild pink leisure suit and frosted tips. One
of the more chilling villains in recent history is BBC Sherlock’s Moriarty – a sinister character who
appears to be anything but a ruthless mastermind, then proceeds to out‐think Sherlock at every
turn. Ubisoft has a lot to live up to, but given their track record and zeal for delivering quality
performances and truly personal moments, players should expect nothing less than yet another
fascinating character you love to hate from Far Cry 4.
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