The Videogame Corner: Far Cry Primal

Game: Far Cry Primal
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Genre: First-Person-Shooter
Releases: 2016 (PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One)

When I start writing reviews for a gaming franchise, I have the goal of eventually finishing it in its entirety. It happened before, with series like “Borderlands” or “Just Cause” having an entry on this blog for every single game in the series. Which brings me to my current long-term project: “Far Cry”. So far, I have played, reviewed, and rated four titles the series has to offer and since its been a while since I last played an action-adventure-like game with lots of enemies to shoot and things to collect, I thought it might be time for another entry. Which brings me to “Far Cry Primal”, a sort of offshoot of the main “Far Cry” series since the premise plays in 10.000 B.C., back when civilizations started to form and sabretooths and mammoths still lingered around. It is an interesting departure from a game series that has gun usage as a core mechanic, but whether the transition into prehistoric times works is something that I will explore in the article to follow.

The Videogame Corner: Far Cry 2

Game: Far Cry 2
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: First-Person-Shooter
Releases: 2008 (PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360)

My journey into the “Far Cry” franchise here on this blog started in July 2023 when I wrote a review for “Far Cry 3”, a game that I very much enjoyed playing. With both “Far Cry 4” and “Far Cry 5” also already being reviewed, it was time to think about taking a look back rather than jumping ahead and simply playing the sixth installment of the franchise. So, I chose to take a trip to Africa in form of “Far Cry 2”, a game that, at that time, still tinkered with what I refer to as the Ubisoft formula for open world games. I have seen gameplay of it back in the day and remember liking the idea of using a flamethrower as a crowd control option since the dry African grasslands are covered in easily flammable plant matter, but that is hardly enough knowledge about a game to form an opinion. Well, at the time of writing this sentence I have had my fair share of “Far Cry 2” and I am more than willing to share my opinion about the game.

The Videogame Corner: Far Cry 5

Game: Far Cry 5
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal/Ubisoft Toronto
Genre: First-Person-Shooter
Releases: 2018 (PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One)

Yes, it is time for more Ubisoft collectathons. “Far Cry 5” was in my Steam library before I even started playing “Baldur’s Gate 3”; and due to that game, I was unable to install “Far Cry 5” since I lacked the necessary space on my computer. This time, “Far Cry” goes to America, land of the free but also land of various dubious religious movements, which will be a core element of the narrative of this game. And the religious influences are strong in this one, with even the header picture being a play on Da Vinci’s “The Last Supper”, showing main antagonist Joseph Seed in the role of Christ while his followers take the place of the apostles. I expect much from this one, but let’s see if the game manages to deliver.

The Videogame Corner: Far Cry 4

Game: Far Cry 4
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: First-Person-Shooter
Releases: 2014 (PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)

Earlier in life, when I played videogames I just picked up whatever tickled my fancy. The choice was more or less random and probably influenced by what I saw other people play or what I have heard and read of online. Ever since I write videogame articles for “Cubic Creativity” that approach changed. I still play games that look interesting to me for the sake of entertainment, but when I now start a videogame series I normally try to take a look at all the titles it has to offer. Cue “Far Cry 4”, the next long-term project I sought out after having a pretty good time with its predecessor. As is so often the case, I knew very little about the game, except for the fact that there is a secret ending fifteen minutes into the game which was widely talked about online back in the day. Now, I love me some shooting and collecting, and “Far Cry 4” features both, which sounds like a perfect deal to me. However, whether it managed to live up to my expectation or fell short of it is something I talk about at length in this article.

The Videogame Corner: Far Cry 3

Game: Far Cry 3
Developer: Ubisoft
Genre: First-Person-Shooter
Releases: 2012 (PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One)

After I played “Ghostwire: Tokyo” for the Humble Choice of June 2023, I was left with the feeling of wanting to collect and shoot some more things. I mean, the formula of having a giant open world with tons of stuff to do while seeing the completion rate rise sure is a successful one. I might be wrong, but if I remember correctly it was Ubisoft who first came up with this combination of gameplay elements to form what I refer to as a collect-a-thon, so one quick look in my Steam backlog revealed the next game to play to me: “Far Cry 3”. The story of me buying “Far Cry 3” is as uninteresting as it gets: I heard good things about the game, saw it during a sale for a price small enough that it would not hurt even if it turned out to be bad, and then left it after seeing that it requires an Ubisoft launcher to start even though I use Steam to play it. This time around, I was willing to go the extra mile and give one more company my data in exchange for the right to play a game I bought; and I happy to say that the investment of both my money and data was not in vain. But more about that in following article: