I’ll tell you the definition of insanity. And I know it, someone once told me, and here I am learning it all over again. This is Far Cry 5 and our first impressions. I love these games – played them all to death, but my heart sank in the opening minutes of this one.

Had Far Cry 5 turned into Call of Duty? Thankfully, seems not, but it was a major scare. We are in Montana this time, taking on The Father and his cult of religious nut cases. This is a militia that has lost the plot, we are told, but they seem pretty well organised to somehow ensure an entire county in the state simply fall off the map, trapping the devoted and unbelievers in a violet cooking pot of crazed notions.

And that brings me to that opening line. You play (I think) a rookie US Marshall, a rookie something anyway as your grizzled boss keeps calling you that. Somehow, someone thought it would be a great idea to get two Marshalls, an elderly sheriff and a woman, who may also be a Marshall to helicopter in to the heart of this armed cult, pick up The Father and fly out.

It all goes wrong, because of course it does, and you flee on foot, just like the other Far Cry openings. BUT, then you get to be a passenger in a pickup with the boss yelling “left, right, behind” while you shoot frantically at insanely fast targets that never seem to miss you. Oh, and lob some dynamite that every American truck just happens to be carrying.

Anyway, after the 78th attempt to escape these astonishing marksmen, I decided I had now learned the definition of insanity and lowered the skill level to pleb, and finally got through, but only just. Far Cry to me is all about the lone wolf taking revenge. This is CoD with a squad leader telling you do what he says when he says. Surely they have not ruined my Far Cry.

My fears are allayed for now. Having been picked up by the new Dennis, a chap called Dutch, he takes me back to his top secret lair and decides there any then I must be the new Messiah and should form and lead the resistance. At least Dennis said he saw it in the stars or something, not just some bloke who has just been driven off a bridge.

So, he equips me with some basics and sends me off to bring down the cult, on my own. YES. After that appalling intro, the rest has been pure Far Cry. Take down a ranger station, hire a local to became my Primal owl, solve some minor puzzles, wait, what?

Yep, you can now recruit locals to do your bidding. Send them in to take someone out. Stuff like that. Excellent. Trouble is, and this may be me, but my hired gun says he is going to be all silent ninja and stuff, and then walks up to the guy and opens fire alerting everyone else. Perhaps they get better in time.

The array of weapons promises to be huge – you get a choice of THREE baseball bats! Just so long as I get an ample supply of silenced weapons including sniper rifles, I am cool with that.
Crafting, recipes, picking flowers, all seems to be there. Sure Dennis, I mean Dutch will let me know what to do. The menus seems extensive – just hoping they don’t become overwhelming.

Remembering exactly how many juniper berries makes you fire proof is just too much to handle. Anyways. So far, so Far Cry.