(SPOILE)Great game, but the story is lackluster and pretty disappointing

I noticed the graphics and the sound of explosions and noises of the environment is not as good as far cry 2. You can't click R3 to see behind you when you are driving or running. The stealth element however is better than far cry 2 though and the opportunity to fast travel is great. At least its a relief to know that everyone you bump into is not your enemy whilst exploring the world whereas far cry 2 it got frustrating. One thing for definite is the music in the game is crap in comparison to far cry 2.

My opinion:

Story - 3/10
Graphics - 8/10
Voice Acting - 2/10
Gameplay - 7/10

I like the open world.

I agree with the OP. To me Far Cry 3 makes a mostly great game, and a mostly awful movie.

Not only is the story rather rubbish, it unfolds in a very annoying way. You can't skip any cutscene (and they are looooong), even when you have to reload them (and you will have to, probably many times).

And when you face the "bosses" so to speak, you rarely get to use your actual skills, your practiced gameplay and/or your carefully and meticulously aquired equipment to defeat them. No, you'll get thrown into a lengthy little movie where you're suddenly prompted to press absurd buttons/keys which you never assigned to do any of those actions, for the sake of this spesific little cutscene. And then it's over.

It shouldn't feel more satisfying sniping down a random guardpost than defeating one of the major characters in the story, but it does -- a lot more.

SPOILERS:
The ending is what really does it for me. The "choice" is absurd and makes no sense, and it makes no sense that Citra would act like that. Jason had already decided to stay. I don't think any sane person would choose to suddenly decide the events of the whole game had been for nothing and kill your girlfriend and friends for the sake of a crazed bitch who've suddenly betrayed you, captured said people and even made you make a choice like that.

I pretty much agree with the OP's sentiment. The story was...just meh, it didn't really pull me in like the way the story in 2 pulled me in. Far Cry 2 really was Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, one of my favorite pieces of literature and the inspiration for Apocalypse Now. More than that though it dealt with some pretty serious issues, particularly regarding the civil wars in Africa, the use of conflict diamonds as a means in which to finance genocide and civil conflict, and the prevailing use of mercenaries in those countries to carry out proxy wars. Heavy duty stuff there, all based in fact. This one was a more-or-less original story, but it failed to resonate with me in any way because it was, for a lack of a better term, so Hollywood. It was over the top, but in a lazy sort of way that made me not care. Didn't care for any of the main characters, except for Vaas who was truly a brilliantly written villain and could have been much better used as Jason's nemesis throughout. Seriously wasted opportunity there.

But clearly this game was not meant to be played for the story, rather more for the experience. And the experience they created was amazing. I do hope if a new game is in the foreseeable future, Ubi decides to go back to the more serious approach that made Far Cry 2 so engrossing, while keeping it fun and exciting the way Far Cry 3 was.



--Skid Row Bro--

I'd have to disagree with you here, I think as far as games go t he storyline was gripping all the way through.

Maybe I'm just too easily pleased!

I really enjoyed the game, but it did have many flaws, not least of all the daft storyline, some throwback of an 80s action flick with all it's tact and subtlety.

I too was expecting something darker, more focused on survival in a hostile environment while being pursued by wonderful psycho Vas, than becoming a White Warrior, mooching around blowing *beep* up, rescuing the dumb savages like some rehash of Avatar.

STALKER, Shadow of Chernobyl set a benchmark for me in free-roaming immersion and atmosphere and this seemed arcade-y in comparison.

...Which isn't neccesarily a bad thing- Farcry 3, despite naff storyline, was a helluva lotta fun to play over the christmas period and was extremely well made- balanced tactics and difficulty and the diversity of combat/missions/skills made it entertaining as hell, but, like an 80s action flick, a wee bit forgettable.

I stopped playing about halfway through the 2nd island. It started getting somewhat tedious. I enjoyed the game play, but the story became a fairly trivial "kill everyone" revenge plot that just didn't keep me interested. I may finish it at some point, but I haven't touched it in 2-3 months now.

I completely agree about the annoyance of button sequence mashing scenes. I also found the radio towers becoming increasingly more of a pain in the ass to climb to be a fairly pointless endeavor.

One thing I did enjoy was trying to take over each base with complete stealth. Some were easy, others were damn near impossible.

Yeah, overall, the story and especially acting was pretty terrible. That guy who voiced and mo-capped Vaas was great, but he was about it. Story-wise it sucked. I think what irritated me the most was how hard Ubisoft tried to be grown-up and mature. The whole gay sex-slave subplot was blatantly attempting to be shocking and adult, but it just did not work.

Oh, and one more thing I thought I should add: It's a videogame. What did you expect?