Farcry 5 Review (Xbox One S)
Big, dumb, fun. These three words sum up Farcry 5 perfectly for me, actually, probably the whole Farcry franchise. Farcry is to gaming what The Expendables is to movies and sometimes that is exactly what you want out of entertainment.
So welcome to Hope County, Montana. I hope you enjoy yourself and don’t run in to any of the Seed family.
As the newly appointed Deputy in Hope County one of your first jobs is to escort a Federal Marshal serving an arrest warrant to Joseph Seed, the leader of an armed nutjob religious cult. As you would expect things don’t go to plan and you find yourself in a battle for survival with the Seed family and their Kool-Aid swilling followers.
Thankfully Hope County is a typical American location and has loads of firearms just lying around. And due to the national ‘end-of-the-world’ mentality there is many a prepper’s stash hidden away for you to find. Oh, lets not over look the amount of armed vehicles, boats, and aircraft in the area. So bring it on, you crazy, hopped up fanatics! If you are lucky I’ll shoot you before my trained bear Cheeseburger, gets you.
But lets face it. The story isn’t what we are here for, we are here for the takedowns and big explosions. And you won’t be disappointed. The gameplay is solid Farcry, plenty of humour, guns, takedowns, guns, driving, and guns. Returning players will love some of the in house jokes and be totally at home with what is going on.
There are a couple of niggles, like how easy it is to accidently swap weapons when looting, but nothing game breaking. As for gamers who are only now venturing into the world of Farcry, welcome, just remember to leave your political correctness at the door.
Visually, I love Farcry 5. The familiar setting helps, but the huge area that is Hope County is just a joy to explore, even if everything, including the skunks, is trying to kill you. It is easy to get lost in the moment and spend way too much time fishing for that record salmon or ages stalking that wild boar or moose. But this is Farcry. You can always just take them out with an attack helicopter or armoured truck, while all the time admiring the scenery.
The audio is equally impressive with both excellent locational cues and a great selection of radio stations in vehicles, which can be added to with the completion of a side quest. The buzz of aircraft overhead will have you constantly looking up to see if they are friend or foe, and the sound of approaching of vehicles will have the same response, just don’t be too quick on the trigger, there are plenty of friendlies out there too.
Along with all the friendly combatants who you can recruit to help you there is a set of specialists for you to aid and in return they will join your cause. Some are more useful than others but some are worth having along just for the sheer comedy factor. Warning, never stand too close to a slightly deranged hillbilly with a rocket launcher, it will only end badly.
That said, there is always someone to aid you and complement your play style. Even going it alone is a viable option, it just seems a shame not to have someone manning the machine gun on the back of that 4×4.
In addition to the single/co-op player story, which is the heart of Farcry 5, you have the Farcry Arcade. The Arcade is accessible from the main menu or via arcade cabinets within the main game. The Arcade is all user created content in the form of various game styles from Team Deathmatch to Journey, which is a race for the exit game. Many of these games are really well done and are good for a quick fix as they are all complete within a few minutes.
Be aware though there are some really horrendous attempts at levels from some users. Also there is several areas of cross over, perks and abilities, with the main game which can upset the balance against some players. The good news is that you can earn perk points and rewards in Arcade that transfer into the campaign.
Closing Comments.
Big is not the word, Hope County is huge with plenty to do and explore. Dumb, in a good way, from the way NPC’s act, to the name of the Bait Shop. Fun, Easy to pick up and get your teeth into all while staying enjoyable to play. For me Farcry 5 is on target and gives exactly what is expected from a Farcry title.
Its hard not to like, maybe hardcore shooter fans will find flaws in the combat, driving fans will definitely not like the vehicle operations but for me, and I’d guess the majority of gamers out there, Farcry 5 is what gaming is all about. Big, dumb, fun.
