1. grazr

   9

   This game was an absolute pleasure to play through; the gameplay was fluid and the skirmish style gameplay of the jungle/brush fighting brings innovation to standard cover based shooters. It makes a change fighting from bush to bush rather than from chest high sandbags to chest high concrete blocks. The only thing i will say is that the ending is a little abrupt. Judging by the map you feel that it's safe to assume that reaching the second island equates to the half way mark in the game, but you'd be wrong. I completed the game before even finding out whether the second island out posts were even capturable; the map hints suggest that they are as they are presented the same on the map as the capturable outposts on the first island, despite the fact that the ingame dialogue suggests you avoid them at all costs. Suddenly all notion of the sandbox leaves the game and all those cool toys you get unlocked and are happy to use only seem to come into play for 3-4 more missions even though they're nothing particularly out of this world; so all the neat gadget-attatchments you were happy to discover and utilise also, for these new weapons, barely enter the game at all; unless you unlock every radio tower before playing through the story (which is impractical). Enjoy the first island while you can and play through at your own pace. Don't be OCD and capture every out post you can at the start as you'll rob youself of interesting "random encounters" like guerilla jungle fights (which also earn you money on the side if you help the rebels win). The crafting is also implemented at a decent level of sophistication. Skyrim was renowned for its unnecasserily tedious power levelling of skill perks and the herb list was extensive, but this game consists of 3 types that produce combat, hunting and healing abilities, the different herbs for each type are only aesthetical. Making it more practical for the casual gamer to bother with. Crafting gear is a little more laborious, different gear (wallets, loot sacks, weapon holsters) requires different animal pelts which appear to be arbitrary (2 goat skins make a tier 3 weapon holster and are available in a tier 1 area whilst a tier 2 loot sack requires a tier 4 animal pelt), but does give a general sense of progression by stalling you from having deep money/loot reservoirs and all weapon slots a fifth of the way through the game. Summary: The characters are interesting and unique, the narrative is relavent to first world activities if not a little predictable plot wise (afghanistan and fictional terrorist attacks on NY are so over rated). The guns offer actual noticable difference in play style and stealth is a legitimate option to even the happy gunners (there's nothing stopping you from stealth killing half the men at an outpost then spraying the others with machinegun fire from the sniper nest you just cleared). But as i said, once you hit the second island and do a couple errands you'll suddenly find yourself at the final mission thinking you still had to liberate the island and get to use your new fanciful gear only half of which you unlocked for free because you avoided radio towers on the second island blocked by restricted zones. I completed the story, liberated the first island, unlocked all the radio towers and did all the *important side missions (hunting/assasinations/medical drop offs) in 12 hours of gameplay. *doing certain side missions unlocks features helpful in the main story arc, such as the final version of all craftable gear or unlocking skills from the skill tree. But there was probably a good 40% more to explore and do. The relics can be largely ignored. They don't unlock gear like in GTA, the radio towers do that. But you'll want to get the radio towers anyway so you're not running blind the entire game so unlocking free gear feels like more of a side affect of not wanting to get lost and being sensible enough to unlock visibility of the map.… Expand

   • Helpful? 2 of 2 users said Yes.
2. MooseSpoon

   6

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. What can be said about this game that has not already been said? It has pleasant graphics and allows you the ability to explore a world. Doing side quests are actually beneficial, such as activating radio towers to unlock weapons for free. Also the atmosphere in the game is great. Unfortunately, the flaws are glaring. Looting seems to be affected by placement often. Good luck skinning that animal as it slowly rolls downhill. Special takedowns seem to be random at times. While the game offers rewards for being stealthy, it often seems the rewards are a pittance. A little extra experience for being silent, great. Perhaps the main reason to bother with stealth is you will likely die if you do not. The plot overall is good with interesting twists. Some predictable, some unexpected. The development of relationships with jason and other characters is quite poor. In fact, it's atrocious. The biographies lend some help, but there is still quite the gap between wanting to save your friends and then wanting to kill them all after you just ran around the island risking your life to find your little brother. Even worse are the endings. Maybe the same group of people are writing the endings to big franchise games lately. If so, they should be fired with extreme prejudice. While the endings in this game aren't nearly as bad as say mass effect 3, they are still slipshod at best. If you choose to save your friends, citra goes on about loving you and ends up dead. Then you get a monologue about jason realising he has become a monster but knowing he is something better. Nothing from your friends. Nothing from Liza, the woman you had up until recently cared significantly for. If you choose to stay with citra, your friends die, including your little brother who you just risked your life over several times (and even lost a finger) to save. It gets better. Then you have sex with her and she kills you out of "love." I'll admit my culture and world view may be different, but I don't invoke "love" as a reason I kill someone. The bottom line from me is this game offers some good things but is largely hindered by its own story plot. I found myself indifferent to the menu. Overall, I found myself asking questions that had no answers.… Expand

   • Helpful? 3 of 3 users said Yes.
3. Lacho236

   3

   An overrated commercial release. The story starts out great. However, it crosses slowly into ridiculous and ends up being an entirely idiotic scoff-fest. It is the story of a 19-year old american kid who never fired a gun or saw a man get killed in his life, who goes forth to become a guerilla warfare expert and the "chosen one" of an ancient tribe of warriors in a matter of days. They even stated it was supposed to be satirical, when it is actually a poor excuse of a story in a full-priced game. It has a bunch of interesting characters which have way too little time on-screen, and a bunch of other characters who are just bland and forgettable. Gameplay seems amazing at first, but after a couple of hours it just becomes repetitive and absurdly easy. The game's health system is easily manipulated with either stabbing yourself continuously with a syringe or digging out a bullet from your forearm for the 50th time. The stealth system in there is just a poor attempt at realism, as all enemies behave like they have Alzheimer's and cataract. Crafting any syringe other than the health one is more trouble than it's worth, and bag-making is just a ladder you will complete quickly. The game has some good voice acting and sound effects, and finally there is the graphics, which are the game's only saving grace. It gets a 3 for the graphics and for the poker and knife-throwing mini-games which end up being more fun than the main gameplay.… Expand

   • Helpful? 6 of 7 users said Yes.

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