Author's Note: This Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon review will be the first of several examinations of games that were released earlier this year, as the games writers here at the International Digital Times do some last minute cramming before compiling their Game Of The Year 2013 lists. Enjoy!
Alright, let's get this out of the way up front.
I know. I'm really late to the Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon party. Just over seven months late, to be exact, despite the fact that Blood Dragon was originally planned as an expansion for a game that more than a few people considered the 2012 Game of the Year. Thankfully, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is the epitome of a "better late than never" experience, and remains (in my opinion) one of the year's top releases on any gaming platform.
Though Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon doesn't match the base game's "Skyrim with guns" magnitude, the combination expansion/80's action movie tribute is easily one of the most fun gaming experiences to be released in the last twelve months.
It's not entirely clear how Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon came into being, though early reports suggest it was largely in response to fans demanding access to some of the more outrageous content that was trimmed from actual Far Cry 3 DLC. What resulted would go on to be so popular that it actually lead Ubisoft to guarantee additional $15 mini-releases from some of the publisher's other top franchises as well, beginning with Call of Juarez: Gunslinger (also excellent, but that's another story).
Those of you who played Far Cry 3 at some point in the last twelve months will already be more than familiar with just how great Ubisoft Montreal's open-world first-person shooter looks when running on a high-end gaming computer. Of course, the game does lose a bit with its conversion to the post-apocalyptic wasteland that serves as the setting of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, but even a thick layer of neon and a VHS-esque camera filter don't leave the Far Cry side-story looking much worse than the base game.
Like Far Cry 3, Blood Dragon drops you into a sizeable open-world environment, and gives you the freedom to explore and complete the game in whatever order you see fit. The Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon campaign features seven new missions, plus sixteen side-jobs that offer players a variety of high-powered weapon add-ons to ratchet up the game's awesome/ridiculous factor a few extra notches. In addition to the quests, you'll also have the opportunity to conquer more than a dozen enemy-controlled garrisons, take part in random open-world engagements, and even battle a few of the titular blood dragons along the way.
In terms of gameplay, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon (and FC3 before it) plays out very similarly to Bethesda's Fallout franchise; minus some of the heavier RPG mechanics present in the post-apocalyptic FPS/RPG series, of course. You'll have access to all the basic weapons found in your average first-person shooter - from pistols and shotguns to C4 and miniguns - plus a few crazy additions to the armory, like a sniper rifle with explosive-laden bullets. As each weapon improves, the game becomes an ever more-impressive kaleidoscope of tracer rounds, laser beams, and more fiery explosions than you can shake a stick at. Hell, even the game's skybox is chock-full of fire; with mushroom clouds rising sporadically in the distance to remind you of the post-apocalyptic wasteland that protagonist Rex "Power" Colt calls home.
And if you somehow grow tired of the game's gunplay, there are dozens of collectibles spread throughout Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon that should keep you occupied for at least an hour or two. Players can hunt down a collection of VHS tapes, scientific notes, and more of the sorts of randomly strewn items common in most open-world games. None are particularly difficult to find, especially once you've purchased the floppy disks (yes, floppy disks) that reveal each item's location, but traversing the island in search of each will give you countless opportunities to gather cash, ammunition and cyber-hearts.
Ubisoft Montreal really committed to the idea of the perfect tribute to all the best/cheesiest stuff that we remember from the 80's, all the way down to a soundtrack that sounds as if it were cobbled together from bits and pieces of classic action movie scores. It's all original work though, and the Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon soundtrack goes quite a long way to helping maintain the game's general 80's vibe.
Of course, all of that would be irrelevant, had Ubisoft Montreal not succeeded in delivering an experience that was easily as entertaining as the game for which it was originally slated to be an direction expansion. It may be quite a bit shorter than the Far Cry 3 campaign but, for twenty dollars, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon feels like an absolute steal, and likely would have been a Game of the Year competitor (instead of competing in a side category) had the game been a full-sized release.
I mean, when pushes come to shove, what shooter is really going to compete with Blood Dragon's claim as the best shooter of 2013: the relatively disappointing Metro: Last Light? The barely playable husks of Battlefield and Call of Duty that left many ready to swear off both franchises altogether? The half-dozen or so PvP-focused shooters currently available in Steam Early Access?
If there are any complaints to be made against what Ubisoft has assembled in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, they undoubtedly lie in the limited number of activities that are available to players while assuming the role of Rex "Power" Colt. Granted, there are only so many tasks one can really take part in while playing a first-person shooter, but many of those who complete Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon are likely to grow tired of freeing hostages and laying siege to enemy garrisons by game's end.
Similarly, being forced to run to and pilfer each fallen foe's corpse gets absolutely mind-numbing by the end of Blood Dragon, though you technically don't have to search your enemies' bodies for money and supplies. The cyber-hearts you'll find only come in handy if you want to manipulate the laser-eyed lizards that inspired the game's title; though many players will simply choose to turn their weapons on whatever blood dragons they encounter.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - Final Verdict
If you like first-person shooters, and especially if you're a fan of one or more previous Far Cry releases, there's absolutely no reason not to assume you'll enjoy Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon every bit as much as I did. Though not nearly as long as the franchise's numerical iterations, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon combines just enough of the Far Cry formula with the over-the-top action movie antics that inspired the game's creation in the first place to create one of those most consistently-engaging gameplay experiences of the year.
Ubisoft Montreal may have failed to fully capitalize on all of the new content in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon - most notably, with integration of the giant lizards that inspired the game's title - but the game's fifteen dollar price tag makes its relatively simple to look past the game's few rough edges. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon sports just enough diversity in its mission selection to get your average player through the campaign without getting bored, but may begin to wear on those pursuing 100 percent completion.
At whatever point you find yourself with some extra time to kill this holiday season, do yourself a favor and pick up a copy of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon. It's all but guaranteed to make an appearance during the next Steam/Uplay sale, for anyone whose wallet is already hurting from the holidays, and sure to provide a few hours' worth of entertainment to any longtime FPS fan
Score - 4/5
Have you been holding out on a purchase of Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon since the game hit store shelves back in May? Can't believe I waited so long to sit down and play through Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon for the first time? Think our Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon review score was too high/low?
Let us know in the comments section!
