Buttonmashing with Butterfield: Far Cry 4
A case for student aid
by Ethan Butterfield
Hey everyone! Well, with Far Cry: Primal now out and me with a lack of any and all funds to obtain it, I figure I could do the next best thing. Namely, review Far Cry 4! It’s an amazing game with nicely-developed characters, a well put together story, and gameplay mechanics that, although haven’t been innovated much from Far Cry 3, still feel very fresh and enjoyable. It’s strange to play a game with little fault in it. Well actually, the game has fault, but it uses what it has in order to make the experience fun for the player.
Speaking of the gameplay, there’s a couple of different styles you can run with. Two different styles to be exact, you can upgrade one of two tiers that the game presents you with, either ‘Tiger’ or ‘Elephant.’ To be honest, though, you can actually upgrade both of them and both tiers have something worth getting, but then you have the Infamous problem of trying to balance out two different gameplay styles. The styles either being guerilla warfare or, well, warfare. Not that there’s a huge difference between them, but there’s just enough to make you think carefully about your next upgrade.
Next up is the story, which I’ve been noticing something very peculiar about in recent Far Cry games. The thing being is that there’s a much heavier focus on developing a colourful villain rather than a badass hero. This works in a lot of ways, though; since the main character isn’t really developed, it allows the player to project their personality onto the protagonist, which supposedly builds a stronger link toward the villain. So anyway, the story; it starts off fairly well. You have an urn and are on your way to spreading your mother’s ashes when things go real south, real fast. The main villain, Pagan Min, shows up and demonstrates why he’s the villain. He’s psychotic, eerily charming, and proves that a villain just has to say the right thing to rub you the wrong way.
The final thing I’ll mention is some of the core features, the first being hunting. It’s pretty entertaining. When you use a bow and arrow, you get more EXP for not damaging the pelt, which leads to more upgrades and you also can get bait. Bait is used to summon animals, which attack enemies and, in turn, help you move through enemy controlled areas. Just a warning though, when playing. I attempted to use bait to get rid of a group of enemies. However, this backfired, because I found myself running away, instead. Another feature to mention is riding elephants. Yes, that’s correct. You can ride your very own elephant. Tusky and I were a very formidable team.
So, there you have it: Far Cry 4. Do I recommend it? Absolutely. If you have the time and money, I seriously recommend picking this game up, because I’ll say this much, it’s definitely a far cry from other games… eh… eh… I’ll leave now.