THE STORY SO FAR (CRY)

A quick refresher for the open world shooter’s exploits on PlayStation

FAR CRY 2 PS3 – 9/10 The first entry on PlayStation (the original was a PC exclusive) sent you to Africa, infected your character with malaria and put you on the trail of The Jackal, an arms dealer whose complexity stands out among Far Cry’s more overt villains. A divisive entry due to its heightened realism and illness meter, we could all agree on one thing: watching a fire spread in real time was mesmeric.

FAR CRY 3 – PS3 – 9/10 Backpackers headed off on holiday and got a little more than they bargained for in this fantastic follow-up. There were plenty of reasons this felt like a step-up, improved melee takedowns and tagging enemies using the camera among them, and thanks to Vaas and the lush landscapes, it had a compelling wrong ’un to fight and some engrossing locations to discover. The series’ high point.

FAR CRY 3: BLOOD

DRAGON – PS3 – 7/10 More spin-off than DLC, this dodgy ’80s-sci-fi-inspired game gave you a completely new story to blast your way through. Stepping into the cybernetic shoes of “badass” Rex Colt, this stripped some of the meatier systems of Far Cry 3 – such as the crafting – but rampaging through a tongue-in-cheek version of 2007 made up for that. Also, getting Aliens and Terminator star Michael Biehn to voice Colt was money

very well spent by the Ubisoft audio team.

2008 2012 2013

2014

FAR CRY CLASSIC PS3 – N/A A rerelease of the PC original, this gave PlayStation owners the chance to see how the series first began. Developed by Crytek (which went on to make Crysis, another open-world shooter series), you played as Jack Carver, who found himself trying to escape an island full of mutants. A decent history lesson for PlayStation gamers and diehard Far Cry fans, but few chose playing this over the shiny sequel that was waiting just around the corner…

2014

FAR CRY 4 PS4 / PS3 – 9/10 Heading to the fictional Himalayan region of Kyrat, the series’ PS4 debut brought in Buzzers (small helicopters) and elephant riding as protagonist Ajay Ghale attempted to return his mother’s ashes to her homeland and ended up toppling the reign of Pagan Min. Troy Baker played the pink-suit-loving menace, and the mountains enabled some excellent freeform combat.

2016

FAR CRY PRIMAL PS4 – 6/10 We went back to prehistoric times for this spin-off, but that’s not the only way it felt dated. Playing as Takkar, you had to build up your tribe, the Wenja, while taking on other, violent gangs who roamed the land of Oros. A fun idea in theory – and our love of owl bombs won’t ever be diminished – this leaned too much on unsatisfying hand-to-hand combat and odd side-characters.