The first 20 days in Hope County! - A Far Cry 5 game review
'The' action-adventure first-person shooter experience of 2018!
I haven't heard very much about the Far Cry franchise...I knew there were a couple of games out but - haven't played in a long time by myself - I kind of wasn't interested in new games lately. Until then...
I remember the day last year Greg set up his first short but gripping tweets about this new project he was in. The words and phrases he used to get us ready for what was coming in 2018 made me more and more curious with every following tweet.
He, Far Cry 5 team and publisher Ubisoft did a great job while promoting the game - posting photos, interviews and video clips. If you weren't a big fan ot video games yet but a fan of Greg and his work you just couldn't look away anymore!
As a gamer who really has a fable for good and highly graphic designed ego-shooters I haven't thought too long about pre-ordering the german version of Far Cry 5 via amazon for Playstation 4.
And then it arrived in all it's beauty on release day march 27th right on time!
Free Hope County for all cost is the goal!
What can I say? After three hours of wandering, discovering and shooting my way through Hope County, Montana I was hooked already and called this masterpiece the 'best game I've played in my life' and I played a lot of ego-shooter games in the past!
I think most of the people thinking an ego-shooter or shooter is a game about killing other characters and that's it! But the Far Cry franchise is different and that's the point why I love it so much! Sure, you have to shoot your way through a country which is captured by the bad guys (the cultists who call themselves The project at Eden's Gate) but it's so much more...
I never saw a better and more graphic detailed video game! Final! The landscape is fantastic! You can climb on hills, houses and even cars, jump down, run through grass and bushes, swim and even dive in rivers and lakes! But as nice as the fields, rocks, lakes, villages and forests look - your character can get hurt pretty bad and for sure get killed though, even when no shooting cultists around, when you are not watching yourself out there. You, the deputy can drown in rivers, fall from a cliff or high mountains, burn yourself on fire, killed by high voltage or an explosion, killed by wild animals (pretty annoying sometimes!) or ran over by a car...
You have a lot of different weapons (pistols, rifles, bow and arrow, rocket launcher, knife, fists, dynamite, granades...), you can drive in almost every vehicle (car, boat, jet ski, quad, water plane, normal plane, helicopter...) you can find! You even can repair broken cars which aren't totally crashed when you are not in a hurry and if you have the right tools.
You can shoot mostly every stuff you see. Making different sounds and showing various damage. I like the red fuel canister which are located every here and then very much because they are exploding when you are shooting them. Very useful to get rid off the bad guys when they are coming or standing near them. Mostly every vehicle can explode as well when you throwing dynamite or a granade on them and aiming near the tank ;)
You can/have to pick up a lot of gear on your way like weapons, ammo, first aid kits, money and so on...and you need money while on the mission ;) To have more money you can sell for example animal skin and fur of hunted wild animals (elk, skunk, bull, wolf, bear...), catched fish and found maps to hunters and in shops which are located on your world map (I really had to get used to that map though and especially when you play FC for the very first time)!
On the other hand you surely have to/can buy gear in these shops as well like clothing, weapons/ammo, vehicles, first-aid kits, bulletproof vests and so on...So try to find money please!
I try to let all the animals life but when they are attacking me or one of my 'partners' or other civilist I have to shoot them sorry... or if I need to sell the fur and skin to get money ;)
Talking about 'partners'...Normally in older ego-shooters I was kind of happy to fight the bad guys on my own so I wasn't supposed to look out for my people. I was like 'Okay I am alone so just shoot me for god's sake and I am coming back!' LOL With FC5 it's ... yes, different! When you are starting the game by fleeing from the cult into the night of Hope County you are alone and with no weapon!
Later on you are able to get help by finding/unlock a few different and unique characters - the #HelpForHire - of two teams: #GunsForHire and the #FangsForHire!
My first #HelpForHire was the bush pilot Nick Rye with his yellow plane Accolade - machine guns and bombs! A huge very useful backup when it comes to eliminate cultist outposts or even a little group of cultists who are far away and you know already you can't do it without getting shot at!
Second one was the attack dog Boomer! Not even he is - for my liking - the cutest character of the whole game, especially when you cuddle/stroking/reward him and he is whining and licking over your face LOL, he can get pretty mad and bity against cultists groups as well ;)
Why can't Boomer ride in a car next to me? Not even in the back of a pick-up?! He is a 'dog' and not that big! He really should be able to do so for my liking (and read about a lot of other fans who are thinking the same).
I found Peaches the second animal (the cougar) two days ago and I am very happy I got her now! She is very quiet while sneaking up on someone and attacking - not like the barking Boomer! And she is defending you to mostly all the wild animals while wandering through the woods or over the fields. Cultists are pretty scared by her and you can shoot them more easily while they try to run away from that growling mountain lion.
As I said before you have to watch out for your people/animals whom accompany you on the mission and in a fight! When for example Boomer or Peaches getting hurt by cultists pretty bad you are seeing a little 'countdown/lifeline' running down...Run to them and give a tummy rub/pet them and they are coming back to life! I think the same procedre goes for the grizzly bear Cheeseburger, your third and last #FangsForHire but I haven't found him yet and I don't have a big fable for bears. The tummy rub isn't working for your human #GunsForHire ;) But you can get them back to life as well by 'helping them up the ground'. Anyway if you are too late in saving them and the countdown is over, you have to wait until they are 'ready' again - takes mostly about 8 til 12 minutes. Surely you are able to choose another #HelpForHire in that time if you have one available.
On the other hand if your character gets shot for example and your life is on the line you can keep pushing 'hold on to life' and your #HelpForHire comes running to you and helps you up as well! You don't have to start the quest/mission from last checkpoint where you saved the game last time ;)
Whenever you can push save game in the menu - do so please! Very important because you don't want to start all over again with nothing left, right?!
When you shot a cultist you can search the body for money, ammo and so on and you can even pick up the weapon he/she was using last - leaving your own weapon behind! So mostly I don't do that because I love my sniper rifle LOL Boomer is 'showing' you where the next body is and that's very helpful while wandering through bigger grass or woods and you don't see them right away! You even can pick up bodies and carrying them away to hide them and not alarm other people.
To complete and finish the game you have to earn RPs (resistance points) in complete saving the four areas of Hope County which are controlled by each member of the Seed family (Faith, Jacob, John and for sure Joseph). What do you have to do? Saving civilians, free cultist outposts and villages, destroy belongings of the cult, kill cultist VIPs, accomplish side missions and main missions! You don't have to free one area first and going on to the next. You can do as you wish. I am doing 'area hopping' as I call it LOL
You can earn advantage points as well and they are very useful while playing. When you have earned enough points (by finding them around or if you completed a side quests/main mission) you are able to get advantages like skills like diving, safe cracker, repair skills, black market and so on... You can get them every time and at every place and situation while opening your menu and unlock them during playing whenever you like.
Found a few prepper hide-outs (I know it's the wrong word for it but I couldn't find the right meaning) yet? These are places of other resistance teammates who had to leave the area quickly and weren't able to take their belongings with them and left them here - for you the deputy to continue the fight! These hide-outs are marked on your world map as well and if you get in that area you mostly have to find a prepper note first which informs you about that 'prepper quest' that must accomplished - some are easy and some are hard! When you finally found one of these prepper bunkers you will find a lot of gear like ammo, weapons, money and sometimes advantage points as well.
Side note: I hate the climbing and I know I am terrible at it :( Falling from a cliff isn't fun...
For me one of the best things about Far Cry 5 is that you don't have one mission and different levels and there is only one straight way to finish that mission ;) Sure you have one major mission - free Hope County and beat the cult and take as much time as you like!
But when you are arriving at a cultist outpost for example and you fought them a few times and got killed every time you don't have to try just another time if you don't want to ;) Turn around and go! Try your luck with another outpost or even another village or free a civilian when it is too difficult right now! Yes you can run away from a fight as well and hide somewhere while they are searching for you (and they will stop the search after a few minutes at some point) - and I am doing that a lot I have to admit especially in my first few days gaming!!
Another good feature I am using is 'fast travel'! You can open the map and find a location you already visited/cleared and than click on it and a few seconds later you and your partner are there - without wasting time walking or driving there - earning a lot of time and getting you out of dangerous situations quickly.
I haven't killed one of the Seed family yet but I am 'working' my way through the areas.
But while playing along I've 'met' Gregs character Joseph Seed three times since starting the game: Once in the beginning while arresting him...the second time as the cult captured me...and the last time while having a very fun hallucination from being drugged by bliss by accident (I wanted to help a woman who was captured by the cult but she was full of bliss and I wanted to free her anyway). I learned my lesson quickly: Don't help people who are full of green bliss and don't run into bliss flower fields LOL Stay away from bliss dammit!
Side note to Ubisoft: Amazing job with the bliss double vision, blurry vision and deaf hearing thing, guys but I really feel sick when it stays like this over a long time ;) So yeah, stay away from the bliss right?
A little cons: As I bought the german version of the game for sure, I can not listen to Gregs voice while Joseph is speaking and that's what I really dislike...but on the other hand I am happy I can understand all the talking and don't have to focus that much!
I haven't tested the arcade player mode or co-op and I think I won't do so...I am more the campaign single player type gamer ;)
Okay to finish this review up now: Never played a better and more fun game in my life and Far Cry 5 is worth every cent I have paid for! Excited with every further day I can discover more and more of the lifes in Hope County! Love it!
See you in Montana soon!
