Fiery fun

Far Cry 6 brings back its arsenal of chaotic fun with animal sidekicks, flame throwers and bizarre situations

Far Cry 6
Rating: 4/5
Developer: Ubisoft
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform: PC, PS3, Ps4, XBO, XBS
Price: Rs 3,999

Far Cry 6 puts you in the shoes of Dani Rojas who due to circumstances has become a reluctant rebel hero in the fictional country of Yara. The country is ruled by Anton Castillo played by Giancarlo Esposito of Breaking Bad and The Mandalorian fame. Yara happens to have mass farms of tobacco, which once sprayed with a chemical compound becomes valuable Viviro Tobacco that can be sold to pharmaceutical companies as a cancer cure. Anton, like any elected dictator, wants to use Viviro to turn Yara into a paradise. This of course comes at the expense of the countries’ citizens who are falling sick thanks to exposure to the chemical and are being used as forced labour in Viviro farms. It is a bit farfetched, but then so is a pet crocodile and a cyborg dog, both of which this game has.

As Dani, you have to make friends, take down the bad guys and set fire to their farms and chemicals. The entire game is of course played in first person and the cut scenes are in third person mode. As is tradition with Far Cry games, the combat here is chaotic and a lot of fun. This is mostly thanks to the wide range of weapons and the inclusion of Supremos. Supremos are essentially backpacks that have unique abilities ranging from holding a barrage of rockets to an ability to shoot through walls. They are a fun addition to Far Cry 6 and at times made the game feel a bit like Just Cause. Of course you also have all the regular SMGs, assault rifles and flame throwers. The enemy this time around is also unique; before every mission it is best to scan the enemy from afar and figure out their weaknesses and then change your load out to match.

If you are an expert marksman headshots work regardless of what the soldiers load out is. This is a little hard to achieve on a console, I tested the game on an Xbox Series S, on a PC I could have probably gone in guns blazing in most situations. Whereas with the controller I felt I needed to plan every assault. Despite the variety in the enemies, the enemy-AI is all over the place. Sometimes they play well, by taking cover and flanking you. While most other times they will straight up run up to you, this includes snipers. Even the AI of the side characters is a little glitchy. In a mission involving the Monteros, a family of rebel tobacco farmers. The character froze on her horse mid-way while she was leading me to her outpost. I had to kill her horse to get the game moving. There are a few more glitches that I faced but this one by far was the worst. I was just thankful I didn’t have to restart from a checkpoint.

There are several modes of transport available to you in Yara. You can call for a car at any location, or call for a plane at an airstrip, boats and horses are all over the place. Not to mention you essentially commandeer any vehicle around. I found it best to travel on foot to most places unless they were far away, in which case I either called for a car or just grabbed the closest vehicle.

Other than weapons in combat, Dani also has access to Amigos. Essentially, animal friends who she can use to take down enemies. There are a total of seven amigos with only five available in the standard edition of the game. I managed to unlock Guano the crocodile, Chorizo the dog, Chicharron the chicken and Boom Boom another dog. The Jaguar Oluso was a lot harder to unlock and I didn’t end up unlocking it through the course of the game.

Far Cry 6 also has hunting, fishing and cock fighting as leisure activities. The fishing is not as fun or challenging as Red Dead Redemption, so I mostly ignored it. Hunting is fun once you acquire the bow and arrow. However, the most fun is to be had in Cock Fighting, which is a one-on-one combat game like Mortal Kombat. You essentially choose a cock at the start and each has a unique fighting ability that you can use during combat. The mini game seriously deserves its own separate title and probably its own mobile app. I would probably pay for it.

Overall, Far Cry 6 clocks in with over 40 hours of gameplay, which can be extended with DLCs and side missions. You can even enjoy the game with a friend in co-op mode. Far Cry 6 at its core is every Far Cry game with some additions. While it is predictable, the game itself is a lot of fun to play and that is what matters at the end of the day. So despite the glitches, this sixth edition of Far Cry is a buy for any first person action buff or fan of the series. Worth the asking price.

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