There’s a lot to like about weaponized animals in Ubisoft’s Himalayan romp.
The fictional mountain country of Kyrat is pretty special. It’s got enough cliffs, slopes and scenic waterfalls to kill a whole gaggles of unbalanced tourists. And it seems to be run by a raving maniac with a funky shock of hair who dispenses discipline with a bloody penknife. Pagan Min’s portrayal by Troy Baker was amazing during the Ubisoft conference, but fancy voice acting can only go so far. Far Cry 4 promises to deliver the open world first person shooter gameplay you’ve come to expect from the series in glorious next gen graphics, allowing you to tackle challenges like capturing a stronghold however you like to play. But that’s not the best part. The best part is the murderous honey badgers.
Seriously. In the mission I played at Ubisoft’s hands on event on Monday night of E3 2014 there was a honey badger indiscriminately killing enemy soldiers. Honey badger don’t give a fuck.
I could also ride an elephant to assault the base. Stampy, or Peanuts as you might want to nickname your pet elephant, will also attack your enemies automatically, but you can also direct his strong headbutts with a button press. Of course, there’s not a lot of cover available on the top of 12 foot tall elephant, so you might get shot right off. It’s dangerous to ride animals without adult supervision.
True to the series’ strengths, the stronghold assault can be accomplished any number of ways. You can ride headfirst in with the elephant, or try to sneak in and use stealth attacks to take out the enemy soldiers. I’m not the backstabbiest guy, but I gave the stealth tactic the old college try and I wasn’t disappointed. You can quietly attack folks with the new automatic crossbow weapon so as not to immediately alert the whole base. There’s also some interesting ways you can manipulate the environment to increase your chances of success. You can cut the brakes for a jeep on a hill, and the vehicle will roll down and possible take out a few guards with gravity alone. It’s also a good idea to cut the alarm wires so they can’t call in reinforcements.
The mission to assault the base was tuned pretty high in difficulty, so I died quite a bit. Sadly, the alpha build had a super long loading screen, which can kill the desire to experiment with different playstyles. I know the long wait will be removed, but it did effect my enjoyment with this build.
I’m sure we’ll learn more about Kyrat, Pagan Min and the crazy killer animals as we get closer to release but for now I’m excited to play Far Cry 4 based on the honey badger alone.
Look for Far Cry 4 to come out November 18th on Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4 and on PC.
