Far Cry 6 Review: ‘Fails to evolve the series’

FAR CRY 6 REVIEW FOR PC, PS5, PS4, XBOX SERIES X|S, AND XBOX ONE. 

Far Cry games are usually a safe choice for satisfying first-person shooter action taking place in a big open world, with a story driven by an exceptionally charismatic villain who loosely ties things together. There’s normally very little standing in the way of fun, especially when a co-op buddy joins the fight. However, while Far Cry 6 does have the staple arsenal of guns, open world, big villain, and full-featured co-op, this installment disappointingly fails to evolve the series in any meaningful way.

Guerrilla warfare

Far Cry 6 puts players in the shoes of a bloodthirsty modern-day guerrilla fighter going up against the dictator in charge of Yara, a fictional Caribbean island. The dictator, Antón Castillo, is played by Giancarlo Esposito who, once he starts appearing more frequently at about five hours in, is fantastic. His performance here almost matches the intensity of Breaking Bad’s Gus, his star-making role, and he is a real treat to watch.

The rest of the cast is good, too, with Yara’s populace boasting a lot of variety and vibrancy in its characters, even if this also has the unfortunate side-effect of filing down the edges of its dark story. The levity resulting from the constant jokes and banter was too much for me, ultimately undermining the overarching plot. It’s a shame as Antón and his son Diego do experience some interesting developments, but there’s no big payoff.

That’s a huge map

Far Cry 6’s map is massive. When you complete the prologue and escape the initial island, it’s overwhelming just how much space becomes accessible to you. You’re given three missions to start in any order and then sent on your way.

Traversing the map is initially done by vehicle or horseback. I eventually opted for the latter, as vehicles get their tires spiked at enemy checkpoints. Later, I got a helicopter, which is shot down by enemy anti-air guns. There are side mission activities to take the checkpoints for yourself and destroy the AA guns, but I’m not a fan of having to divert from the main mission path, especially for the same repetitive task. I eventually learned that I could just spawn in mid-air at a fast travel point and skydive to each new mission to save time.

Getting in the way of my gunplay

Once you get to the mission marker, it’s time to sneak around for a bit before “going loud” and laying waste with your arsenal of weapons. Far Cry 6 does an excellent job in this department, with plenty of guns to unlock and customize with various attachments. I was regularly switching out newly-unlocked guns and they all felt great to use.

However, the Rock, Paper, Scissors ammo type system puts a major downer on things. Having to match up an ammo type against the enemy you are facing just isn’t a fun mechanic. It slows the pacing all the way down, with enemies transforming into sponges, and feels like a feature that was implemented for the sake of it. Combine this with the seemingly unimproved AI and there’s little satisfaction in taking soldiers down.

What should be the stars of the show in gameplay are the Supremo abilities and Resolver weapons. Supremos are extraordinarily powerful weapons contained in the player’s backpack. They can be made to fire a barrage of auto-targeting missiles, filled with a drug that causes the player to be faster and get an unstoppable melee attack, send out a big burst of energy, and more. It’s enormous fun!

The Resolver weapons are homemade guns that can be tremendously powerful. The nailgun returns here and is great for stealth, while the fireworks rocket launcher comes in handy for dealing with helicopters and tanks. It’s just a shame that these weapons didn’t feature more in the main story, as I feel like unlocking them through main missions would have really spiced things up, but they’re instead locked behind a currency earned through side missions.

Dani’s best friend

Another highlight to the gameplay is the Amigos system. These are animal companions who will assist you on missions. They can distract or take down a few enemies for you, which can be useful in the earlier stages of the game. However, while I loved having these good boys around, especially Chorizo the dachshund, I found myself forgetting about them during later missions. It’s also pretty sloppy how the Amigos suddenly move at high speed to keep up to you while driving or sailing around. Seeing Guapo the Alligator Usain Bolting it to keep up with my car had me in tears. Funny, but sloppy.

Far Cry 6 is made for co-op, incorporating the same drop-in drop-out system that we saw in Far Cry 5. If you can get a buddy to fill in the downtime traveling between missions, and also while completing the more tedious objectives, then you’ll enjoy FC6 a lot more. The game appears easier in co-op, too, which is helpful for those making a beeline straight through the main missions to the ending, before potentially going back and trying out some side content.

How much is too much?

Having decided to focus on the main missions before tackling other diversions, I found myself encountering a “Rank up to stand up to STRONGER soldiers” message. I initially balked at the hint, thinking back to the Assassin’s Creed games that forced me to complete side quests so I could rank up for the next main mission, but changing weapons and ammo types allowed me passage through the remainder of the game.

It took me 15 hours in total to beat the campaign, but for those players who have the patience to pick up every bit of scrap and take out every single enemy, doing more than the occasional side mission, and traveling less optimally between missions, I can see Far Cry 6 taking the average player 18-20 hours to beat. There is an easier mode available, which I think many will opt for given how annoying the new ammo mechanics are, which will no doubt make for a shorter adventure.

Far Cry 6’s side missions are all about quantity rather than quality, which is something that most Ubisoft fans will now expect. Populating a massive map with an outrageous number of markers is expected and I imagine fans would be shocked by a tighter, more refined experience. There’s a ridiculous amount of things to do, most of which aren’t memorable or are memorable for the wrong reasons, like the cockfighting activity which puts a “fun” spin on animal cruelty by parodying an arcade fighting game.

There’s a lot of side content that could have just been cut and the rewards instead provided during the main campaign, to help evolve the gameplay at a more rapid pace. That would have made the rather basic mission structure more fun with new toys to play with. There’s a lot of filler content and it’s just not compelling.

Performance priorities

Playing on PS5, I was extremely glad to see that 60 FPS had been prioritized. It’s smooth like butter, except when things get super explosive and during cutscenes. I’m glad Ubisoft did this, but the bump up from 30 FPS to 60 FPS does come at a perceptible cost. Dynamic resolution appears to be in effect here, with scenes shifting from sharp to blurry to help provide a consistent 60 FPS. There are moments where Far Cry 6 looks awesome and I happily snapped a screenshot or two, but there are also times when the screen looked as though it had been smeared in grease.

Far Cry 6 Review: The final verdict

Far Cry 6 had the potential to deliver an interesting story, solid gameplay, a great next-gen presentation, and a fantastic co-op experience. While it succeeds with the latter, the story feels hollow with a setting that’s handled clumsily, the gameplay is hampered by unnecessary hindrances weighing down the fundamentals, and the visuals get a little too blurry to consistently impress on this new Sony system.

Unfortunately, Far Cry 6 has missed the mark again, with too few significant improvements and a lot of bloat. For those who love Far Cry, it’s yet another game to blast through and add to the pile, but compared to the competition, this series is starting to fall seriously behind.

Far Cry 6 was reviewed on PS5 with code provided by the publisher.