Far Cry 3 (Impressions)

December 4, 2012
PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal
Published by  Ubisoft

The bow and arrow makes my little Predator heart sing for joy. Far Cry 3 (2012)

Far Cry 3 has a strong narrative and sense of character along with solid game-mechanics that aren't difficult to master.

Far Cry 3 is a worthy addition into the critically acclaimed series. It is fun and offers a variety of gameplay however, it doesn't match the brutality of the second game that made it a classic.

The first hour of the game I found myself rather disappointed that it wasn't a different game, I wanted it to be more survival oriented. You play Jason, a twenty-something rich-boy who is kidnapped and in a pretty bad spot, he is shocked at the prospect of killing people, skinning animals and the like. I felt fear at first about survival, this guy isn't some invincible navy-seal or high-tech nano-suit, he's just Joe-schmoe. I was ready to have to worry about thirst, hunger, sickness, etc. but even on the hardest difficulty setting it's not overly challenging and is not really a survival game at all, it's just an open-world FPS. Once I got over the comparison to it's predecessor and what I wanted/thought the game was going to be though I started having a lot of fun.

There are some similarities to Just Cause 2 (2010) except this is less playful and insane but on a positive note, the missions and side-missions feel more purposeful than in JC2. There wasn't a real point or reward in doing side-missions there whereas here, every side-quest has an adequate reward for the player, either allowing fast-travel, more weapons, map of the terrain, etc.

Far Cry 3 has a strong narrative and sense of character along with solid game-mechanics that aren't difficult to master. There is a good 30 hours of gameplay with side-missions in the single-player campaign. The multi-player has a co-op mode with its own narrative but I've only played a few times because it wasn't as engaging as single player.

It's a fairly straight-forward FPS with open-world aspects but you also spend time hunting animals (or being attacked by animals while trying to do something else) which can be challenging and sometimes humorous. While playing in-game I was about to attack a group of soldiers who had a bear in a cage. My brilliant plan was to shoot the cage and release the bear who would then dispatch the guards for me and the guards would weaken the bear for me so I could harvest its valuable pelt. Right as I was about to shoot the cage undetected, a leopard attached me from behind which pushed me right into the guards path. I shot the cage to release the bear but that just meant I was being attacked by guards with assault weapons, a leopard and a bear. Needless to say I died fairly quickly.

You will learn to hate Komodo Dragons, Tigers and most of all: Deer; they are fast buggers which seem to be nearly invincible.

The bad aspects of the game is that dying is painful because the game only saves in certain places and often I have lost 20 minutes of gameplay because of this poor design.

One of my biggest dislikes of this game is that you are forced to use Ubisoft's UPlay which is their distribution, DRM and social platform. Personally, I hate having to install these garbage pieces of software the likes of which include Rockstar Social Club, Origen, Games for Windows Live, etc., and having to create yet another online account just to play. I'm ranting about this in particular because I re-imaged my machine half-way through playing this game and while I copied my game-saves, when I moved them to my new computer they wouldn't work. I opted out of Uplay's Cloud Save Sync as many people weren't able to access the game when their servers were down. This means I lost about 12 hours of game-play that I really didn't want to redo (but will).

I recommend a buy or rent if 30 hours of single-player gameplay isn't worth the full retail price. Personally, I can't see myself spending too much time in the multi-player.

BUY

Words by Trent Allgood

Far Cry 3 IRL

Guys, guys, check out this fan-made (though clearly Ubisoft sponsored) tribute to Far Cry 3, the last blockbuster of the year that's hitting store shelves today! It features our first-person protagonist storming an enemy camp, rescuing a pretty prisoner, and then making a daring escape... all in live-action. Sure, the green screen effect is overly apparent, but the long takes they had to set up and pull off are undeniably impressive. Gamers are well aware of YouTube producers FreddieW and possibly Warialasky. Well, now you can subscribe to devinsupertramp as well. He's done a lot of extreme sports photography, but starting with last month's Assassin's Creed III IRL it's clear he's one to keep on the TTWCVG radar. (Speaking of FreddieW and Far Cry 3, check out Far Cry Vacation.)

Oh, and I think we can all agree that this is loads better than Uwe Boll's vision of "Far Cry."

Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Preview)

Spring 2013
Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, Windows

Developed by Ubisoft Toronto
Published by Ubisoft

Join Sam Fisher again as you protect the country from terrorist scum in Splinter Cell: Blacklist

The Splinter Cell series has been one of my favorite game series for awhile now.  I love being stealthy, even in games that don't focus on stealth, and Splinter Cell has always done a great job with stealth gameplay.  The most recent entry into the series, Conviction, focused more on mobility and stealth rather than the pure stealth of earlier games, and this new entry into the series is continuing that theme.

This latest foray into the Splinter Cell universe has the previous covert organization that Sam Fisher, the protagonist, worked for dissolved only to have a new organization created with Sam as the boss.  A new terrorist threat called the Blacklist has emerged in which twelve terrorists have created a deadly countdown of escalating terrorist attacks, and the President has given Sam and his team full freedom to stop this threat using any means necessary.  I've loved all the other Splinter Cell main plots and this one sounds very promising too. 

If you'd just told me where the bathroom was, we wouldn't be in this mess. Splinter Cell: Blacklist (2013)

Watching any preview for this game, players of any previous Splinter Cell games will notice an immediate difference, namely that Sam Fisher has a new voice actor.  The previous voice actor, Michael Ironside, decided he should "pass the torch" onto a new actor with Ubisoft choosing Eric Johnson to reprise the role.  Now, I am saddened that Mr. Ironside will no longer be voicing Sam and I will forever feel that he is Sam's "real" voice, but I understand that these things happen and Eric Johnson does a good job, at least in the material I have seen.

The gameplay footage above shows a very mobile, combat-heavy run through of a demo level.  A lot of fans have been up in arms about this because it seems like stealth has been sacrificed for action (which many fans also complained about in Conviction but still enjoyed it anyway).  While the game can be played this way in many instances, this is not a valid criticism of the game as demonstrated in the video below.

The developers decided to give the player a lot of choice in how to play the game.  You can either be very stealthy and slip by without disrupting anyone, or you can go in guns blazing and leave corpses as your call sign.  It's your choice and I'm glad the developers gave players that option.  Now whether there are any benefits or bonuses to being stealthy we will have to wait and see, but I wouldn't be surprised if they included some just to encourage people to play more stealthily than they otherwise would.

I'm looking forward to this game and am definitely putting it on my watch list. We still have several months before the game comes out so expect more videos, news, and screenshots to be released.  I hope they show off improvements to the NPC's AI and whether the player makes any story choices like in Double Agent, but so far it looks fun and it will be great to take control of Sam Fisher again.

Words by Josh Matern

Assassin's Creed 3 (Impressions)

October 30, 2012
PS3, Xbox 360, Wii U, Windows

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal
Published by Ubisoft

Fight for freedom and salvation against all foes in Assassin's Creed III.

I love the Assassin's Creed series.  I've played from the very first game and have loved them all, yes even the repetitive first one.  The integration of sci-fi genetic memory travel with ancient conspiracies and historic gameplay is an excellent idea and Ubisoft does it all very well.

Assassin's Creed III continues the story of the actual main character Desmond as the modern-day Assassins race to find a way to save the world from an impending apocalypse.  In order to do so, they need to go into the memories one of Desmond's ancestors, Connor (aka Ratohnhaké:ton), who lived during Colonial America.

The enthralling feel of spying on campers. Assassin's Creed III (2012)

The story is very well done for the parts I've seen.  The beginning does a recap of the series for new players but manages to avoid major spoilers from previous games.  Characters are interesting, conversations feel authentic, the setting is fleshed out, and it's easy to see a lot of research went into historical figures.  The modern-day story line is much better developed too.  Lots of tantalizing clues are discovered about the "First-Era" and the mission locations are much funner.  I am very invested into the story and want to play to the end to see how it turns out.  If any game makes me feel that way then I consider it to have a good story.

The gameplay is fluid and fun.  Ubisoft outdid themselves in tree parkour.  They made it both enjoyable and surprisingly plausible.  Sometimes the controls can be a bit fiddly, but it works fine for the most part.  Combat is satisfying and varies enough to keep it fresh.  Tough enemies can't be attacked directly and the toughest enemies require clever combat in order to defeat.  Stealth is done very well with Connor being able to easily blend into crowds, hide in bushes, and surreptitiously peak around corners.  Stealth kills are incredibly gratifying to pull off.  The gameplay alone makes this game worth playing.

Never bring a gun to a tomahawk-knife fight.  Assassin's Creed III (2012)

Missions are varied and interesting.  Synchronization is back with most missions having optional objectives.  Many different locations are available and the developers worked on making most missions different in some way.  Naval missions, new to the series, are incredibly fun and a great new addition.

Multiplayer is back but unfortunately I have not tried it out as I'm too enamored with the main storyline.  I loved the previous games' multiplayer and heard it is like those but improved so I will be sure to try it out.

The beginning is a bit slow, trying to ease the player in, and there are occasional bugs, but overall this game is fantastic and an excellent addition to the series.  I highly recommend this to all players, veterans of the series and new fans alike.

BUY

Words by Joshua Matern