Far Cry 6 – Review

Our Score: 9/10

Far Cry has become one of those franchises where it’s changed so much since the start that there are different fan bases for the franchise. This is something that is common with Ubisoft’s franchises these days, be it Assassin’s Creed or Ghost Recon. This is why I feel Far Cry 6 is going to be a slightly divisive game in the fan base.  Far Cry 6 builds upon Far Cry 5 while also changing up quite a few things. Things that have been there for quite a while. No more character upgrades, no more picking up enemy weapons, and no more radio towers. Is Far Cry 6 a good game? Yes, I’d say it is. But is Far Cry 6 a good game FOR YOU? That is the question I’ll try to answer through this review.

What is Far Cry 6?

While previous Far Cry games have featured what I would call “blank slates” for characters, Far Cry 6 changes that with Dani Rojas. They’ve done a great job here to actually make a character that I enjoyed playing as. Jason Brody in Far Cry 3 was eh, Ajay Ghale form Far Cry 4 I couldn’t care less about, The Deputy from Far Cry 5 had no personality at all but Dani is fantastic. 

Dani isn’t just a simple “Player Insert”. Dani has personality and character. I feel the others just didn’t have that.  Another reason is that she’s straight-up honest as to why she’s helping Libertad out by shooting almost 80% of the island’s military population. Because she finds the rush of combat, the adrenaline, the hunt, all of it fun. It’s not deep or a reason that makes sense but it’s better than “I’m doing this to save people even though I’m just a puppet”.

Besides Dani, the world is also filled with some really fun and interesting NPCs that you get to hang out with and talk to. Juan Cortez has got to be one of my favorite NPCs, alongside El Tigre.

Giancarlo plays Anton Castillo in Far Cry 6. A brutal dictator who rules the country of Yara with an iron fist.

We all know what makes a good dictator. Charisma. And Giancarlo oozes charisma. He channeled his experience of playing various sociopaths and turned up to 11 in Far Cry 6. And oooooh boy does he deliver. I was always waiting for the next cutscene that would have him. If there was an announcement from him over the broadcast system, I would stop and listen. And if you’ve seen any of his performances, you know exactly what to expect Sadly, he’s not used as much as you would hope and I felt slightly disappointed by that. Scenes with him are far and few but they’re outstanding.

Gameplay

There have been quite a few changes to the gameplay that make it feel less “copy and pasted”. The game features a difficulty select between “Action” and “Story” mode. This can be toggled at any time and is good for people who want a less stressful experience. Let’s start off with the gunplay because that’s what we’ll be doing most of the time and because that’s what most people find fun.

Weapons

The gunplay, in the easiest comparison, is a bit like Call of Duty Warzone. I say that because of how your movement works when in combat. Sliding in this game is freaking god-like so you’ll be sliding all over the place. And popping heads while doing so. There’s just that feeling that movement feels tight and responsive. 

What doesn’t feel tight and responsive is when ADSing, when trying to hold breath, when looting items and when you headshot an enemy. There always felt like there was a delay or that I had to press a button multiple times. Could just be me, but I did feel this on multiple occasions. 

Weapons can be swapped at ANY TIME. And by that I mean, you can literally swap weapons for whatever you have in your Arsenal at any point. This is super intuitive and the game will hammer this into your head with people always saying “Right Tool for the right job”. You also have the Juan Cortez special, the Supremo weapons. A backpack that is a weapon? Yes please. Very early on you’ll unlock the Supremo which launches homing missiles at enemies. Supremos have a recharge period so they’re pretty much like using an ultimate ability. There are also different types of Supremo weapons that you’ll need to unlock. 

Gear Optimization

You will need to tinker with your weapon load-outs at workbenches because the game includes ammo types and enemy weaknesses. There’s a lot of different ammo types and scanning enemies will reveal their weakness. Each weapon sub-group(SMGs, Rifles, LMGs, etc.) has its own unlocks. So if you unlock a scope or armor-piercing in ammo in the Rifles section, you can only use it for the other rifles you own. You will have to spend resources to unlock it for other sub-groups. There’s also weapon mods (aka perks) which also need resources.

The game doesn’t have any character perks or upgrades. Jump Takedowns or Multi-Kill Takedowns are all just there from the start. What you will need to unlock though are Gear and Weapons. And these are found across the MASSIVE world. Gear improves your stats like better weapon handling, taking lower damage from blasts, etc. I do wish there was a loadout system so I could quickly switch to a “Sneak” loadout and then to an “Armor” loadout instead of needing to change Gear pieces individually.

Animal Companions

The game also sees the return of companion animals. You got an Alligator, you got a cute as heck dog, you got a rooster, you got another dog and you got a panther. There’s also a robo dog and another panther if you get the Season pass and Vice Pack respectively. All of them have different uses and perks but honestly, I just let them do their thing most of the time. 

You can also pet all of them and a majority of the domestic animals can be pet in the game. 

World Activities

And speaking of the massive world, it really is absolutely massive. There is so much to explore and thankfully, they’ve made traversal easy. You can quickly call a car to you at any point. You can fast travel or airdrop to locations HQs and checkpoints. The game has a huge variety of cars, bikes, planes, and horses. And you don’t have to worry about unlocking the map because there are no more radio towers to be climbed.

That being said, it is an open-world Ubisoft game which means there’s plenty of fluff. And I mean plenty. There are tons of side missions, races, checkpoints and you get the idea. If you don’t like the fluff, just stick with the main plot but for those who do enjoy spending time in Far Cry games, you have a lot to sink your teeth into.

Multiplayer

Two-player co-op is in the game and unlocks very early on and can be an absolute blast. A majority of the game can be played in co-op and thanks to the sandbox-like nature of this game, there’s so much fun to be had. From going on rampages to hitting areas that are over your level, running around with a friend is a hilarious time. Not to mention, all the exploration that you can do together. Besides that, you also have specific co-op missions that give you special loot. These missions aren’t extra-ordinary but are fun and require a bit of teamwork to pull off. Running around and headshotting enemies with a silenced weapon before your friend can do it is always satisfying. 

Look and Feel

Yara has a lot of different landscapes and environments packed into its islands and they all look and feel fantastic. The vegetation is brilliant, the cities look great and the water is to die for. Even with a day-night cycle, the lighting is pretty much always fantastic with some of my favorite moments being during the sunrise and sunset.

However, my one complaint about this is in the cutscenes department. For whatever reason, cutscenes are locked to 30fps. Even though they seem to be rendered in-engine and not pre-rendered, they’re still locked to 30fps. This feels a bit jarring when playing at 100fps and suddenly it just goes down to 30 for cutscenes. And if the cutscene is a pre-rendered cutscene, there’s horrible compression. I’m not sure what the actual cutscene resolution is but on my 1440p panel, it looked really blocky and messy.

When it comes to sound design, it’s pretty spot on. Weapons feel hefty, explosions pack a punch, animals sound like animals, alarms are loud and scary. The OST is well made and fits the mood almost perfectly every time. The licensed music selection is also quite good and I genuinely enjoyed driving around with the radio on. 

Conclusion

I had an absolute blast playing Far Cry 6. The start is a bit frustrating but as you progress, things start to click together. Otherwise, you can always turn down the difficulty. The world of Yara is packed with things to do, the characters are interesting, the story is fun and the gameplay is addictive. Furthermore, there is going to be DLC missions where you play as the villains from Far 3,4 and 5. I’m quite excited to get my hands on those missions when they release and can’t wait to sink more time in Yara.