Sunday, February 28, 2016
Far Cry Primal - Tearing It Up, Stone Age Style
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So, Far Cry
Primal.
There are a
lot of reviews out there so I'll spare the general breakdown (the @Gamecritics
review from Brad Bortone is still forthcoming) but I had a few thoughts I wanted
to share.
Getting the
hard data out of the way: I finished the game tonight, and clocked in about 21
hours. I captured all of the outposts, did all of the story quests (main and
side) upgraded the entire village, tamed all of the companion animals, and upgraded
almost all of the gear. A lot of that stuff was totally optional, but I was
having a great time so I decided to go for it. I would imagine that someone
could do a critical path of the game in far
less time than I spent, so all told it comes in at a very reasonable,
appropriate length. Even was doing all that extra stuff, it didn't feel like it
overstayed its welcome.
Now about
the game itself… Wow. I've never been a fan of Far Cry as a series but this one really clicked for me. By setting
the thing in a prehistoric context, all the elements come together so sensibly
-- the open world, expanding territory, killing animals, crafting… it’s all a
great fit. Every aspect of the game’s
design harmonizes, and there aren't many open world games where simply
wandering around is satisfying to me, but it is here. Just taking in the
scenery, cruising around with whatever beast was with me at the time and hunting
down anything that came across my path provided me with far more entertainment
than I would've imagined.
As for the
story, I've seen a number of people complain about it, but I find this quite
puzzling. I think it's pretty clear that this is a story about Stone Age survival,
so I'm not sure what people were expecting. In general, it’s a tale of protecting
your tribe, wiping out your enemies, and fighting to live. Beyond that, the
game actually includes two proper antagonists- Ull of the northern cannibal
tribe and Batari of the southern fire users. In addition, each major member of
the player’s tribe has their own brief storyline. None of this is novel-length
stuff, but I really don't think it should
be. Keeping in mind that Primal is
about prehistoric man, what’s here is quite satisfying. There were several
moments that were laugh-out-loud funny, and certainly several that were quite interesting,
or touching.
Along the
same lines, I've seen people complain about the weapons variety, and again, I
have to ask -- what were you expecting?
Considering that the main character gathers sticks and rocks and uses animal
skin as tethers, did anyone actually expect rocket launchers or automatic
weapons? I mean, what can you logically make out of that kind of stuff? If you ask me, the game actually makes several concessions towards variety via two types of club, a spear, a sling, bait, traps, three types of bow, three varieties of stone dagger with different effects,
three types of bombs (yes, bombs) and this isn’t even counting the animal
companions.
After
receiving a "beast master" power from a shaman, the main character
can tame several different kinds of predator. The owl is used as a forward
scout, is large enough to kill men on its own, and can drop the bombs I just
mentioned. The other animals all have their own perks, from the black jaguar
who can kill enemies without alerting others, to the wolf who enlarges the player's sphere of awareness, to the powerhouse cave bear who draws
all enemy fire so that the player is safely ignored. It seems to me like
there's plenty of variety within the
game’s context, and frankly, a good chunk of it goes past the boundaries of
believability. So, to hear people say they weren't satisfied with the variety
of weapons… I just don't know what would satisfy them.
(And Real
Talk: there are a million games out there that let people pack ridiculous
arsenals. Did you really need that here too?)
Getting back
to the story for a second, I think it's well
worth saying that Far Cry Primal
treats its women quite well. There are three prominent female story
characters who are treated as either equal (or superior to) their
male counterparts, and none are sexualized in any way. In the lower ranks of
the player’s tribe, there are just as many female hunters as there are male.
When approaching enemy fortifications, the soldiers are of either gender, so
even in a prehistoric context where there might
be an argument made for having women in a lesser role, the developers were
mindful of this and made them clearly equal to the males. It's a great move,
and very appreciated.
Although
anyone who follows me on Twitter or listens to the GC podcast knows I've been
very critical of Ubisoft in the past, it's clear to see that they have taken a major step forward with Primal, and I
want to applaud them for doing so. This is a great game on many levels, and it
shows the kind of thoughtful consideration that makes a piece of work appreciably better. I'm
thrilled that they decided to do something more than phoning in another sequel,
and hopefully other people will give the game a chance and feel the same.
Far Cry Primal? It's great stuff. Absolutely recommended.
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