Game review: Far Cry 6 (Xbox Series X)
At this time of year, Ubisoft usually likes to release an Assassin's Creed game. Well since there is no Assassin's Creed game being released this year, Ubisoft replaced it with another AAA release in the form of Far Cry 6.
The Far Cry franchise has been going on for a very long time, offering open-world FPS fun for many years now. Far Cry 6 is the newest one of the franchise and the first in the series to be released for the relatively new PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles.
The biggest selling point of the new game is actor Giancarlo Esposito being cast as a dictator named Anton Castillo. The game takes place on a fictional Caribbean Island called Yara and it's a location that is somewhat inspired by real-life Cuba.
Castillo's dictatorship isn't going well with many of the country's citizens as he kills people that disagree with him, and many other people have to become slaves. You play as Dani Rojas who you can choose to be either a male or female character model. Rojas teams up with many other guerrillas in the region to try and overthrow Castillo's brutal regime.
Sadly, the game does not allow you to customize the appearance of Dani Rojas. You just have to stick with the default designs that have been given to you. That being said, I still like the fact that you can choose which gender you wish to play as.
Even though Far Cry 6 is the first in the series to hit the new PS5 and Xbox Series X/S consoles, I was sadly not impressed with most of this game's visual presentation. I expected the visuals to look far better than what is being presented, after seeing great titles like Ratchet - Clank: Rift Apart and Kena: Bridge of Spirits.
While the lush natural environments look above average on Xbox Series X, it's the appearance and stiff animation of the character models that really drags the graphics down. The humans all look like dolls and their unrealistic presentation appear odd and creepy. Even an open-world game like Red Dead Redemption 2 on older hardware looks more realistic than this.
Thankfully, the chaotic gameplay makes up for the lacklustre graphics. If you have played a Far Cry game before, Far Cry 6 pretty much offers the same amount of insane action that you should come to expect from the long-running series.
At the start of the game, things start off very slow because Dani Rojas does not have access to many vehicles and guns yet. The beginning part of the game can feel a little boring, but the game opens up once you are able to do more missions and get to the main story.
Arguably the best part of the entire game is the fact that you can pretty much pilot and ride any vehicle that you can see in the game. If there is a far location that you need to go to, Dani can spawn either a helicopter or plane to get to their next mission. You can even call a horse or car to get further transport if you are stuck in the middle of nowhere.
I also liked the fact that I was able to steal a tank in one mission. This mission annoyed me because I was unable to destroy the tank with my mediocre weapons at the time. Thankfully, I was able to steal a tank from the enemy and it was fun blasting the bad guys with the much better firepower!
The only annoying thing about exploring Yara is the amount of anti-air turrets that can shoot your plane and/or helicopter down. You have to painstakingly get rid of the anti-air turrets on the ground before you can freely explore the island up in the sky.
In terms of gunplay, there are a ton of great weapons that you can use in Far Cry 6. You have access to lots of guns including assault rifles, pistols, sniper rifles and even a flamethrower. Dani can also customise their loadout by adding silencers, scopes and other attachments.
Probably my favourite weapon is the Supremo Backpack. The first kind of backpack you can get is a rocket launcher and this is really helpful in taking down enemy helicopters. When you progress further into the game, other backpacks with different abilities become available to you.
Another fun feature of this game is the number of 'amigos' that you can recruit. The first amigo you can recruit is a helpful crocodile called Guapo. As you progress further into the game, you'll be able to partner up with lots of other helpful animals too!
Even though the gunplay in Far Cry 6 is mostly enjoyable, the missions in the game lack any kind of variety. The game feels similar to other open-world Ubisoft games where you have to take out enemies before killing the main boss at the end. There is a lack of innovation or groundbreaking new features to call this a next-gen title.
Another annoying feature of the game is that you always feel under-levelled if you only stick to the main missions. If you stick to the main missions and don't do any side quests, you'll probably be a step or two below the recommended level that you need to be. This means you will have to grind quite a bit if you want to do the harder missions in the latter stages.
I also noticed that a lot of the game's runtime is mostly taken up by tedious and boring travelling. Sometimes it takes longer to get to your next location than it does to complete actual missions! This is a problem I've had with lots of Ubisoft games as exploration is too long and mundane to feel excited about.
If you find the grind to be too long and boring, you can buy credit to get time savers. These time saver microtransactions are mainly here to try and get as much money from impatient people as possible. I would only recommend it if you are really stuck and want to progress at a faster rate. Otherwise most people should just leave the microtransactions alone.
All in all, Far Cry 6 is an enjoyable game if you concentrate mainly on the gunplay and vehicles. Outside of these things, this game does not add anything new to the franchise or the open-world genre as a whole. The graphics are unimpressive and slightly outdated even though I was reviewing the game on Xbox Series X/S. Only hardcore Far Cry fans should pick this game up.
Verdict: 7.0/10
