BoringSupreez wrote:Ack wrote:dsheinem wrote:Far Cry: Primal - PS4 *new*
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Far Cry Primal is the best Far Cry that isn't Far Cry 2.
Explain. Seriously, I've only beaten the first in the series, and I would like to know what makes this one so much better than most of the others.
Same, I'm curious to hear why. I've heard that Primal is just another Ubisoft: The Game.
I think the criticism that it is another "Ubisoft: The Game" is a pretty valid one, actually, but I think that the general sentiment behind that phrasing obscures some of the fine differences between titles that exist. For example, I think Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag is one of the best open world games of all time, and heads and shoulders above the other entries in the series in its writing, its setting, and the types of activities you can do (the naval battles alone are some of the most fun I've had in the water in any game). With AC:IV, you also have a minimization of the nonsensical Abstergo/Assassins & Templars stuff and the game truly feels like it is a stand alone swashbuckling adventure. Here was me gushing about it a few years ago:
The world seems gigantic, the ship battles are appropriately daunting and frantic, and the story moves along briskly, mostly unencumbered by the series "lore" stuff as you go (you can enjoy it completely without having played the earlier games). All the gameplay elements seem perfectly honed and the game simply "feels" like it should as you move through lots of different kinds of experiences. This must be the best the series has had....
(later)
Everything in this game just clicks - it isn't just the best in the series (it is easily the series' high point), but it is both the best pirate game and the best open-world game I've ever played. Finishing the campaign ended up taking me between 25-30 hours (just doing enough side missions to get supplies as needed) and I have no doubt that there's probably just as much content to go back to for me to dig into if I want. The ship battles are a real high point, but everything in the game is gorgeously realized, the combat is fun and adaptive to various play styles, and it plays like a giant labor of love from the team that created it....
(later)
It really feels like it could have been a new series almost - a pirate one. There are famous pirates, stunning naval battles that give you control of ships in a very novel way (that feels weighty and great), and all the pirate "stereotypes" that you might want are also there.
So that's a lot about AC:IV, but I think that the reaction I had to that game is pretty similar to the reaction I have had to Far Cry: Primal - the game feels like its own thing much more than it feels like an add on to Far Cry 4 or a new entry in the "Ubisoft: The Game" line of games. The removal of guns, vehicles, buildings, etc. is a revelation - the feeling of exploring the open wilderness with just your wits and your handcrafted weapons is really compelling. The absence of an actual language (other than subtitles), the raw and violent imagery, and the basic and base storylines make the world really come alive and feel singular in a way that the other entries in the FC series do not (with the exception of FC2, which is still the high mark for the series and one of the high marks of the FPS open-world genre period). Yes, you can still follow icons and clear campsites and the like, but the tools at your disposal are unique and interesting (e.g. an owl that swoops in and kills enemies like a drone, bees nest "grenades" that create swarms around your enemies, etc.), and this makes the game feel like a pretty novel experience overall, despite some familiar Ubisoft dressing.
Maybe it is that I grew up enjoying the caveman games of the 90s...but Far Cry Primal is anything and everything I could have ever wanted and more than I could have ever have dreamt about from a series like Turok. It also is smooth and satisfying to control - it plays better than anything in the sub-genre this side of Bonk, I'd venture.
I would agree that if you have played other Far Cry games (especially 3, Blood Dragon, or 4), that Primal will have more than a little passing familiarity in some of its design structure. Again, I think the same could be said for AC:IV. But, like with that game, there's enough in Primal to really make it stand out from the rest of the series and feel like its own thing: visceral, creative, and insanely fun. It is probably way better than it had any business being, and I throughly enjoyed the 25 hours or so I've sunk into it so far.
TLDR: You can throw burning spears through people's heads while riding on a saber-tooth tiger and chasing wooly mammoths across snowy ravines.
