Zero Punctuation: Far Cry 3

[Mel Theofficegamergirl]

I wouldn't mind Yahtzee being my source of potassium, if you know what I mean. haha

 

[Krantos]

Well, whadaya know, a positive review. Cool. Might check it out during the winter steamsale, but my cash influx is a bit too low to buy it full-priced ATM.

I was surprised that Yatzhee didn't mention a point of critique I read in my game magazine, which is that while our hero gets a storyarc in which he becomes increasingly badass-yet-unhinged, the actual gameplay lets you mow down baddies from the word go. You may not have offscreen special forces training, but given how well the hero handles a kalashnikov at full auto he might as well. They made it sound like it would have been a good idea to implement the original Deus Ex's skill system.

Now I wonder if my game magazine was just whining or if Yathzee is really turning into a soft banana. Anyone here who played the game care to shed some light on this? Did you feel a disconnect between the protagonist's character and actions?

To a degree, I agree they could have handled it better. Your character seems a little too able to take on Pirates once you get your first gun, despite his own admission (yes he does talk) that he's never shot anyone. However, the upgrades you get over the course of the game do a nice job giving you a sense of progression.

That said, they did do a good job showing Jason's reactions to the things he's doing. It's one of the few times in games where a player character is established to never have killed anyone before and then actually has a reaction to that first kill.

Haven't gotten that far in the game, so I don't know, personally, how well that aspect holds up later, though.

I guess the Readers Digest version is character progression and development is a big things for me, and it didn't bother me overmuch that he was a crack shot when you first start off. The game does enough things to handicap you (like the slightly frantic feel to stand up fights Yahtzee mentions) and encourage creative approaches to fights, that it feels more like you're outsmarting your enemies than overpowering them. Mostly.

So, take that for what it's worth.

 

[Something Amyss]

Loved the rose bush pruning and tactical mauling commentary.

 

[Casual Shinji]

A tiger with ties to Al Quida, now there's a thought. lol!

It's not just a thought, it's full blown duo on a magic carpet.

OOON A MAGIC CARPET RIII-*Crashes into large building*

That must've been one hell of a magic carpet then.

 

[1nfinite_Cros5]

Nothing wrong with mellowing out, Yahtzee. Just glad to see that there's more good games coming out and that you were one of the causes that steered developers in the right way with your industry connections.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

A tiger with ties to Al Quida, now there's a thought. lol!

It's not just a thought, it's full blown duo on a magic carpet.

...what? What is that from?

 

[Sacman]

Heh... actually sounds like my kind of shit...<.<

My friend was telling me it was really good earlier this week... I was skeptical... but now that I've heard a better explanation it sounds right up my alley...<.<

 

[Zealous]

After watching the Video Games Awesome guys play the game, I noticed a glaring flaw in the game that I kinda hoped Yahtzee would address: Every now and then, your cell phone will ring. Your character will immediately drop what he's doing, answer it, and agree to do whatever he's asked to do, which locks you into doing a mission. If, at any point after this, you set one foot outside the designated but unmarked "mission zone", you fail the mission. But it gets worse: Failing a mission has the same effect as dying, where the screen goes black and you reload at the last checkpoint with all your progress lost.

Maybe it's just me, but this seems unforgivable. I've never played any other sandbox game that forces you to follow the storyline at its designated pace without any sidetracking. It kind of defeats the whole purpose of being a sandbox game. I'd like to think Yahtzee would agree. Maybe he just never triggered it, but given his fondness for idly fucking around in sandbox games, that would surprise me.

Well actually that only happens for story missions. After completing the last one you'll usually get a phone call (or just directly talk to someone) and then you get a waypoint on your map. If you go to that waypoint then the mission will start and you'll usually have a limited space to play the mission through in. You can always just abandon the mission though if you wandered into the waypoint by accident.

I was surprised that Yatzhee didn't mention a point of critique I read in my game magazine, which is that while our hero gets a storyarc in which he becomes increasingly badass-yet-unhinged, the actual gameplay lets you mow down baddies from the word go. You may not have offscreen special forces training, but given how well the hero handles a kalashnikov at full auto he might as well. They made it sound like it would have been a good idea to implement the original Deus Ex's skill system.

One thing that annoys me is how the character is already a "badass" (unless he opens his mouth) in terms of gameplay right at the start of the game. After they give you a weapon you can just go in a random killing spree and easily make out of it alive, I would have liked to have the guns sway more and have an increased recoil at the start of the game and having the character being slower and more easily tired, etc... Then with the upgrades he would become more like the character that he is.

There's one mission where it reveals a bit of backstory saying that Jason is "a natural" at shooting and that he received practice with his older brother at a firing range. He's also an adrenaline junkie so he'd have a pretty good constitution and strength. Jason's problems with killing at the start of the game have to do with his disgust for taking people's lives not the fact that he was incapable of firing a gun. At least that's the way I see it.

 

[Poetic Nova]

Actually the first ZP in a long while that made me laugh. And it looks like I have a game to add on my wishlist.

 

[Remus]

We have no cassowarys here. Is it still a holiday if I just flambe'd a pheasant?

 

[franksands]

He is indeed becoming soft, he did even call BLOPs and CoD shooters isntead of spunk gargle weewee

 

[remnant_phoenix]

So I guess we can guarantee that Spec Ops: The Line, Xcom: Enemy Unknown, and Far Cry 3 will all be on his Top 5 of the year.

Also, every time he said "I am a banana" I was reminded of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuOvqeABHvQ

Ninja'd!

I was gonna say:

So, Spec Ops: The Line will be his game of the year, followed by Far Cry 3, then XCOM: Enemy Unknown.

Calling it now.

Also, that'll be a kick in the teeth to the butthurts who said "Yahtzee just doesn't like shooters" after the MW3/BF3 getting "worst game" last year. His favorites include two shooters, with realistic settings to boot!

 

[The Great JT]

Far Cry 3 makes one thing perfectly clear: Games Need More Tigers.

 

[geizr]

That was actually kinda refreshing, to hear something that sounds more like a genuine critique of a game (like the original Yahtzee of the old days) rather than just a mouth-foaming nerd-rage rant.

 

[Beryl77]

Far Cry 3 was a big surprise for me. I didn't expect anything good from it, since I hated Far Cry 2 (although I did kinda like FC1 but never finished it). I was actually surprised that it was about to be released because I hadn't been following the news about FC3 at all. I knew nothing about it but I tried it when I visited a friend who already had it.
Great game, like Yahtzee said, Ubi fixed pretty much all the flaws that FC2 had.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Between this and Totalbuiscut's impression video it looks like Far Cry 3 would have been fun.

Unfortunately I'm all taped out for gaming purchases this year.

 

[Erttheking]

Well fuck, I was going to give this game a miss, but since Yahtzee liked it, what else can I do besides buy it?

 

[PotatoeMan]

I had the same tiger incident. Didn't like the repair kit taking up a weapon slot as you rarely use it but I guess there are enough cars around and the fast travel means you don't get stuck anywhere anyway.