As I start writing this Far Cry 6 review I put down my supremo backpack and pet my trusty Oluso pet. The smell of gunpowder, fire and cigars fills the room as I slowly realize I’m not part of a group of guerillas. I’m just a normal gamer that’s doing a Far Cry 6 review.
Far Cry 6 review – Xbox Series X – TL;DR.
7/10
| For you if | Not for you if |
| – You like the Far Cry series. – You like Ubisoft’s open world model. – You want to explore the beautiful islands of Yara. – Are looking for good co-op experience. | – You don’t like bullet sponges. – Looking for a realistic TTK and true guerilla gameplay. – Don’t like repetitive side activities. |
The Ubisoft formula.
Far Cry 6 could rank up higher if it didn’t feel like it was having a small identity crisis. All the elements of a Far Cry game are there, but it’s also riddled with RPG elements and bullet sponges that just don’t fit the setting.
It’s still fun to play and I had a good time during my forty hours for this Far Cry 6 review. Sometimes it just felt like I was playing Assassins Creed, The Division or Ghost Recon.
From a technical point of view, Far Cry 6 holds up really well on the Xbox Series X and looks damn amazing while doing so. Only one hard crash, a few stutters and many funny but non game breaking glitches. A smooth gaming experience for sure.
Far Cry 6 review – The long version.
Tales from the Caribbean – Far Cry 6 review – Story.
What happened in Yara, sometimes hit very close to home.
Main Story Far Cry 6 review – Spoiler Free.
For this Far Cry 6 review I played forty hours of story, side mission and activities around Yara. After those forty hours I still haven’t finished the main story and decided to write this Far Cry 6 review before I finished the last missions of the third zone. After that, there is probably a set of missions to attack the capital of Yara and the last zone, Esperanza. By writing the Far Cry 6 review now I avoid writing accidental spoilers.
So bang for your buck wise Far Cry 6 holds up really well. Is all of the content worth it? Not all of it. But the story sure is. The Yaran islands and culture within the islands feels realistic and believable. Its beauty and cruelty will leave you in awe and disgust, sometimes at the same time.
The loveable dictator.
The cast in Far Cry 6 is astoundingly recognizable. The main villain being Far Cry 6’s headliner, Giancarlo Esposito as Anton Castillo. He is most known from his roles in Breaking bad, Better Call Saul and the more recent The Mandalorian.
While delivering a solid performance as Anton Castillo, I couldn’t shake the feeling I was looking at Grand Moff Gideon instead as both roles are pretty similar. The rest of the cast is filled with names you will probably recognize from other series and movies and they all deliver a banging performance. Here is a link to an article going over the whole cast.
Bravo to Ubisoft for securing such an amazing cast and using them to bring the characters of Far Cry 6 to life.
Tales of the Yaran jungle.
The story is divided in several parts, the intro and at the same time tutorial, the Yaran main land divided into three separate parts and the capital city Esperanza. After the tutorial you are free to choose which part of the mainland you want to pursue. But you have to clear all three main land zones before you can attack the capital.
After being given the approximate locations of the leaders of each zone you can set out freely, and sail off to Miami and finish the game. Yes, Ubisoft implemented the option of sailing away from Yara and running from your problems to enjoy a better life in Miami. Leaving all your friends and their dictator problems behind. Just sail off in any boat towards the sunset to start the cut-scene and credit roll.
Whether you go to Madrugada, Valle de Oro or El Este first doesn’t matter. All three main stories are separate and there are no weird overlaps that make no sense if you choose to do El Este first instead of Valle de Oro.
Overall all the three zones are unique in story, but the build up and finish of those stories all feel the same. Just like dictators are just another guy with the same cruel practices, so are the three main stories of each region. Meet local rebels, convince local rebels, recruit for Libertad, explosive finale.
Shock and awe.
Each story takes time to introduce the characters and have them grow on you. Only to sometimes take them away pretty shockingly or suddenly. I gasped at the loss of one of the characters that during a poison attack was hit by the effects. No long cut-scene with a goodbye, just the image of you helplessly looking from outside the poison cloud as the character bled out and choked. These moments were sudden and not an emotional dragged out cut-scene. The shock and awe aspect left a much bigger impression of the ruthlessness of Yara and the regime controlling it.
The story strikes some sensitive topics. Not really putting too much of a spotlight on it, but more hidden in the context or mentioned during a dialogue. Some quick examples are torture, removal of freedom of speech, exploitation of the lower class, LGBTQ, exploitation of poor countries by rich capitalist industrial giants, exploitation of animals, and so on. Far Cry 6 is a work of fiction and during this Far Cry 6 review period I never doubted Yara was a made up country. But what happened in Yara, sometimes hit very close to home.
Gather round the campfire for side stories and treasure hunts.
Now, Far Cry 6 isn’t only about the main story. The Yaran stories are what you can call side-quests. Treasure hunts are your run of the mill jumping puzzles, with a twist sometimes. And most of the other activities are repetitive as hell.
The Yaran stories offer you the chance to collect pieces of gear, cars and leaders for you bandidos. They offer some variety and have a more light-hearted approach. If you ended a main mission feeling dirty for discovering a secret experiment and some mass murder, a side mission can lighten up your mood.
Treasure hunts are jumping or climbing puzzles where you search the area for clues and look for keys or routes that take you to the big chest. Each treasure hunt area has its own story, but it’s only told through pieces of paper you find or Dani monologuing. Both were an excellent break in between main missions that felt fresh compared to the reoccurring main story theme in each zone.
Checkpoints, bases and anti-air sites. Repetition repetition repetition.
We covered the Yaran stories, treasure hunts and collection of pieces for your huge arsenal. Besides all that, the map is filled with checkpoints, ambushes, bases, closed sectors for civilians to plunder and anti air guns that prevent aerial travel. All these activities reward supplies that you can use to upgrade bases and facilities or to buy upgrades for your weapons.
All of these activities are insanely repetitive, even clearing the bases that have different lay-outs still felt like a drag the fifth time around. Scout, sneak in, take over. Emphasis on the sneak in, more on that below in the gripes section.
These activities would have been more fun to do if they actually mattered. The only reward is materials or a weapon and at best a fast travel point to get around. The ones that I always cleared were the AA guns because they prevented me from flying around. But these are so easy to cheese by flying really low and blasting them with rockets, that they felt more like a nuisance than a challenge.
Life of a guerilla – Far Cry 6 review – Gameplay.
Tools of the trade.
There are so many weapons, backpacks and things to play with in Far Cry 6. But it’s such a damn shame you will only play with a few. The array of weapons is enormous. From your standard mod-able weapons to unique weapons with fancy skins and slightly different performance.
The Resolver arsenal is truly unique and offers different backpacks for different styles of play. From the start of the game, Juan ponders that you need the right tool for the right job. While yes, partly true. I ended up playing with a few tools that covered all the jobs.
Bang for your buck
Guns, guns, guns and some bows and rocket launchers. The arsenal is big and it fits perfectly in the Yaran setting. No fancy 5 rail M4’s here, the AK’s, PSSH, Uzi, PMM, and other communist dictator regime weapons fill the roster. Each with a unique counterpart for you to collect (and probably not use after shooting that first mag for testing).
But the true unique part of the arsenal is the Resolver weapons and Supremo backpack. These range from an EMP railgun to the iconic flame thrower. They all look, feel and play unique. Right tool for the right job really fits the Resolver weapon arsenal. But the normal weapons versatility always made me pick my same loadout. Using a Resolver weapon only when the mission tasked me with it, or when it was clear that a situation called for it.
Supremo modability in Far Cry 6.
Each weapon and backpack has a certain set of modable slots. Your Supremo backpack comes with slots that upgrade the effectiveness of the backpack. And slots where you can completely choose what tools you take with you. Going for stealth I got my throwing knives and axes in with the baseball for distractions. The poison build I ran had poison mines and grenades with dynamite for the bang.
You can tune it all towards your own play-style. The armor you wear further complements this as each piece looks unique. And has a set perk it delivers when you wear it. There are no set bonuses for wearing a full set. I would have loved to see this as an incentive to collect a full set to get that extra bonus. But a mix and match set of armor can really make your play-style peak and cover some weaknesses your weapons or backpack can’t supply.
Far Cry 6 review – the biggest gripes with the game.
The repetitive content that the minor activities offer is not the only thing wrong with Far Cry 6. As mentioned earlier, the three different story arcs feel rather the same. Minor activities that fill the map just for filler, at least it’s not as bad as Assassins Creed: Valhalla.
What bothered me the most is the sheer amount of bullets some enemies need to be put down. In a game where you play as a guerilla hit and run expert. The further you get in the game the more bullets enemies need. Dumping mags upon mags on weak spots of tanks, yes with explosive bullets.
Stealth is the way I play most of my Far Cry games, the option is here and the game rewards you for stealth play. But certain sections become straight shootouts with bullet sponges. Unless you can nail those headshots, but honestly I can’t with a controller.
The identity crisis Far Cry 6 struggles with – Far Cry 6 review kinda off topic.
Far Cry 6 no longer feels like Far Cry but more like a Ubisoft game. There I said it, just like Assassins Creed is no longer the Assassins Creed we knew. Far Cry is no longer the Far Cry we knew. Ubisoft has their open world formula that keeps recurring in their games. Year upon year that formula improves and each game starts to look more like another in the series.
This is very apparent in Far Cry 6 as so many features have been implemented from other franchises. The overview of the map instantly made me think of Ghost Recon Wildlands, the collecting of armor and weapons with the star rating made me think of The Division or Assassins Creed Valhalla. The sneaky stealth gameplay and brutal take-downs made me think of Far Cry.
I don’t want to feel like I’m playing The Division when I’m playing Far Cry. Or like Ghost recon Wildlands with bullet sponges, wait, that’s just Ghost Recon Breakpoint. I miss the uniqueness each franchise had when they first emerged.
The beauty of Yara – Far Cry 6 review – visuals and sound.
Based fully on the Xbox Series X experience and performance in 4K at 60fps with and without headphones.
Take a picture, it will last longer.
Yara looks goddamn beautiful as you can expect from Ubisoft. The jungles, beaches, towns, farms all fit that communistic Colombian style. The cars and motorcycles all have that distinctive feel. As I mentioned earlier about guns, it just fits.
Light is reflected off puddles, a distant thunderstorm is as awe inducing as it is scary while it begins to rain softly. Sunlight reflects of you guns and vehicles.
The armor styles, guns and skins are all so detailed and created around the Resolver aspect, using normal materials to create a suppressor or laser sight. A gas mask made out of plastic bottles, a modified baseball helmet to have some extra protection.
If you like a good photo mode to play around with, Far Cry 6 does not disappoint. You can add props, change poses, fly around with the camera for that perfect angle, add frames, etc… I’m sure this will create some amazing shots from photo mode experts.
Sing along songs.
Your main character will literally sing along with the radio at random times when you drive around. And the songs on the radio station are just like the world, so fitting for the setting. From Spanish pop to Spanish metal and some modern day English pop. They all get stuck in your head and will probably induce some sing-alongs in the living room.
Radio stations aside, the ambient sound is present but not disturbing. It won’t leave a long-lasting impression on me like Doom or Cyberpunk’s soundtrack. But in a game where focus and stealth take precedence, the soundtrack needs to be subtle.
The guns and resolver weapons all sound good enough that I can’t make a bad comment about them, but not good enough that I can praise them. It’s for sure not like in Aliens: Fireteam, check out that review here.
Far Cry 6 review – performance.
Over the forty hours played I had 1 crash to the dashboard. Two major stutters that recovered after a couple of seconds. And one bug that blocked progression of a mission.
The bug was that an airborne enemy had dropped down with a parachute inside a rock. He got stuck there and it took me a while to find him. Luckily his head popped out of the rock to give me a death stare as I put a bullet in his NPC brain.
The major stutters happened during cut-scenes. I think the cut-scenes run at a lower framerate than the actual 60fps you have while playing. Overall it’s a pretty solid stable performance on the Xbox series X.
Far Cry 6 review wrap-up.
I’m not done with Far Cry 6 and I will finish it. It’s good enough that I’m invested in the end and I do look forward to the upcoming villain DLC. I will review them as well as Ubisoft was so kind to supply a key for them.
While Far Cry 6 has some issues, it’s still a good game with amazing value right now, base game version. If the expansions will be worth their money, remains to be seen. But if you played the previous Far Cry, I think it’s going to be worth it.
Thank you Ubisoft and CDmedia for providing us with the review key.