Have you ever looked at something that was so beautiful at first glance that you couldn’t help but look at it closer only to find that there are mistakes all over that slowly seep through, leaving nothing in its wake but a shell of what you thought it was? No, I’m not talking about a past relationship; I’m talking about the newly released Far Cry 5. While I have thoroughly enjoyed the series, much like many of the other Ubisoft titles, this game is highly unpolished at release and is plagued with bugs on an epic scale. How bad is it? Let’s just say I spent 2 hours with Microsoft debating the fact I should be allowed a refund for my digital purchase, which was unsuccessful.

The title places you in the shoes of a U.S. Marshal being sent to retrieve the leader of a paramilitary cult that has taken over a small town in Montana that is wanted for a number of charges. Things don’t go according to plan and you soon end up joining a group of rebels that are trying to take back their homes and save their loved ones from the group. The antagonist and his family are a fairly interesting group of characters, but they don’t come anywhere close to posing the threat that Michael Mando’s Vaas did in Far Cry 3. You’ll spend your time taking over outposts, destroying cult properly, freeing hostages, among other options. These missions are well varied and break up the monotony that previous entries were known for. I particularly enjoyed the stunt racing that had ‘Murica written all over it, with its bald eagle and firework spectacle that starts each race, coupled with the southern rock soundtrack that backs them. I was honestly waiting for a Donald Trump lookalike to pop out at the finish line with his MAGA hat on.

Many of the mechanics and controls are carbon copies of past games in the series and rarely disappoint, although Ubisoft has dumbed down the hunting aspect to the point that it barely is present anymore. While there are some missions requiring you to hunt down a specific type of animal, they are no longer used for crafting. I’m not normally one for crafting as it’s normally boring, but I thoroughly enjoyed the hunting required to carry additional weapons or make other upgrades that the previous games required. This is more of an afterthought, with wildlife being much more sparsely placed (unless you’re driving, at which point deer and other animals stand in the road in huge groups), reducing the chances of a random tiger attacking you in the middle of creeping around a base like the past games. These were some of the most memorable moments in the franchise. Sure, fishing has been added as an alternative, but it’s about as much fun as sitting out by the water in real life, and at least there’s normally beer involved in reality. And Nature. Oh, and mosquitos. So I guess that is a bit of a tradeoff.

Visually the game is pretty impressive from the get go, featuring a huge map that can fully be accessed without additional loading screens, although the initial one is a bit of a killer – it takes close to 5 minutes to get in game if not using one of the console’s resume features. The water and lighting effects are amazing and make the wilderness settings really stand out. I’d often stop and take in the scenery while exploring. The character models look photo realistic at many points, but other small details are lacking and break immersion: tires cannot be shot out of vehicles and glass does not display bullet holes from the outside but will shatter if driving. Sure, these might be petty complaints, but when the visuals are THAT good, you’d think they could have added these small touches. In addition to this, many of the character models for NPCs and enemies are recycled to the point that it feels like you’re shooting at turtles and mushrooms from Super Mario Bros.

I know that up until now my review hasn’t been all that bad compared to my opening – that’s about to change. This game is the buggiest thing I have ever played in my life, and most are not even mildly entertaining like those found in Mass Effect Andromeda. Many of the cut scenes are 3-5 seconds out of sync, and when the cult leader is longer winded than Negan of The Walking Dead, it’s a problem. I’d often zone out, only paying attention to the lips moving with his dead eyes staring at me, opposed to following the narrative. There is also a repeated story segment which overstays its welcome: the leader sends some highly trained soldiers after you, relentlessly pursuing you until you are brought in for a nightmare like sequence. Not only was I pissed this happened as I was en route to do some major damage to a cult base, I would like to know how the hell they pulled me from midair, in a helicopter, from the ground without dying. Add this to the occasionally bullet proof bear or enemy, random unexplained deaths, invisible walls, and the game breaking error I received around 1/3 of the way to completion, and it’s obvious my time in Eden Falls has been less than a joy. I’ve also been screwed out of 100% completion, as one of the many collectibles (a silo filled with explosives) was blown up as I was dying. This wouldn’t be a big deal if I got credit for it, but I didn’t. There’s an icon telling me where the same one is, which I have revisited and now, a lone enemy is in a field in place of it. Similar issues have popped up mid-mission as well, forcing me to restart one of the air combat missions from the beginning, which caused me motion sickness. At this point, I’ve given up on the story and am hoping for a patch to fix this.

The game offers an Arcade suite, which can be played in co-op much like the main game; however, the option is only available for friends when playing PvE with no matchmaking being present. Since I am a hermit with no friends playing the title, I can’t speak to what the co-op is like, but I imagine it being more of the same. The additional community made maps range in variety and gameplay, but most that I’ve played are mediocre at best, much like the main game. The good news is that your XP and abilities from the main game carry over between the two modes. The PvP mode fares a bit better, but is just another Call of Duty clone that will likely have a dead community within a matter of weeks, if not less. The only saving grace to this is the map editor which has some fun tools and assets from other Ubisoft titles that can be used.

In its current state I cannot recommend paying full price for this, as the fun quickly wears off as it’s eaten alive by the many glitches and bugs that are present. I would recommend revisiting one of the many other titles in the series and waiting for Far Cry 5 to be patched and found in the bargain bin.

5 out of 10

Pros

• Some Truly Amazing Visuals
• Variety of Missions
• Huge Open World with No Mid-Map Loading

Cons

• Bugs Galore
• Hunting No Longer a Requirement
• Visual Inconsistencies
• Lackluster Arcade Mode

Far Cry 5 was developed and published by Ubisoft. It launched on PC, PS4, and X1 on March 27th, 2018. The game was not provided to us for review on X1. If you’d like to see more of Far Cry 5, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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