Genre: FPS
Available Platforms: PC, PS3, 360
Platform I played it on: PC
Developer(s): Ubisoft Montreal, Ubisoft Shanghai
Publisher: Ubisoft
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a love letter. A love letter to the fans. A love letter from Ubisoft to their developers telling them to go nuts and create whatever the hell they want to. Most of all though, it’s a love letter to the cheesy action B-movies from yesteryear that everyone knows are bad but can’t help but love. This is why I love this little gem, it’s not afraid to just have some good, old-fashioned FUN.
The story is dumb and irreverent, set in the bright neon future of 2007 (remember that?) and following Rex Colt, a cyborg commando, trying to stop his old Colonel who has gone rogue and is trying to create an army of super-soldiers. He hopes to accomplish this by harnessing the power of the blood from “blood dragons”, powerful dinosaur-like beasts (pictured above). The story doesn’t make sense and doesn’t take itself serious at all, which is what makes it so refreshing and awesome. It serves to be a satire on old action movies as much as it pokes fun at the seriousness that the video game industry is so full of these days. Basically, it boils down to the tried and trusted plot of all action movies ever: get the girl and fuck shit up. You get a ride a laser dinosaur, what more can you POSSIBLY ask for?
The game is built using the same engine and basic mechanics as Far Cry 3, but that’s about where the similarities end. Being a stand-alone, download-only game, it doesn’t have much by way of content, but what it does have is simply too amazing for words. The entire game looks like its straight out a sci-fi writer’s fever dream; full of bright neon lights offset by the sterile, dystopian “future” architecture. Yet, somehow, in a weird way, it is one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever had the privilege of playing. The most important thing about it is that you can just feel the developers had a ton of fun going nuts making this little stand-alone title. If you switch off, sit back and just enjoy the ride the game wants to take you on, you might just feel the love and happiness that was poured into it. The humour and vision is so well conveyed that you can’t help but get sucked up in it all, you know?
The standard Far Cry 3 experience has been streamlined, with action being smoother and faster, leveling up being simplified, crafting being removed completely, and the open world being smaller and more compact. There are a few side quests, like saving scientists around the island, that are just for some extra XP, cash and an opportunity to have some more fun with the game. There are the standard Ubisoft-approved bases to take over, hunting and collectibles to well… collect. It’s Far Cry, but so much more fun and out of this world. Sadly the drug trips that made my time with the base game so memorable aren’t here, but you do get some magic mumbo-jumbo thrown in for good measure. And of course all the lasers. God, so many lasers…
Overall, this game has provided me with some of the most fun I’ve ever had with a video game. I would recommend this title to everyone, it’s just that good. You can pick it up for next to nothing online on PSN, Xbox Live Marketplace and for PC (somewhere). I finished it in a single sitting because I just couldn’t be pulled away from it, it was so addicting. It’s absolutely amazing for what it is: just a fun little side project. It’s quite literally a shot of video game morphine: it doesn’t last long or have any particular substance or reason, but goddamn if it’s not just the most unadulterated fun you will ever have.
Conclusion: 5 Killstar’s out of a possible 5
RANDOM MUSINGS 