Far Cry Primal Review: Life as a caveman

The Far Cry series has been going on for quite some time, but all of them featured a protagonist with a gun. Far Cry Primal is different as you are now playing as a caveman in 10,000 B.C. Prehistoric times have rarely been a setting in modern video games. As aforementioned, in most video games you are a male character wielding a gun. However, Far Cry Primal takes you back to a simpler time before technology ever existed and this is what makes the game very unique.  Players will assume the role of Takkar who is a part of the Wenja tribe. Most of his people and village gets destroyed thanks to the Udam tribe. The main point of the story is to get revenge and rebuild the village of Wenja. Along the way, Takkar will meet new characters and he can also recruit more members to the village too The authenticity of the time period is not ignored as Ubisoft went to great lengths in order to make players feel like they really are inside the fictional world of Oros. The characters in this game do not speak English because Ubisoft created a unique primitive language that sounds great. Not to mention the character designs look accurate for the time period as well.  Since this game takes place in 10,000 B.C., Takkar is only armed with simplistic weapons such as a bow and arrow, club or a spear. Takkar can use these weapons to either take down rival human enemies, or to even hunt down the many wildlife animals that roam the land of Oros.   The thing that makes this game great is that the environment of Oros can be used to Takkar's advantage. Weapons are limited in this game, so players will have to search for wood and other supplies to craft the items they need. Players can also hunt for food by killing the likes of mammoths, sabretooth tigers and other animals.  However, animals aren't just used as a resource for fur and meat because players can also recruit them as allies. When you level up your skills, you have the ability to 'train' certain animals to accompany you at all times. The first animal that players obtain is an owl that can be used to scout new locations or hunt down the locations of enemies.  Players can also tame wild wolves simply by giving meat to them. The wolf is pretty cool as you can use him to attack other enemies for you and he can also be used as a distraction if you are on a stealth-based mission. The more you play the game, you are then able to tame the bigger and nastier looking animals.  Aside from making friends with animals, the main missions are pretty varied in Far Cry Primal. Most of them require you to infiltrate the Udam tribe's villages, but there are times that you need to do things differently like gathering resources to rebuild your own village or hunt down a specific animal type. Primal also includes several side missions for players to undertake as well. Since this game has no online multiplayer mode, I admired the fact that Ubisoft packed Primal with lots of single player content. The main campaign is several hours long, but doing all of the side missions ups the longevity value of this game.   As fun as this game can be, it isn't with its flaws. For one thing, the combat in this game is clunky and imbecile. Melee attacks are what you will do for the majority of the game and it does not feel smooth or responsive at all. I understand that you are playing as a primitive caveman, but I would have preferred if Ubisoft made the combat less frustrating to play.  The other thing that might annoy some gamers in the lack of direction. Sometimes you are required to hunt for a specific animal, or search a certain area but the game doesn't tell you how or where to find them. Not to mention the level design can be troublesome at times because you may get stuck trying to climb over high terrain or other bits of the environment.  Outside of these flaws, Far Cry Primal is still a very enjoyable game that isn't afraid of trying something different. It's quite refreshing playing a game that has an all-natural environment with no guns or cities in sight. The actual gameplay might not be suitable for all gamers, but it's worth checking out for fans of long adventure titles.  Verdict: 8.5/10