In the game, you play as Ajay Ghale, who at the start of the story, returns to his hometown of Kyrat (a mythical Himalayan country) in order to fulfil the final wish of his deceased mother. He wants to spread her ashes as per her dying wish but that’s when things get interesting. Upon your arrival, you find yourself amidst the chaos that has raged between the lunatic dictator Pagan Min (who graces the cover artwork), and the resistance forces who call themselves The Golden Path. And to make matters more complex, you are to choose between one of the two leaders of the resistance force. Despite the fact that both these leaders are looking to overthrow Pagan Min, they have contrasting views as to how they want to go about it.

As the plot advances, you are introduced to Sabal, who is a man of virtue. He values the life of his comrades and respects traditional Kyrat values. As Ajay, you also encounter Amita, a headstrong female advocating for women empowerment in the country’s existing sexist culture. She is solely focused on her mission of liberating her land through any means possible.

All in all, the story is filled with delusional villains who try too hard to be labelled as crazy baddies. Although the choices you make tailor the story, it never becomes gripping enough to leave you curious about what is to unfold. But the events that occur are mostly too obvious. Even though the game has multiple endings that change according to the player’s choice of decisions, it feels massively overdone and incomplete. It neither gives you the rush of relief nor a sense of achievement that good endings often rewards you with.

Gameplay

Continuing directly after the end of Far Cry 3, the gameplay did not feel overwhelmingly different, but then again it isn’t boring either. There are significant improvements in this new instalment—like the including of vehicle combat and rope climbing, flying the gyrocopter and the ability to ride elephants while charging into the battlefield—which keep the player hooked.

Most followers of the franchise had presumed, even from the early gameplay revealed at E3 last year, that this was basically a re-skin of Far Cry 3 with a more diverse wildlife and some jaw-dropping landscapes. It is an improved version of the previous edition and has additions made in the gameplay elements that work in its favour.

The world of Kyrat is full of things to do and places to explore, with a dense wildlife that is set to muddle you. Even the birds are hostile and will kill you if you are not cautious. With hostage missions, outposts to liberate and defend and animals to hunt, players will be occupied for a substantial amount of time. With the addition of the map-editor, new awesome weapons and vehicles, combined with an interactive environment, Far Cry 4 is definitely worth the time and money. The co-op mode and PVP experience are in a league of their own. Overall, the game is an enjoyable experience that will keep you busy for dozens of hours before it starts feeling stale.

Graphics

Visually, the game lives up to the series’ reputation and is presented with admirable graphics and animation. The fictional world of Kyrat is part Nepal and part Tibet. On numerous occasions, the scenes are so sublime that you might be forgiven for discontinuing playing just so you can stare at the screen in awe. The game successfully captures the natural scenery of Nepal and the Himalayas. The environment and the ambience of the game are soothing up until the wild animals and birds start attacking. But nevertheless, the graphics of the game will leave you mesmerised.

PC users will have a hard time trying to run the game smoothly, though, as even the minimum requirement is a lot more than what an average setting of other games would ask for. While testing the game, we encountered numerous problems in achieving an acceptable FPS (Frames Per Second). As a contrast, Far Cry 3 ran ultra smoothly even on a mediocre machine. Fortunately, even the low-settings will deliver satisfactory visual effects.

Sound

The voice acting as always is top-notch, except for a few annoying radio messages. The voice actors have certainly done their jobs and deserve accolades.  The background score fits the missions and the terrain perfectly, providing the gamer with the required ambience during missions and varied situations. Although commendable, nothing less can be expected from a game with a mammoth budget.

However, since the developers boast that the game was based on Nepal and its culture, the claim should be taken with a pinch of salt.  The Nepali language is barely used throughout the storyline. Although some proper conversations and bits and pieces of broken usage were heard in the game, the majority of the game features Hindi dialogues—even during the intro scene! This gets very annoying and unless the company release a new mod to fix the issue, the language problem can be a serious letdown for Nepali gamers.

Verdict

Far Cry 4 seems to have fallen into the long list of Ubisoft’s sequels of successful franchises that were pushed into release too early in the hopes of cashing in on the success of their predecessors. However— unlike Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands or Assasin’s Creed: Unity—Far cry 4 does manage to deliver and passes for a fun game.

It’s a very enjoyable game and will keep players at it for many hours. However, the main storyline is a dud. It’s too ambitious and tries too hard to make an impact. I played it because it kept me entertained, but it did not quite feel like the Far Cry 4 that I was looking forward to. Simply put, 4 is just an extension of iteration 3.

8/10