Open-World is Here to Stay for Ubisoft

Still never gets old.  It is about the only thing that doesn't.

Ubisoft's CEO recently stated that Ubisoft needs to release open-world games on a regular basis to keep on like they have been.  And by 'needs to', he basically means "This is what we're going to do, so just, you know, keep that in mind".  It's not really a surprise, considering Ubisoft has...pretty much only been putting out Open-Worlds from everything that springs to memory, and everything currently announced for them is similarly open, but it's something different altogether when it's just stated as such.  And it pretty much all just comes down to whether or not you actually like Open-Worlds on whether or not this is good news.  Personally?  I'm okay with this.  If it wasn't for the Assassin's Creed games, I would be ecstatic with this, and therein lies a type of distinction.

I don't quite think anyone has sufficiently nailed down what makes an open-world game 'great' even still, after all this time that it's been popular.  I know it was around before them, but you could argue heavily in favor of stating that it was the Elder Scrolls games (specifically Morrowind) and Grand Theft Auto 3 that -really- kicked the Open-World sandbox scene into everyone's eyes.  It's not without reason, however, as both of those games were never, ever at a lack of things to do.  With Morrowind, that was almost literal given how much content is actually crammed within its confines, but with GTA 3, I think the bulk of it was being most people's first exposure to the type.  A large part of it was the freedom it offered, but also how that freedom espoused with a type of 'role-playing' part of ours brains that took the Claude we were playing as and made him -our- Claude.  Though, it's hard to think, now, that any of us did anything rather 'unique' with 'our' Claude, given the limitations of the map at that point.

For instance, 'my' Claude, on several occasions simply had enough of people and would take a sniper rifle on the top of the strip club to take out as many of the annoying jerks in the city as he could before anyone finally realized what he was doing and from where.  When the authorities arrived in force, it was always a new game to see if he could bolt from the alleyway, hop into a car and make it to the nearby Pay-and-Spray without being witnessed so he could make a clean escape.  He...barely ever did.  It's hard to imagine now that 'my' Claude was the only one to do that, and I don't suspect he was, but it certainly -felt- a little more like you were 'owning' the character you were given to play around with.

San Andreas, I think, brought us the pinnacle of that type of 'ownership' that the series has seen with CJ.  He was customizable enough to make your own, yet he was static enough that he was -always- CJ, just that he was your CJ on top of that.  You as the player could decide if your CJ was going to be out-of-shape from his frequent excursions to Cluckin' Bell, or fit and imposing from a daily trip to the gym.  You could decide what kind of melee techniques he could use.  You could decide what kind of a dresser he was, and whether it was his goal to impress the ladies or not.  You could decide if he was really good with a car, a motorcycle, or just -anything- with a steering mechanism.  There are innumerable other ways I could expound on this further, but I think you get the point by now.

That kind of ownership is exactly the reason why I am slightly mixed on this announcement, considering it's Ubisoft.  On the one hand, Far Cry 3 absolutely nailed this to the damn wall, given that it's so chock full of things that doing a simple thing like getting from Point A to Point B can become some kind of wonderful journey if you're in the mind of 'role-playing' akin to simply the type that my GTA 3 point mentioned.  Which, clearly I can be.  It's staggering just how dynamic and lush and alive Far Cry 3's world manages to be, and how smartly the developers created some of the gameplay mechanics around that.  It's not perfect, of course (If simply because hunting becomes unnecessary after you've crafted everything, when hunting was damn fun) but it came really, really close.  Close enough that it ignited a type of verve for Open-World games that I've never had before.

Assassin's Creed, on the other hand, has always been disappointing to me as an Open-World game specifically for that reason.  I have never felt attached to my character in an AC game.  I have never approached a situation -my- way, but rather simply the 'easiest' way.  I have never felt like my AC experience was a unique one, even though it might have been.  I'm not sure how many people went bare-handed at every opportunity simply to counter, steal weapon and kill, or constantly used heavy axes as projectile weapons because it was fucking fun, but I have to assume the number is up there.  There's simply not enough diversity in any given AC game to make it 'yours'.  It was always just a large map sprinkled with 'content' which is a big distinction to make.

Still, it's weird to point at this game and that and say "That got it right" and "That didn't" because not only is it an opinion, obviously, but it's based less on what it did on paper, but how it felt while you were playing it.  Gravity Rush, while being a fantastic game, didn't feel like an open world game because there was next to nothing to do other than flying around (which was admittedly so fun).  On the other hand, inFamous 2 similarly didn't have -tons- of content, but it didn't feel empty if only because the actual getting around was sort of a meta-game in itself because the ease of movement was so astounding.  Dragon's Dogma is astoundingly good at giving you a wide world to explore at your leisure, but still manages to keep you into level-specific areas for the most part by way of rather large, imposing battles awaiting you in other portions of the land; it's cautionary, not mandatory.  There are all sorts of qualifiers, but none of them are tangible enough to throw down as 'necessary' or something that will improve the experience by simply being in it.

That's all why I'm simply okay with the knowledge that Ubisoft is going Open-World from here on out (aside from things that they're just publishing).  They've shown that they have the capability of putting out something like Far Cry 3, but Assassin's Creed is their bread-and-butter franchise.  Watch_Dogs looks like closer to the latter than the former in terms of Ubisoft games, but if it's truly on the level of a Grand Theft Auto title, then that would similarly be fantastic.  I just have to question whether or not I wholeheartedly believe that they can pull it off.  I'm simply not sure that I can, but it's obvious why I have a little bit of hope for that type of outcome, too.

so I just sort of realized that I really like Open-World games, imagine that

I Haven't Talked About BLOOD DRAGON Yet

After you watch the above video, you'll know why this is a Bad Thing™ that I haven't yet.

So I'll give you some time to do that.

...
...

It's a bad thing because BLOOD DRAGON is every shade of fucking awesome.

I need only remind of my love for absurdity and I think it all becomes crystal clear since Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon is quite possibly one of the most absurd things to happen to video games in a long time and that is a very good thing.  I mean, if someone does a Live-Action trailer for the game where the main character gets into a cyber katana duel with a robot while a shockwave from a nuclear explosion barrels towards them, you have to give it up for that shit.  Because that's not the craziest bit about the game by a long shot and it's still so fucking awesome that I cannot emphasize the point enough and I think you realize that by now.

If you don't know what Far Cry 3:  Blood Dragon is beyond the sparse ramblings of "it's fucking awesome" that I've put forth, it's....well, rather unique to explain.  Basically Dinosaurs got busy with the 80s and injected pure Neon into the baby.  If you think I'm joking then perhaps have a look at some of the more official things attached to the project, eh?

The Logo, plus some....endorsements.

The official reveal trailer for the game

A screenshot literally steeped in Neon Lights

I guess I can throw down some actual technical aspects of this thing since that's about the only coherent thing you'll get from me about it.  Blood Dragon is a stand-alone expansion to Far Cry 3 coming out for PSN, XBLA and Steam which means you do not have to own Far Cry 3 to buy and play Blood Dragon.  It's simply built off of the same engine which is fairly evident.  Of course, you -should- own Far Cry 3 because it was fantastic as well, even if Blood Dragon will literally be better than it in every conceivable way.  It's set for release on May 1st which means there is no reason it shouldn't be the very first game you buy in May, especially since it'll only be $15.  (I believe)  Being that it's built on the Far Cry 3 engine, it's carrying over a lot of tenets from that game, even if it paints them all with neon and badassness - people might've noticed a neon bow and arrow in the trailer, plus the knife which looked like a futuristic dragon dagger (like you eventually get in FC3), so those remain, as will at least some of the wildlife.  The free-roaming island won't be anywhere near as large as FC3's, but it'll still be expansive to be sure and similarly filled with things to do, like larger outposts to infiltrate and conquer.

I...really don't know what else I can say.  I really don't think there's anything else I have to say.

You want Blood Dragon.

Buy it.

fuck yeah Blood Dragon fuck yeah

Far Cry 3: Beaten

By which I mean the main story is beaten.  Yes, I have...a lot of the side-content tied up as well, all the radio towers sorted, all the outposts liberated, most of the hunts completed, etc. etc. but the crowning achievement is, clearly, finishing the story to the game.  The rest is just the gravy to that meat, if you will.  Continuing the metaphor, I will say that I do believe I preferred the gravy to the meat by the time the last portions were scattered about my plate which is rather unfortunate.  To the point where I can comfortably say that I'm glad that I'm -done- with that because now I can just focus on flying around the island (sometimes literally thanks to the wingsuit) and picking up things, doing things for the last few bits of single-player trophies so that I can move on to the next game.

I could review Far Cry 3.  I kind of wanted to review it.  But we'd all be better served if I simply deferred you all towards Chance's review of the game which was the sole galvanizing factor that inspired my own purchase and playthrough.  I agree with his review 95% where my only take-aways are perhaps more my own grievances than actual issues with the game.

Which is exactly why I'm going to spend the rest of this post pointing them out.

I'm going to one-up Chance here for my first point.  To his statement that Hoyt is a little disappointing and boring after Vaas, I will see that and raise it with the statement that the entirety of the game after Vaas is just a mess.  A lot of Far Cry 3's personality, a lot of its build and its structure was made on the back of Vaas.  Not only just his character, his performance and what he stood for, but his counter-point to Jason Brody.  The imagery is plentiful in the game and the marketing - Vaas and Jason are one in the same, cut from the same cloth so to speak - it's just that Vaas has fully given in to himself, his whims and his psychoses whereas Jason still has that shred of humanity still.  They're perfectly played off of one another and the foundation of the entire game is built on top of their rivalry.

When Vaas is out of the picture, he takes part of that foundation away.  That looming threat of his way of thinking finally perveying its way into Jason's head, that idea that, perhaps, Jason could aspire to something more than the pissant with a knife stumbling through the jungle, even if it's not something tasteful.  Though, that's not entirely fair as Jason does eventually find his footing, he grows and becomes a warrior in his own right, but with Vaas around, being what inspired that change mostly out of fear, there was always a chance of regression.  Vaas was Jason's fear and without Vaas, Jason is simply the flaming sword of retribution, poised to cut a charring swath through the rest of the organization Vaas was a part of.

Which sounds really cool, right?  You would think that would be awesome.

But it's....just not.

After all that build with Vaas, Hoyt might as well have been some hobo they dragged in off of the street.  And in execution, that's....basically what he was.  You go from this story where the protagonist and antagonist are just five paces removed from one another to a story where the protagonist sees the antagonist as a target and the antagonist sees the protagonist as a rat.  It's bland and uninspired .  To their credit, the actors involved (Hoyt and Jason's VAs, I mean) try and they do nicely in their jobs, but you're only as good as what you have to work with and what they had to work with just wasn't good.  Hoyt -could- have been made interesting, even in the wake of Vaas, but it simply wasn't in the cards (ha!) for him and that is really unfortunate.

Similarly disjointed was the change in pace from the game's wonderfully crafted and personal ideas in the jungle, in the Vaas sections, to the areas in Hoyt's section that involve you shooting about twenty privateers per mission while also blowing up at least two things with not much else to it.  It's a delicious display of destruction to be sure, but it's all style and no substance.  Where I was having fun with the story missions beforehand, I simply saw the latter group as chores to be worked through.  Inevitably, each mission, I just ended up being forced to run from cover to cover, plinking away with my Bushman Assault Rifle all the while, looking wistfully off to the side where variety sat, waiting to be utilized again in the form of sections where I could actually pull off stealth (the missions allowed for very few places to hide and stalk from, forcing you into the open, and whenever a body was found, no matter the circumstances, everybody knew it was -you- that put it there); areas where sniper rifles where the weapon of the day, where I could take my time and remember what it was like, being able to savor the moment when Jason inhales, lines up a perfect shot and pulls the trigger, exhaling as a spray of red bursts into the air like fireworks on a summer's eve.

While "the last third of the story pretty much sucks" might be a damning statement to most games (and likely should be one here), I can't help but state that, you know what?  It's all just water under the bridge.  When you're playing Far Cry 3, enjoying all of the nuances you find yourself getting more and more comfortable with, there's almost nothing to compare it to.  It's breath-takingly gorgeous, the jungle feels alive and the games many, many reasons to explore only reinforce that again and again.  Most of all, getting around, carving out your own story in the backyards of the Rook Islands is just fun - no bones about it.  I can't even begin to regale the stories that I have about each and every outpost that I liberated today - because there is a story for each one - which is an amazing thing in itself.  It manages to strike a perfect balance for any type of playthrough that you might be doing, which is something we clamor for and laud when we find the scant few examples of such a thing that we have.

It's for that reason that my big long angry rant about the Hoyt section and all that's involved is just my 5% of straying out of complete agreement with Chance's glowing review.  And in a sense, it's not even much of disagreeing, I'm just hammering on something far more than he did.  The capacity for sheer fun that Far Cry 3 has within its confines is staggering, and that makes it a truly great game.  Definitely one of 2012's best, which is something I certainly never would have expected before I played it.

My Games of 2012, Runners Up

Here's the first of the last batch before I am finally done with Game of the Year stuff (aside from "Games that Weren't my Games" which I might not do right away because good god) detailing the three games that were not number one on my Game of the Year list.  This was, of course, the hardest part, and I'm sure that'll get across in the way I talk about the games individually since, in most cases, I will be trying to convince myself of why I -didn't- pick it as my Number One, but liked it so much that it was that close.  It's weird to say that any of these games, hell even the last three games before this, could have just as easily been my number one pick.  They're all special and wonderful in their own ways, so it was just a matter of trying to pick the one that I'm going to remember the most down the road.  In that, I think I figured it out quite well, but even still, it's a hard call.

4.  LittleBitPlanet PS Vita

It's no secret that I am a man who enjoys LittleBigPlanet in any and all facets, be they the regular Sidescroller ones or even Kart Racers, so that the iteration that happened to appear on what is rapidly becoming my favorite system ever is one of my most favorite games of the year is absolutely no surprise.  It is probably the antithesis of a surprise, and I am imagining everyone reading this was probably just awaiting the occasion where it would finally come up in numbered form.  That it is in the number 4 position is mostly a surprise to myself, but it's mostly because I didn't spend as much time with LBPV as I would have liked thanks to my profile getting corrupted right before I was going to make a real, proper level.  Game.  Whatever the term you want to use is.

Of course, that was honestly -my- fault, as I'm fairly certain that I closed the game while it was auto-saving more than a few times and doing that is just asking to have your game messed up.  I'm not holding it against the game, but in the same vein, it made me consider just how much I wanted to do all of that again, like I had done with the first title in the series after losing my save/profile there to a PS3 YLOD.  I love the LittleBigPlanet games, and I love replaying the story levels in them, but I love doing them at my leisure, not having to worry about dragging in some random to grab three score bubbles halfway through a level every other level.  It's fantastic indeed, truly, that LittleBigPlanet Vita can support proper LittleBigPlanet multi-player, it really is.  However, I'm not so much a fan of multi-player in general, so I can't help but cringe at the thought of all those bubbles where I will have to, once again, involve others in what is my game and my fun.  Especially when my time is as limited as it is.

Still, I'll do it eventually.  Not only because of my enjoyment of the franchise, but because the story in LBPV might just be one of the better ones of the entire series.  The levels are rich and charming, the aesthetic is clear with each and every one, and they're just jam-packed with fun that comes with a full appreciation of LBP2's inventory of power-ups as well as the few Vita-specific ones.  For certain items, I found myself replaying levels several, several times over and not once was it ever really a chore.  Sure, sometimes it was because I was just trying very desperately to Ace a level and it was so very difficult, but even then, I was never really deterred.  Cautious, sometimes, but never deterred.  I'm not happy that I'll have to do all that over again, but I'm not too fussed either.  My return to LBPV, whenever that is, will be glorious and because I've experienced it before, I know I'll fall in love with it all over again.  It's just clearing the rest of the games in the way so that I may truly enjoy it when I get around to it that is an issue.

3.  Far Cry 3

So, did you guys know that I really like Far Cry 3?  Because I really like Far Cry 3.  I liked it so much that I just couldn't believe it.  As in, I literally could not believe that I liked the game so much and I just knew, I knew there had to be a part where it started to crack, started to fall apart for me, because not doing so was an impossibility.  Unfortunately, I was correct, but even still after seeing some cracks I can't help but marvel at this game.  It went from a relative unknown to something that I had to have when I read a rather glowing review from Chance and there is not a single point that he touches on that I disagree with.  The game is fun incarnate.  You could break off large chunks of the fun Far Cry 3 offers and make an entire other game with it and both of them would still be fun.  Fun, fun fun.

The cracks only started to show when, as Chance said, Vaas left the stage.  Directly thereafter, the larger foe in Hoyt precedes a change in scenery and a change in gameplay, somewhat, as it becomes apparent that the best way to get close to Hoyt is to infiltrate his privateers.  That's not a bad idea in the slightest, except the way that the game executes it is faulty at best.  In order to get a privateer outfit, you have to engage in a forced stealth level where you cannot kill anyone or be seen.  The entire game, you've been honing your craft, your skills for killing and yet now, in the situation where it most makes sense, you cannot make use of that skill in any way for what is absolutely a twenty minute long level if you manage to get through it in a single go.  You will not.  You will not at all.  And you might think, when you get it and look like a Privateer that stealth just got a whole lot easier, right?  You would think that.

You would be wrong.

There's no reason for you to be wrong to the degree that we all are in thinking this, however.  Obviously, direct aggression against a fellow privateer will make it clear to them that you're not one of them.  That's fine.  Anyone who witnesses it will be aware as well.  That is also fine.  However, what is not fine is that, in a mission fairly soon after you get the uniform you have to infiltrate an area with three captains and kill them to try and find some important plans and documents on their persons.  That, in itself, is fine.  It takes place along the side of a mountain, basically, which is important.  The mission area is very vertical.  The problem I have with the whole set-up is that, if I mess up with the privateers at the very bottom of the mountain, Oblivion Guard Syndrome will kick in and every single privateer in the mission zone will know that I am an imposter.  For a game that pays attention to every single other thing with such incredible detail, this is almost deplorable and it was so jarring that I nearly quit the mission in frustration.  In truth, after I cleared it, possibly a few others, I haven't played it, having focused on AssLib and other things these last few days.

Still, it's just a minor speed-bump in the road that Far Cry 3 runs and it's more happenstance than I haven't played it in the last few days than reasoned.  There's just so much enjoyment to be had in Far Cry 3 that I'll be back soon enough and I'll spend entire days within its confines before I wrest my victories from it.  There's still beasts to hunt, still relics and letters to be found and, certainly, plenty of pirates and privateers to be dealt with.  While the looming 'threat' of Vaas is no longer in it for me, meaning no more fun moments like his "Insanity" speech, the fun of the game is still there and I am looking to grab hold of that and enjoy it as the last throes of the game are shown to me.  I know they won't disappoint.

2.  Binary Domain

I expected to like Binary Domain.  I expected to pick it up and enjoy it for what it was, feel a slight swell of pride for Yakuza Studios for really doing something that they wanted to do, expanding their horizons and move on to other games.  I expected it to be fun, yet flawed and be something that I couldn't universally suggest to anyone as a great game to play.

Sometimes, though.  Sometimes what you expect and what you get are not the same thing at all.

I can say, with certainty, that I love Binary Domain.  I can't quite put my finger on it, but the game is just so wonderful to me that I just cannot say anything less of it than that.  For their second attempt, it's a magnificently done third-person shooter, especially so when you consider their first attempt was Yakuza:  Dead Souls.  Given that they nailed the gameplay, which is the only part you should worry about with a Yakuza Studios game, the rest, as they say, is just gravy.  Production values are sky-high considering, and the Voice Acting in the title is fairly fantastic as is the dialogue.  Despite the themes in the game, the moments of humor that are sprinkled throughout are genuinely hilarious.

Honestly, if I had to say that there was anything that the game doesn't do well, it would be boss fights.  It's not even a matter of them being badly designed or anything, it's just that they go on far too long.  Perhaps that was exacerbated by me playing the game on the 'hard' difficulty, but even still, they seemed to drag on forever and ever which became a bit of a problem when I would die at the end of them sometimes, necessitating that I do the entire thing over again.  When the game plays so smoothly, however, it's not even -much- of a complaint there and is more about the time invested than anything.  Even the multi-player has its own charm from what little bit of it that I played.  The 'Invasion' game mode has you and others clearing a small map of 'Scrapheads' as they flood in, giving you only a limited amount of ammo for every five rounds of survival.  The squad I was in, unfortunately, only made it to the 25th round of 50, and it was mostly thanks to a lack of cooperation (limited ammo means take it only when you need it), but it was a blast regardless.

There's not really a whole lot more that I can say to try to impress upon you how much I liked Binary Domain.  What I've said, plus the second-place rank it took should hopefully be all the recommendation you might need.  It's cheap now in the wild, I'm sure, and it's well worth the price you'll pick it up for.  From the fantastically told story (with the usual Japanese weirdness to it), to the solid gameplay, to the absolutely entertaining cast, it's well worth the second place spot in the list, much like the last few games probably are as well for their own high successes.  Still, I think Binary Domain shone just a little brighter all told, and my hope is that a few more people pick up on it somehow, for some reason.  They won't be disappointed.

Do I Like Far Cry 3?

"Alright, two Tapir hides.  No problem."  After checking my map for a good Tapir Hunting Ground, I hopped into a nearby vehicle, a rather beat up Jeep and drove most of the way there.  When the area was within sight, I hopped out of the car and considered my options for a moment.  "Hmm...Tapir's are little things, can't run too fast.  I'll be able to use my machete easy enough."  I kept my pilfered shotgun at the ready, but the six shells I had left didn't instill much confidence in me, should I find a use for them.  Popping a Hunter's Instinct shot, I took a look around for even the barest hints of Tapirs around - I just needed two and the animals tend to show up in packs.  Surely that would be enough - if I could just chase down two of them, that would be enough.  That's all I needed right now - just two and I could make myself a bigger rucksack so I wasn't off-loading used needles and playing cards to the nearby vendors every ten minutes to make room for more, for animal skins, for valuable herbs.

Crouching low, I could see the outlines of two Tapirs on the horizon and I grinned with the small victory, yet it was short-lived.  The raucous yellings nearby alerted me to patrolling guards - it was only later that I would learn their vehicle had broken down and they were simply cursing their bad luck.  None of us had any idea of the truth to their moaning.  I would have to be careful, that much was for sure, but the machete was silent enough - surely some animals screeching wouldn't be different in the jungle, right?  Just a little closer...I hand my hand ready to let loose the first machete swing when a sound stopped me in my tracks, but not the Tapirs.  The tell-tale growl preceded an obvious flash of orange as a tiger chased after the Tapirs I had been stalking myself, running them across the road and out of my range, driving a bigger rucksack that much further out of my grip.

"Hey!  You bastard!"  To say that I had lost myself in the adrenaline that pumped, anticipating my kill, would have been a massive understatement.  I had been ready, I needed that now and nothing, not even a Tiger would stand in the way.  I forgot about the nearby pirates, I forgot survival's instinct and charged, chasing after the interloper, an iron grip on my blade with the cool metal of the shotgun in my other hand a far-gone memory already.  The tiger had taken one tapir down already - my kill - and was pouncing the second as I got to it.  The shouts of pirates sounded out, indicating that I'd been seen, but I didn't care; I was fully lost in the moment.  Once, twice, three times I sliced the Tiger as it finished off its prey and only after that third slice did it turn to me, selecting a new prey.  It pounced, I fought it off frantically and with one more slice after I recovered, I felled the feline.

"Oh, shit!"  Only then had the incredulity of the situation sunk in as my machete dripped with the blood of the slain beast before me.  My reverie was shattered as a bullet zipped past me from the Assault Rifle of a pirate, one of three, who was approaching my spot, littered with animal corpses as it was.  I sprang into action, rushing up a nearby hill and ducking, taking stock of just where the three were.  They had seen me, that much was clear, but they had to have been watching me too.  "Motherfuckers!," I called out over the hill.  "Didn't you just see me kill that tiger with a machete?!  Do you honestly want to fuck with me?!"  The impacts of the bullets as they hit my hill was all the answer I needed.  A grim smile crossed my lips as I hefted the weight of the firearm in my hands and nodded.

They did.  That was fine by me.  Perhaps I was simply emboldened by my conquest, or perhaps I just simply knew in my heart which of us would survive this day.  I stood all at once and rushed off the top of the hill, launching myself into the air as I did, surveying the three below me.  I fired once as the wind whipped through my hair and a Pirate fell.  I landed with a noticeable thud, catching myself in a crouching position to avoid hurting myself and, instead, I hurt another Pirate.  The shell tore through him and took him down and I stood, charging once more for the last man who seemed oblivious to what was to come.  A last shotgun blast at that close of a range had just the effect you might think it would and just like that, I was free.  No opposition any longer in this area for the moment.  Nothing to hunt, nothing to hunt me, just me.  So, that knowledge in my mind, I scavenged the spoils of my victory:  the money and items from the pirates, the two Tapir hides I had needed, and the skin of my surprising kill.  Only after finishing my new, larger rucksack did the sound of the tires screeching hit my ears.

Two more Pirates jumped out of a new vehicle, a truck that lacked a top or a windshield of any kind and I checked my ammo.  Three shots.  I liked those odds.  I charged the truck much as I had charged the last three foes in my path and sent the closest Pirate to me crumpling to the ground.  The other one, as close as he was, was lucky enough to just catch the blade of my machete, still slick with Tiger's blood, across his chest twice, sending him to the beyond.  This truck was mine now, and I had no reason to linger in this area much longer.  As I hopped in and turned around, I heard the shouts of even more Pirates, but I didn't care.  I saw them, however, as I began driving off to the East and I couldn't help but chuckle - they were on foot and they were right in my way.  That didn't work out well for them and it only mildly affected the smoothness of the ride as I soared through, getting a goodly distance away before I stopped the truck and, after a sigh, I pulled out my map once more.  "Alright, now what do I need...."

Yes.  Yes, I would say that I like Far Cry 3 very much.

The Perilous Power of Preconceptions

To say that I go into every game with absolutely nothing to sway my opinion of it, positively or negatively, would be an outright lie, as it is an impossibility.  To say that I try, however is not a lie at all, but just how successful I am at it is..well, probably suspect.  The last two games I have played have probably been victims to this and the next one I am looking forward to playing will likely fall into it as well.  At least, the next game that I am looking forward to playing outside of things that I might expect as gifts or something.  Basically, the next game that I am looking forward to purchasing and popping in the Playstation for a play is the game that I worry I will not be able to judge objectively because of what I already know of it.  What that could mean means that it is, indeed, a very valid concern to have.

The game I'm talking about, of course, is the above-pictured Far Cry 3 which just got a rather glowing review from Chance that is, in fact, entirely responsible for my desire to pick it up.  I had absolutely zero interest in Far Cry 3 prior to the review, which is unfortunate, since I just saw another FPS, but I am assured that it is quite more than that, something much bigger and much better than that.  In fact, what I have been promised, by Chance, is that the game is a tantalizing package of fun that offers things that I -want- and things that I cannot get in other games.  The prospect of a compound bow, of complete stealth in a FPS setting, of situations where I can make my own 'stories' of conquest as it were is almost mouth-watering and by the end of the read, it was all I could do to -only- put the game on my "Dear Mogs, you have to buy this, Love Mogs" list, rather than try to figure out the easiest way I could go out and purchase it -now- (or the best equivalent to 'now' which is generally 'tomorrow'.)

I am excited for Far Cry 3 and that is a dangerous scenario since I was also excited for Final Fantasy XIII-2, having been assured by the echo chamber that is the internet that it was 'the fun one', and overall a 'better game' than XIII.  While I tried to stay impartial, I was -hopeful- to say the least as, even though I liked Final Fantasy XIII, it had its many, many flaws, and to say that I was disappointed with XIII-2 is like saying The Big Bang was kind of a thing that happened.  It is infinitesimally understating matters and when I get around to reviewing the game, I imagine I will make that much clear.  However, in a similar fashion, I went into Final Fantasy XIII expecting something bad, indeed almost feared playing it, yet managed to walk away with a net positive feeling of the game.  That's the rub of it all, really, we color our experiences of a game, the end result of it, by what we went in expecting and, in general, I don't think it does a -lot-, but unfortunately when it does, you can't help but wonder what could have been if you just hoped for something different.

The difference in the scenarios, I imagine, is that what Chance has offered with his painting of Far Cry 3 is something that is tangible, where Final Fantasy XIII and its sequel were always unknowns.  Hearing of sneaking to the tops of towers and shanking a guy before clearing a base with a silenced sniper rifle or, indeed, a compound bow is something that I can quantify enjoyment out of in just theory.  Basically he is describing things in a positive light because they are inherently positive, with not much left up to 'opinion' as it were.  Final Fantasy XIII's battle system, on the other hand, is more objective in that someone can basically love or hate it for the -exact- same reasons, and it just has to be something you accept and/or enjoy, or something that pushes you away completely.  I'm sure it could be argued that Far Cry 3's activities have the same propensity, but look, you know what I meant, damnit.  There just seems to be something of a thrill to be had with Far Cry 3's offerings, simply as they are, where FFXIII could always have been something that just wasn't 'for' me.

Whatever the reason, I think it speaks volumes that it took just a well-written review to put a game directly on my radar, and towards the center of it no less when I had previously intended on giving it no other look than the one I had given to acknowledge it existed.  Yet it is always those experiences, -those- stories that seem to be the ones that end in a complete high note or an unexpectedly low one simply because the amount of pressure the game actually has on it is palpable.  I am confident in Far Cry 3's ability to deliver, however, and when I pick up a copy, likely post-holidays, I cannot wait to delve into its delicious-sounding offerings.  Of course, you know that means that you are totally on the hook, Chance.  So if I don't like the game, that's squarely on your head for making me so excited for the game.  Because I am so very excited for it if that wasn't completely and totally obvious.