Today's review is for Far Cry 3. This game was introduced at the end of 2012 and was made by Ubisoft who is known for games such as Assassin's Creed and the Tom Clancy games. I am going to say right now that I love this game. I have played it through a couple times. It is a first person shooter. It is an open world game that has a pretty big map. To be honest, I have not played any of the other Far Cry games, so I really have nothing to compare this with, but I have to say the detail of the game is awesome, mainly because they didn't focus on online play.
The graphics of this game are absolutely beautiful. The did a great job with just about everything. The characters movements, facial movements, and just the speed of the graphics overall are great. I would actually like to see this on a modern TV just to see the full potential of the graphics.
The story line isn't too bad. Your character is Jason Brodie, a 20-something nobody that's on vacation with some friends and family to celebrate his younger brother acquiring his pilots license. The game takes place in the Rook Islands in the South Pacific that has been overrun by modern day pirates and it is up to you to save your friends and help liberate the island natives from the pirates. As I already stated, this map is huge, like GTA V huge. Even in the fastest vehicle (the sand rail), it would take a about 7 or 8 minutes to get from the most Southern part of the map to the most Northern end of the island following the roads.
So there are a lot of weapons in this game and you can make the best out of them with different attachments. There are pistols, SMGs, LMGs, Assault rifles, sniper rifles, a bow, a flame thrower, RPG, grenade launcher, grenades, land mines, etc etc etc.
There is a lot of strategy in this game. There are pirate camps all over the island and in order to liberate the camps you can either go in guns blazing or try to be as stealthy as possible, because if they turn on the alarm, reinforcements will come and you will have a lot more to deal with than you originally planned. You also will encounter pirates in random places; there can be a road block, they could just be driving along and notice you, or walking down random trails, so you will have some encounter at some point. Luckily you can use the plant life to your advantage to keep out of view.
There are also wild animals everywhere. There is everything from wild pigs to tigers, you will get attacked by the predators, you can run and even try to shoot, but sometimes its too late. There are Sea Turtles and sharks, so be careful where you swim because the sharks are fast and they are hard to see. Also, no one is safe. You will see natives and pirates getting attacked all the time. The pirates also think they can keep the wild animals in cages, but luckily with a sniper rifle, you can free them and cause some havoc. 
The game is long. It will probably take a good 6 to 8 hours to beat, but here's another great thing about this game, there are tons and tons of side missions. There are bounty hunter, hunting, medical, and racing side missions.
Hunting is a huge aspect of the game too, you need to gather animal hides to make different types of bags and slings to carry weapons and ammunition, so you will spend a lot of time looking for animals and chasing them down.
You're going to be traveling all over the island. There are Wrangleresque Jeeps, Land Rover style trucks, compact cars, sand rails, Deuce and a halfs, jet ski's, patrol boats, hang gliders, etc.
On that note, there is a ton of exploring too. Its an island in the South Pacific, so you're going to find all sorts of ruins and remnants of Japanese defenses from WWII. In order to make money, you have to acquire loot, which is all over the island.
So, are there any cons to the game? Well there are with any game, but with this one, it's really just sitting through the cut scenes, you just want to keep playing the game and exploring the island.
Once you've completed the game, you also have the option to continue working on the island, which is great, because you will not get to do everything in the story mode. You can also reset all the pirate camps, so you can test your luck at liberating them. If you want to play with a friend, there is also a co-op mode as well.
So overall, it's a FPS that's filled with plenty of action and activity. They sold this on XBOX 360, PS3, and PC, so you should be able to find a copy with ease. I thoroughly enjoy this game and I'm actually sad that so many games focus on Online play so much, because this really has great game play. If you enjoy FPS games, you will definitely enjoy this one.
GRM Gamer Rating: 4.5 Miatas.
Give me a little 4x4 and a dune buggy, and an island like that to explore as I will. Throw some NPCs in the villages just going about their lives who I can interact with to make the world seem alive. Maybe let me buy stuff for my jeep from them.
