Far Cry 3

I finished the game Far Cry 3 today.  According to the conventions of video games, that means I finally won the climactic boss fight, completed a daring escape from enemy territory, and made some final decisions affecting the outcome of the game. 

I started playing back on January 27 and according to the in-game stats, I played for about 62 hours. According to the Steam statistics though, the game took me 102 hours to complete.  The difference is probably that the game only counted my forward progress, while Steam counted all the time I spent trying and re-trying every task until I was finally successful.

Alert readers may recall that the game was part of a bundle I purchased back last Thanksgiving, when I took advantage of a Steam sale and bought six new games all for the price of one new, first-run game.  Having already completed Hitman (2016) and another Far Cry game, New Dawn, from that same bundle, I'm now halfway through the package.    

This was the fourth Far Cry game that I've played.  I previously played Far Cry 4 and 5, as well as the sequel to Far Cry 5, the aforementioned New Dawn.  3 came out back in 2012 and I was a little apprehensive about the age of the game (eight is an eternity in video-game years).  However, it played fine and even though it didn't have some of the innovations  of later Far Cry games (in-game companions, unusual weapons, complex skills systems, etc.), the experience was fine.  In fact, it could be argued that without a lot of the so-called improvements distracting from the actual game-play itself, Far Cry 3 delivered a more immersive experience.  

The story (no spoilers) basically has you, the player, as one of a group of friends vacationing on a South Pacific island when you accidentally sky-dive into pirates' territory.  Your friends are taken hostage but you escape, and the game involves you rescuing your buddies one by one, while fighting the small army of pirates and mercenaries encamped on the island.  You get around the island by driving jeeps and ATVs, hang gliders and wing suits, inflatable rafts and jet skis.  Fun!  Oh, and the island has tigers, jaguars, bears, sharks, and other predators, too, so mere survival is another whole challenge.  

As your character fights his way across the island, he is changed by the experience as well, becoming more feral, more reckless, and nearly unrecognizable to the friends he's saving. Each chapter of the game starts with a quote from Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland, reflecting your character's gradual descent into madness. Sure, the story isn't Shakespeare but it's enough to keep you playing and overtaking outpost after outpost, and exploration of the beautiful island "paradise" alone makes the game a compelling experience.

The lead villain, Vaas (shown above), is played by the actor Michael Mando, who portrays bad-guy Nacho Varga in the television series, Better Call Saul.  On a side note, I'm currently binge-watching the four seasons of BCS in preparation of the premiere of Season 5 in two weeks, so I'm getting maximum Mando exposure right now.  

I have three more games queued up in my Steam bundle yet to be played.  I'm not sure which game I'll play next but in any event, I might take a short break before leaping into the next.