So, we have finished Far Cry 5 and it all happened rather rapidly. Steam tells me I have been playing this for 40 hours, and I did not plough through to finish quickly.
For those that don’t know, this is all about you being a hero Marshall out to rid a Montana county of a fanatical religious cult lead by The Father and his ‘family’. But there are a million other things to be doing while looking to wipe them out. Each one you succeed at will put you one more step closer to a showdown with whoever’s region you happen to be operating in.
This is a wide open world where you can do as you please. Some might think the side mission are repetitive, but then all games are within their genre. The complete map is pretty big so opening ‘fast travel’ houses is important. Or use the multitude of planes, boats, helicopters, cars, and quads available.
Your weapon stash also grows as does your cash when you carry out successful raids. And it is all to take down this cult and their army of Peggies. Project at Eden’s Gate, PEG, geddit?
Weirdly, mid-way through something may suddenly hit you. As you takeover cult outposts by killing everyone there, it may dawn on you that you are merely replacing one group of killers with another. And they are all on the side of God, of course. We have places like Lamb of God Church, Fall’s End, Eden’s Gate.
Far Cry 5 can be super tough in places and I had to knock the difficulty level down to easy to complete some missions. Others are really easy, perhaps too easy. You get to recruit fighters to join you on the ground and in the air and a set of specialists. I used a lot Jessie and her staggering bow skills and Boomer the dog that can sniff out anything.
It is all rather satisfying being perched on a hillock and guiding the pair through the base below taking care of business. Once you do ‘free’ someone from the cult, feel free to rob them blind – raid the till if it is a business or pick the lock of their safes. Take whatever you fancy, and that gets a bit odd.
Missions do get weird. Herding cows, anyone? How about gathering alien artefacts to acquire an alien weapon? There is a ton of collectables, including bobblehead toys in the shape of a bear specialist you can have, vinyl record, baseball cars, and so on. All a bit pointless, but not as dumb as fishing. Two thumbs down.
And then there is the Bliss. Read narcotic. This is the hands of Faith. These are the fuzzy missions from previous episodes – you are almost constantly under the influence of Bliss, and it can get tedious. The same can be said for the number of times you appear to be captured by all the members of the family and then have to endure long cut scenes where they casually spout their insanity at you.
Why do they not simply act like Dr Evil’s son and ‘blam’ right there and then. Well, the game would be over, I guess. So you escape yet again and carry on the plunder, building your own cult.
Need a car? Steal it. Need a plane? Steal it. You get the picture, but then you are the good guy, right? Rescuing hostages is fun. Recovering vehicles, and raiding the stashes of preppers, those who are making ready for the end of the world.
Each of your specialist has their line of patter. Jessie will come out with things like: “Wish I was killing something” or she’ll mention the weather and then tell you: “I hate small talk.” So, overall, it is all a bit of a hit, with some significant misses. Take out the brain altering drugs, take out the seemingly endless and pointless cut scenes (No one can replace Vaas).
Haa, the best bit of the game – Children of the Revolution just started playing on one of my stolen car’s radio. Time to park up and enjoy. Also, play this game. Totally worth the harsh trawl through the four million missions and jobs.
