Rock, Paper, Shotgun

A body of Far Cry 3 details and footage has come bubbling to the surface of E3 like a bullet-riddled corpse in a greasy river. Since I was encouraging you lot to buy Far Cry 2 not two weeks ago, you’d think I’d be pumped as hard and tight as a tire about Far Cry 3. But I’m not, really. Come take a look for yourself. It looks great, but it doesn’t look like it has the same will to break new ground.
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Far Cry 3 has been confirmed for release in 2012. The game returns to the original Far Cry’s jungle island setting, but nevertheless producer Dan Hay promises “something new and unexpected” for the game. Ubisoft says: “With Far Cry 3, players step into the shoes of Jason Brody, a man alone at the edge of the world, stranded on a mysterious tropical island. In this savage paradise, where lawlessness and violence are the only sure thing, players dictate how the story unfolds, from the battles they choose to fight to the allies or enemies they make along the way. As Jason Brody, players will slash, sneak and shoot their way across the island in a world that has lost all sense of morality.”

JASON BRODY. He sounds like a man with nothing to lose. Or maybe someone I went to school with. Either way, there should be more on the Far Cry website any time now.

The guys over at VG247 have come up with a bunch of references to the as-yet-unannounced-but-nonetheless-likely third (or fourth, really) instance of the Far Cry series. It seems the game is definitely happening, despite Ubi’s lack of noise on the title. Also it’s worth noting that the key reference made by a developer working on the game says that the game will be a console shooter, but I would be profoundly surprised if it did not receive a Windows variant, too.

So, readers, let’s come up with our perfect Far Cry sequel. Assuming Far Cry 2 was the starting template, what would put in? What would you take out? I’d say: keep the size and scale of the maps from Far Cry 2, but add an inventory, and wandering AI, neutral AI. Actually, just make Stalker in the Dunia engine, in the Jungle, with vehicles. That would be just fine. Hell, that sounds like Boiling Point. But maybe a game like that made by a giant 200-man Ubi studio is what the world has been waiting for.

UK-based blogchums Videogaming247 were clever enough to remember to go to Leipzig (unlike us) and consequently they’ve come back with special Far Cry information. Ubisoft Montreal are, apparently, already in the initial stages of the third Far Cry game. Here’s the interesting bit:

“There are still things we want to do with the African setting, and I think it’s safe to say we’ll continue to explore it. That said, we might find something new and compelling about the Antarctic setting that wants us to make the next game there, but honestly, we’re still at the preliminary stages.”

If Far Cry 2 ends up being good I rather hope this third game has a brief iteration time, rather than being another four-year project.