NOTE: This is not intended to be a comprehensive review.
Welcome to another Far Cry installment. Really, that about says it. It is very similar to their standards with a few changes that clean up gameplay a bit so if you like the FC series you'll likely enjoy this one. As with Assassin's Creed: Origins most achievements are basic completion style and therefor not complicated just time consuming.
As a game I have to say that they seem to have scrunched too many things in too closely. It is difficult to actually hunt and track game, especially after say landing an initial arrow in a fine 12 point buck without accidentally running through yet ANOTHER group of respawned cultists. Mechanically it is generally fun even given that. Plus it is always entertaining to see a cultist change his aim from you to the wolverine that has decided to snack on his ankles!
Development-wise I really wish the various teams at Uni would actually get out at least once and go talk to the locals where they set they're games. I happen to be a resident of the general area this one is set and There are so many basic things that are just a touch off that it really bugs me. For instance much of America is filled with sportsmen and I can't imagine that someone at their offices couldn't figure out that in sport fishing the plural of fish IS fish. Reading "fishes" continuously just drives me bonkers. They're not guppies for criminey's sake! Especially the average 12lb+ (c.5kg) Rainbow Trout! Good grief, did they even read up? Pulling a 5lb (2.5kg) rainbow is generally the highlight of a Pacific Northwesterner's summer. I know it seems petty but stuff like that breaks immersion for me more than the silly stereotyped rednecks they throw in to the trailer park. Probably because while not filled with those types just about everyone knows one or two.
Also, just as a throw in on the forced diversity thing: Really guys!?! This game alone probably has more black folks than all of the state of Montana! If they wanted to strive for a more "diverse" game then perhaps they could have thrown in say 1 in 5 of the folks being Latino? In some areas that's pretty real, even folks that have been locals for generations. Also, not so commonly portrayed but a real factor is there are quite a few folks of Viet/Siamese dedescent in the region as the "boat people" of the mid 70s after the fall of South Vietnam chased the US Federal Government to settle many of the refugees throughout the northwest.
All in all this is a very pretty game but also very typical of the Far Cry franchise. With that in mind I would say overall as I get further in the game that it looks to be about a 7/10 (on a true scale not the bizarre weighted scale that Game Informer uses.)
Thanks for reading and enjoy your time in the stomping grounds modeled after the best four states in the union! 😆
3.5