We are introduced to Pagan Min from the beginning in what is one of the greatest cinematics you’ll see to date, after he slits a few throats and takes Ajay for dinner, you will already understand what a lunatic he really is. Pagan Min, played by videogame A-lister Troy Baker, is a well-dressed dictator who wants nothing more than to murder the Golden Path members and rule Kyrat with an iron fist.
The outstanding performance however comes from the villain, as we can expect from a series which has always pushed the antagonist ahead of the hero. At times you’ll be wondering who stands for what, and wondering why they are in charge. The characters themselves are all a bit dull and forgettable too with no true introductions to key members of the narrative. It doesn’t hamper the game itself but you feel in a series which has become more and more about narrative, the transformation happens a bit too quickly. In the space of just one mission, Ajay will transform from perplexed tourist into a cold blooded killer, hitting headshots with his bow, shooting down helicopters with an RPG and skinning bears for meat. But Far Cry 4 hits that typical videogame character development flaw. The set-up is an interesting one, and certainly more believable than Far Cry 3’s holiday goer come ‘the chosen one’ who was destined to murder as many pirates and human traffickers as is humanly possible. Things all go south when you reach the Kyrati border though, and instead of fulfilling your mother’s wish, you are swept into a civil war where you join forces with the Golden Path, the freedom fighting organisation set up by your Kyrati parents, in order to bring down the raving mad dictator. As Ajay Ghale, a 22-year-old Kyrati born American citizen, you arrive in Kyrat to scatter you mother’s ashes. Following in the success of 2012’s Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4 takes us to another region torn apart by murder, genocide and a raving mad dictator, the small Himalayan nation of Kyrat.
In a world full of dangerous animals, dangerous enemies and all-round danger, Far Cry 4 is without doubt one of the most exciting, entertaining and beautiful games to be released this year. Well, at that point the lemonade can wait and you can make more of an elephant and communist minestrone soup!
They say when life gives you lemons you make lemonade, but what if life doesn’t give you lemons? What if instead, life gives you an Asian elephant, a fully loaded rocket launcher and a fortress, bursting full of enemy soldiers lining up for slaughter.
Reviews // 11th Dec 2014 - 7 years ago // By Dom D'Angelillo Far Cry 4 Review