Spook's Review Far Cry 5

Back before Spook had a blog he doesn’t update enough, with few readers, he had a Livejournal he didn’t update at all and which had no readers (since it was a livejournal and wasn’t about crocheting or sexual escapades.)

One of the ‘features’ of this LJ was that he’d occasionally review things. Mind you, this is back in the day when everyone reviewed things. Reviews are fun, and easy, and most importantly give you a look into the mindset of the reviewer, which either confirms what you think about the reviewer, or might provide you with insight.

I’d like to resurrect that ‘feature’ a bit, even though these days reviews usually involve video or fancy pictures and the like. This one is in text, and is on the basis of a new game. That game is Far Cry 5.

Far Cry got its start back in 2004 with well, Far Cry, which was renowned at the time for having well, intelligent opponents. I say this is an issue of renown because this is also what initially earned Half-Life its lauds before it became known for the Havoc engine in Half Life 2.

By intelligent, I mean the opponents behaved semi-rationally. They’d call for reinforcements. They’d try to flush you out with grenades. They’d work as a team to encircle and flank you. They’d fall back to better positions. There were problems, notably the fact that the AI in the game also could see through cover as if it were invisible. But, it was still pretty nice.

As Far Cry grew as a series they picked up other angles, other tropes, and such which I’m not going to touch on too much, but.. Well..

I’ve always described Far Cry to my friends as being exemplified by the phrase ‘I like it, but..’ I say this because almost every game could be much better, but it mucks it up somehow with either a stupid plot element, a bad mechanic, or both.

That having been established. Far Cry 5.

Far Cry 5 puts you in the position of a deputy US Marshall who is sent in to arrest a cult leader responsible for various crimes, murders, and general weirdness going on in some counties up in Montana. As is typical in such stories, things go bad, and you find yourself as the primary focal point for a growing counter-revolution against this evil cult leader named Joseph Seed, and the requisite fun mayhem begins. 

Since I’ve got a lot to say about Far Cry 5, I’m going to break this up into other posts.