Far Cry: New Dawn PS4 Review
Posted on: 2019-03-08
Our rating:
Our resident Gamer Sam Coles reviews Far Cry’s new installment
Far Cry is a series that has been going strong since 2004, and I love the series - especially Far Cry 2. The series didn’t hit popularity until Far Cry 3 in 2012, but since then, they have arrived at this comfortable spot where they make incremental changes to the formula but don’t innovate that much.
I haven’t played a Far Cry game since 2014, so when Ubisoft approached me to cover Far Cry: New Dawn I was sceptical, but to my surprise, I was having so much fun. Why? Because the game doesn’t take itself seriously, the game fills the screen with colour, explosions, ludicrous weapons and dialogue that is cheesy in a campy 1980’s action movie sense. Let’s go into more detail.
Far Cry: New Dawn is more of a standalone expansion to Far Cry 5, as the game takes place 17 years after that game where the world is in ruin after nuclear bombardment. You play as a mute protagonist simply named Captain, where you have to liberate the irradiated land of Hope County from a group of Bandits simply named The Highwaymen. You do this by shooting, stabbing and punching your way to victory as various shades of pink constantly blind you. The story is simple with a nice solid core; not every story needs to be thick and emotional, as this game has two over the top villains that lead The Highwaymen that are so evil that Dick Dastardly would tell them to tone it down.
Far Cry: New Dawn is another open world game like the other instalments in the series; however this is a more condensed map of Far Cry 5 which I welcome greatly. I don’t mind leviathan-sized maps, but they can bore me if nothing is interesting within them. Luckily Far Cry: New Dawn’s map is packed with activities to fulfil, where you can liberate outposts, free prisoners and just getting into fights with The Highwaymen in intense gunfights.
Control-wise it is easily the best in the series; guns feel satisfying to shoot with the standard pistols, shotguns and assault rifles packing a serious punch. However it’s the more exotic weapons is where the fun begins, from the early stages of the game it grants you the use of a crossbow that fires saw blades, and yes it is as ridiculous and fun as it sounds. You can fire this weapon, and it will cut through enemies and ricochet off walls, it is hilarious seeing enemies panic when you fire this weapon where they are running around like headless chickens.
As you traverse the open world you liberate outposts and recruit specialists; this is in aid of building up your home base called “Prosperity”. You upgrade your home base with ethanol which you collect as you liberate outposts; this is used to upgrade medical facilities, better crafting material for weapons and better scouting equipment for uncovering secrets on the map. It gives you an incentive to complete side quests as it rewards you with fundamental gameplay upgrades, instead of it being a mindless distraction from the main plot.
Visually I felt a bit overwhelmed with this game and not in a bad way because this game is colourful with bright and vibrant shades of purple, pink and blue. This has to be the most colourful post-apocalyptic game I have played, with abundant vegetation throughout the world coupled with a vast array of wildlife that will try to kill you. Details on character models look good in cinematic scenes with great motion capture performances; however, they do look a bit stilted and robotic during gameplay with dead eyes. Presentation overall is great, but that is something I have expected from the Far Cry series from the past decade.
The only problems I had with the game mostly stems from the competence of the enemies and your allies. They are either eerily precise when shooting, or there are moments where they have the accuracy of a stormtrooper it is rather inconsistent. This also applies to your buddies in games; they can be really helpful in one light and then decide to walk into my line of fire where they would take several shots in the back to get out of the way.
Overall I was surprised with how much I enjoyed Far Cry: New Dawn, despite being an expansion to Far Cry 5 it does enough to differentiate itself from that game to stand out. It has satisfying combat, a beautiful world to explore and a story that is over the top that doesn’t take itself seriously. If you are looking for a fun first-person shooter, then I would highly recommend this game.
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Article by:
Sam has lived in Bristol all his life. A keen cyclist he speeds around the city but video games are his bread and butter. Whether the old Nes and Snes games or the XBox One and Playstation releases he loves them all. Sam runs his own gaming blog called Bristolian Gamer where he had been reviewing indie games, doing retro reviews and venting his anger at the industry when it does wrong since 2010. Sam joined the 365Bristol team in December 2014.
