'Far Cry 5' Reviews Round-Up: Uneven Story Dims What Could Have Been a Classic for the Series
"Far Cry 5" is out for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows PC, and so far, Ubisoft looks to have lived up to the increasingly high standards being set by each installment of the series. Reviewers have already come out with their critiques of the game, and if there's one element that could be cause for debate, it would be the unusual way Ubisoft handled the game's story.
The latest installment of the highly regarded "Far Cry" series takes place in Hope County in Montana, USA, and compared to the earlier titles, "Far Cry 5" looks to take itself even less seriously, even as compared to the somewhat silly "Far Cry: Primal" and its story antics, as GameSpot noted.
This time, there are such things as a feral bear that the locals called cheeseburger, and elements like these that now divide "Far Cry 5" reviewers into two camps. Among those who think that Ubisoft did a great job by adding parody into the game is Gamespot's Edmond Tran, who noted how the freeform story progression of the game made exploration more enjoyable.
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Ubisoft may have intended these storylines to be loose given that the game is designed to be playable via multiplayer co-op, as VG 247 pointed out. It's a sprawling, loosely scripted single-player campaign, but the return of the map editor is a big bonus, too, now that it comes with tons of assets from other Ubisoft titles.
"Far Cry 5" will also be the first game in the series to be set in the US, and this way, the parody elements may have become more glaring. The story and characters of the game may look to be poking fun at everyone and the overall theme here could be Ubisoft giving everyone, even the fanatic cult, a plausible way out.
The story thus ends up going nowhere until the flat conclusion that let down Polygon's Ben Kuchera, enough to prompt him to give "Far Cry 5" a 6.5 out of 10.
With the debate about the story and characters aside, Ubisoft has made a beautiful recreation of Montana and its rural beauty, and there's plenty to do in the game aside from going from one story objective to the next.
The open world of "Far Cry 5" is always rewarding to explore, and players can set up camp and do some fishing in their spare time, as well. If that's not enough to keep one occupied between missions, there's also the arcade mode and its map editor that comes with some sample levels made by Ubisoft's designers.
Review aggregation site Metacritic currently has the game rated at an 81 out of 100 for PlayStation version, while the Xbox version is rated at 83. For some reason, though, the PC version has trended lower than the console versions, with "Far Cry 5" on the PC earning just a 7 out of 10 on the user score section as well.
The video below is the launch trailer for "Far Cry 5," as Ubisoft made the game available for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and Windows PC since Monday, March 26.
