MikeWhitfield

This is quite possibly the worst video game I've ever played that was functionally workable. Far Cry after the second one has always been too consolish for me, but I bought it knowing that would be the case. And it has its fun moments: driving is usually a pleasure. But it suffers more than any video game I've ever played from one fatal syndrome: Its makers don't want to be making a video game. (I could add a couple more: It's makers are apparently French existentialists and quite possibly insane.) Consequently the player is constantly being dragged from a mediocre video game into an Uwe Boll movie. And not one of those Uwe Boll movies that he's proud of and will happily fight you over. No, this is an Uwe Boll movie and that he finished, watched, said "Oh my G-d, what have I done?" and then hid in his basement. The movie- Sorry. The video game fails on every level except for graphics and controls and voice acting. The graphics are pretty. The controls actually work pretty well, although several times I discovered that I had inadvertently exchanged weapons while reviving a companion. The voice acting is good to excellent. The AI is . . . present. Sort of. Overall, there are some things to like. But the bad is very, very bad. The writing is absolutely awful; it would make Uwe Boll blush. It's failing film student fan fiction bad. My character has been captured so many times that I must be playing Far Cry: The Perils of Pauline. At one point I was arrowed and captured inside a building crawling with White Tails. The writers have greatly expanded their love of drug effects, so that I spend much of my time not in control of my own body. Cut scenes are long and dull. And most unforgivably, not one single choice I make as a player matters in the slightest. The makers of this game have their ending pre-written, and while it's worse than any SciFi horror movie ever dreamed of being, they're relentlessly driving you to it. I am so, so very glad I bought this when it had dropped to a cheap price. Unfortunately I succumbed to buying the bundle, so I have the sequel which I can't imagine I'll ever play. I award it two turds and may G-d guide its makers into rehab.

First, the good. The game is incredibly stable for a large, open world game. It's reasonably pretty, especially outdoors, without terribly noticeable pop-in. Combat mechanics are great, especially with guns. Nick is a great companion. Some of the map is very nice, unique and often beautiful. The game has weather, often spectacularly, and while there are radiation storms and radioactive zones, Bethesda has finally figured out that radioactivity is not making everything green. There is some humor, and plenty of interesting little side stories told in notes and on CRTs. Weapon crafting is decent, although a dearth of pre-war military and civilian weapons makes zero sense in a world full of perfectly edible pre-war food. Settlement building is nice for those who like it, although it's often crippled by arbitrary limits and most of the pieces don't snap together. Factions are reasonably varied (four) and are not completely caricatures. Now the bad. Enemy AI is pretty bad for a 2015 game, and companion AI is ludicrously bad. The role playing aspects have been dumbed down to the point of being largely useless, little more than yes/no/sarcasm/huh? buttons, and often what your character says is not what you expect since the choices, to accommodate consoles, are just short summaries. Bethesda's work on character models, textures and animations are still far behind the best of the modders, much less the AAA competition. Guns are not well thought out (26 pound 5.56mm assault rifles) although they do function well. The settlement crafting is crude and often the arbitrary limits make no sense - why am I jury rigging housing when just beyond the glowing green line are perfectly good buildings and houses? Why am I making a settlement on a tiny mud island in the middle of a swamp? The map is way too small, so antagonistic groups live virtually on top of that be another, with zero thought given to how they eat, and firefights often become three-way affairs. The voice acting for the player is supposed to allow emotion, but that is hardly used. Companions have far too little dialog for the programmed amount of chatter. Many of the side quests are extremely repetitive. And the main quest is, um, not very inspiring. Overall I like it a lot, but I had hoped for more. However, the revised engine is decent and we are promised a G.E.C.K. So Bethesda's biggest strength, its unmatched modder support, will eventually allow us to tailor the game to our individual preference. In the mean time, it's a pretty good game out of the box. Just be aware that it is more an atmospheric shooter than an RPG.