SHAKE A SPEAR, SHAKESPEARE
Also for: Windows, Xbox One
Can we fully trust the narrator that tells us the backstory of
Far Cry Primal? He seems a bit biased to me, painting the world in
black and white - and just what does he use for the red? And just you wait
until he makes his entrance in the game proper. The man is a lunatic. Still,
his tale is all we have to go on as we form our opinions of the world we're
about to explore.
He tells a story of the good Wenja people, who long ago travelled far to the
lively land of Oros. The Wenja thrived in their new homeland, until it all
came to an abrupt end when the cannibals of Udam and the superstitious
fire-sadists of Izila each invaded and conquered one half of Oros. Only a
few, scattered Wenja survived to tell the tale in 10000 BC. Here you enter,
in the role of Takkar, a descendant of the Wenja who fled far away to
safety. Why you have chosen to return I can't say, but surely there must
have been plenty of other places to call home?
You must find the few remaining of the Wenja tribe, create a force to be
reckoned with and reclaim the land that the Wenja once probably conquered
from someone else (although that is conveniently left out of this
narration). Maybe the future of humankind is at stake. Will we become a
dog-eat-dog race like Udam? Or a cult of religious fanatics like Izila? No,
of course we cannot have that. I just pray whatever the Wenja tribe has to
offer is better.
Surviving this long in a hostile land must have been rough, so you need the
expertise of the Wenja stragglers. They will teach you how to gather, hunt,
craft, fight, explore and tame beasts. These early promises of an open world
is usually the best part, and the same goes for Far Cry Primal. After the
standard tutorial that has you hunting a young mammoth and barely escaping a
sabretooth attack, you meet Sayla. She is your first ally and likely the one
you'll grow most fond of. She is an expert gatherer and will take you back
to her village, which also becomes your village. If you help her build a
nice hut, she'll gladly teach you her gathering and crafting skills.
Early game has you searching for more useful allies. Sayla provides you with
a few leads on your map, and off you go on a quest that will have you become
a myth in the end. That is, if you survive that long. The gameplay
essentially also doubles as the main story of Far Cry Primal. The tale is
about coming together to survive, of the strength of community and evolving
together by helping one another. You have to find other struggling Wenja,
hear them out for quests, and then send them to your territory so it may
prosper.
The game sports an impressive ecosystem that is constantly in effect all
around you. Ubisoft, the studio behind this game, utilizes audio
particularly well to create omnipresent life. In the early parts of the
game, the sound of a bear would have me on edge. Crafting certain pieces of
equipment requires parts from especially rare animals. Learning how to
discern them from other sights and sounds is essential. You don't want to
end up with a lousy low-tier quiver only able to hold, like, ten arrows,
would you?
My favorite random thing that ecosystem created happened when I was
carefully scouting an enemy outpost from a cliff, careful not to make a
sound and alert them. Out of nothing I heard a loud scream below from my
left, and I looked down upon a boar literally on fire, screeching in pain
and running beneath me until it disappeared out of sight. I don't know how
it got burned. Left was only the trail of burning grass as proof I didn't
just imagine it. I went back trying to scout, although I guess the commotion
would have alerted the entire outpost, unless my laughter already had.
SPLENDID EXPLORATION
As usual, collectibles of different kinds lie spread across the land.
Finding them is either easy or tricky, depending on the object in question.
The Daysha hand rock locations are pinpointed on the map, whereas the Wenja
bracelet locations are indicated by proximity only. You'll have to listen
for their whispers to get their exact location. Collectibles are rarely
worth going out of your way to get. However, the unusual thing about Far Cry
Primal is how painless it is to actually run over and get them once you spot
them, because of the great traversal.
The land of Oros is big enough to stretch out through different climate
zones, from the snowy, rocky north to the humid climes of the sun-drenched
south. Luckily, Far Cry Primal's strength lie in the pace and ease of its
exploration mechanics. The game controls splendidly in relation to the world
design. There is a feeling of parkour freeflow that, for once, actually
comes pretty close to the tension that cinematic trailers often try to
instil. At least it will once you get the hang of the control scheme.
You have the ability to go into hunter vision. This will highlight important
objects in your surroundings. As you slide down the steep slopes, throw your
grappling hook, jump, shoot arrows and swim to your fullest capability, you
always have the possibility to spot where to go, and plan ahead without
stopping. In this, Far Cry Primal manages to borrow some of the zest of its
Ubisoft cousin, Assassin's Creed. Quite an accomplishment for a first
person experience.
The lack of visual splendor and overall rare locations further strengthens
that notion. This is a pragmatic world view. Function over form, survival of
the fittest, moving always - you need to percieve the landscape as your
workplace and not something to admire. Otherwise, something might sweep in
and overwhelm you. In this age of gaming, the starry night sky has rarely
looked this dull:
I believe this is an intentional design choice. Usability impresses Takkar
more than sheer beauty. As seen through his eyes, nighttime comes with the
cover of darkness rather than some heavenly glory.
QUESTIONABLE QUEST DESIGN
Sadly, this pragmatism also seeps into gameplay itself. It is hard work. Far
Cry Primal consists of merely a handful basic quest set-ups on an endless
repeat, as you gradually seize control over Oros. While the mechanics work
very well, there's not a whole lot of creativity you can squeeze out of the
limited stone age-equipment you have at your disposal; a club, a spear, some
rocks and a bow. You'll get a few extra options eventually. I'll not spoil
them for you. These are, however, mostly of situational use (or
uselessness). I'll leave it up to you to find your own preferred style of
play, but I doubt it will differ much from mine. And I doubt you'll
experiment much once you find it.
I can spoil one thing: Early on you get the ability to tame certain wild
beasts that will accompany your explorations. Their usefulness cannot be
overstated - they'll provide distraction, scouting and automatic combat aid.
Using them is fun, but in a sense makes you very overpowered. The owl that
comes with a certain shaman character can be used to direct your other
animal companion around the battlefield, drop bombs on enemies or even
insta-kill one. This makes your own participation in combat almost obsolete,
and sometimes even grant you higher XP bonus since you remained undetected.
Far Cry Primal is a completionists nightmare. Looking at the world map, you
get almost overwhelmed by the sheer amount of minor quests. In order to gain
the necessary experience and material to win, you're gonna have to complete
a lot of them. Going straight for the main story stuff (which is very
similar to the side quest design) will leave you underprepared. It's a slog,
albeit an addictive one, through a weak central storyline, where you slowly
but steadily build up a force to be reckoned with.
And the big irony comes in the end (no spoiler here): you march alone (or
with your animal companion) into the Udam and Izila homelands, respectively.
That means you have to take on their entire tribes all by yourself, while
hundreds of capable villagers at home wait for words on your success.
This betrays the spirit of cooperation that the game has been propagating.
It's such a letdown. Not even your most capable, newfound Wenja allies, like
Sayla, will stand by your side. It makes me question all those hours I
poured into helping them, and in the end I felt more disillusioned than
triumphant. Now I know how Gary Cooper felt at the end of
High Noon, although the game's final cutscene didn't agree.
LANGUAGE BARRIERS AND RPG PAYOFFS
So the story never kept me going. Instead the motivator was that familiar,
constant RPG-drive to plan ahead. I'm sure you recognise that
dopamine-inducing reward of finally leveling up to get that skill you want,
or being able to craft that new weapon that looks so cool. As a reward it
felt like the hellish temptations of a succubus, but what can you do? You
need some kind of fuel to make you keep playing.
The story is certainly weak, and the characters are, at best,
one-dimensional and underdeveloped. Of course, the rudimentary in-game
language holds them back. The fact that Ubisoft created this ancient
language, with the help of historical linguists, is impressive, but they
didn't write much compelling dialogue out of it. I can get why that it isn't
easy - they had a very limited vocabulary to work with.
The voice actors try their best, emphasizing every word like they want to
ensure you miss nothing. But to make characters to really bond with, Ubisoft
would have had to rely on a better physical language like gestures and
facial expressions, since the spoken words don't do the trick. That would
have been expensive and difficult to make compelling. Some moments like that
exist, but they are overacted, and I have honestly forgotten what they were.
Suffice it to say they were not compelling. As things stand you mostly just
exploit your allies for their skills, the way they exploit yours. Where's
the love, man?
So we got this game - a decent, well-polished survival(-ish) game, with
excellent controls. I hardly encountered any glitches at all (granted, by
now Ubisoft have had time to patch them all out) which must be a first for
an open world game. For a short while it was encouraging. But that soon wore
off and was replaced by a certain open world weariness. And maybe that was
the appropriate thing to feel - after all the story of humanity's survival
is the story of perseverance through evolution - but that fact didn't
support my own struggle to keep playing.
I will however recognise that this game must have its player base. Who would
I be to not recommend a game just because it didn't suit my tastes? If you
care nothing about story, if controls and mechanics is your sweet nectar,
Far Cry Primal might be your game. With highly customizable difficulty
settings, you could find a game that never ceases to challenge. A game where
you constantly struggle to survive. A game where every item upgrade might be
the thing that tips the scale in your favor. A game where you bond with the
characters by the sole herculean effort you put into helping them.
Such a game could lay in store for a player willing to dig a little deeper
into Far Cry Primal than I did. However, that is not the game I played, and
I must be honest with you: I'm a story nut, and the writing did nothing for
me. To me this is a two star game, but the level of polish and craftsmanship
elevates it by half a star. A bright, civilized future for humankind is a
noble pursuit, but I'd rather pursue it through another game than play any
more of Far Cry Primal.
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