Do you remember that there were decades previously to this one? Far Cry 3 seems to think it does, with the appearance of an expandalone spoof of the 1980s, Blood Dragon. How does this mini-adventure hold up? Here’s wot I think:
Rock, Paper, Shotgun
Posts Tagged ‘Far Cry 3’
Eight Lasery, Lizardy Mins Of Blood Dragon’s Open World
By Nathan Grayson on April 26th, 2013.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon, wherefore art thou Blood Dragon? Well – and this is just a hunch – I’m gonna go ahead and say it’s because of all the blood dragons. Thing is, our peeks at the neon-drowned shurikensplosion of a game have thus far been confined by story, (somewhat oddly) removing said retro-future laser reptiles from the spotlight. Now, though, it’s time for a tour of the expandalone’s open world, and the dragons are done tip-toeing about. They are real, they are pissed, and they want cyber hearts for some reason. Watch them frolic, romp, stomp, and shoot helicopters out of the sky using only their eyeballs and their wits after the break.
Williams Vs Yohalem Part The Last
Spec Ops, FC3 Writers On What’s Next, Futurism, BioShock
By Nathan Grayson on April 13th, 2013.
Who shoots the shooters? Well, I don’t think Spec Ops: The Line and Far Cry 3 writers Walt Williams and Jeffrey Yohalem have ever shot anybody, but they are attempting to skewer gaming’s shooter genre – or at least give it a good paddling. In the previous two installments of this gigantic chat, we discussed everything from the art of critique, to violence, to the effect of treating gamers like they’re stupid, to Dante’s Inferno and the Sistine Chapel. Seriously. It’s been a very long and interesting road, but now we’re finally at its end. In this thrill-a-millisecond conclusion, we discuss real, long-form criticism of games (including that one guy who wrote a book about Spec Ops), what’s next for these sorts of dissection of videogame culture, games as tools for exploring the future, and where games like BioShock Infinite fit into that.
Williams Vs Yohalem, Pt 2: Blood Dragon
Spec Ops, FC3 Writers On Art, Treating Players Intelligently
By Nathan Grayson on April 11th, 2013.
When last we joined Spec Ops: The Line writer Walt Williams and Far Cry 3 writer Jeffrey Yohalem, they discussed everything from the problematic nature of modern escapism to Western culture’s disturbing disconnection from real violence. Today: art! Or rather, the process of creating it using someone else’s money when that’s not really what they wanted in the first place. Also, we delve into the notion that gamers (often rightly) assume games think they’re dumb, and how that factored into the receptions of both games’ messages. In the process, the likes of Mass Effect, Shadow of the Colossus, the Sistine Chapel, and Dante’s Inferno (the literary work; not the bizarre EA game) get ruthlessly dissected. NO ONE IS SAFE. Flee beyond the break while you still can.
Williams Vs Yohalem, Pt 1
Fire Away: Spec Ops, Far Cry 3 Writers On Criticizing FPS
By Nathan Grayson on April 9th, 2013.
The shooters! They’ve become self-aware! Now they’re in the vents, skittering around menacingly and writing lengthy commentaries on why the very mechanics that make them tick might just be hyper problematic for, you know, society. Two games, especially, have claimed the forefront of this movement and have succeeded to – erm, depending on whom you talk to – varying degrees. If nothing else, however, Spec Ops: The Line and Far Cry 3 should be applauded for aiming right down the sights at a very important topic. Thing is, they furrowed their proverbial brows at shooters in extremely different fashions – Spec Ops by charting a slow descent into bodycount-borne madness, and Far Cry by “straight-faced” (and/or frustratingly obtuse) satire. So, during GDC, I brought their respective writers, Walt Williams and Jeffrey Yohalem, together for a wide-ranging chat about, well, everything. In part one, we talk the industry’s emotional disconnect from the realities of shooting, how to critique violence without accidentally glorifying it in the process, getting these critiques past publishers, and tons more. Oh, and of course, beware of SPOILERS.
Far-Fetched Cry: A Half Hour Of Blood Dragon Footage
By Alec Meer on April 9th, 2013.
Edit – bah, videos removed. If anyone’s found another source please say so below.
Edit2 – A new source for one of the vids is now in this post, but presumably it won’t hang around for long.
This half hour of purported footage from Far Cry 3 expandalone Blood Dragon is obviously fake. You can tell by the way the shader polarity is reversed at 11m07s in the first video, and the vertex flux lacks external consistency at 03m40s in the second video. Don’t even et me started on how unconvincing the e-dough modulation is. If you’re naive enough to want to watch thirty minutes of fabricated video from a pastiche sci-fi shooter, I can only wave you at the supposedly leaked videos below. They might have gone by the time you get there, as Ubisoft will doubtlessly feel the blatantly counterfeit muzzle occlusion diodes will give the real version of their game a bad rep.
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Has Biehn: Far Cry 3 – Blood Dragon Out May 1st
By Adam Smith on April 8th, 2013.
I still can’t quite believe that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon exists but as of this weekend, the standalone title not only has a release date, it also has Michael Biehn’s voice. Actually, the Xbox Marketplace listing which reveals the May 1st release date doesn’t specify ‘voice’, it says ‘a VHS era vision of a nuclear future, where cyborgs, blood dragons, mutants, and Michael Biehn collide’. Is it possible that the man in possession of the only true Reese’s Pieces has been transformed into binary code and inserted into the game? We’ll find out soon enough.
Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon Is Totally Bonkers, An Actual Thing
By Nathan Grayson on April 5th, 2013.
On April 1st, a peculiar thing happened: a game company debuted a seemingly implausible spin-off that wasn’t a gigantic, painfully obvious hoax. Now, notice I said “hoax,” not “joke.” Reason being, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon still seems incredibly, absurdly silly. The advantage it has over its smoke-and-mirrors peers, however, is that it’s actually, you know, real. What began with a schlocky (though impressively elaborate) ’80s-style B-movie adver-site now has a series of neon-soaked screenshots, and – in a fun twist – they look almost nothing like Far Cry 3. If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, well, I guess by that metric Far Cry’s dev team has some pretty darn sterling mental health. All other indicators, however, would seem to suggest otherwise. In a very, very good way.
Cry Harder: Outpost Resets, More Coming To Far Cry 3
By Nathan Grayson on February 19th, 2013.
Confession time: I never quite finished Far Cry 3. I’ve put infinity-dozens of hours into it, but I eventually got bored because I downed most of the outposts. As a result, my once-thriving pirate-and-oppression-overrun utopia devolved into a hive of peace and friendly cooperation. Gross, right? So I moved on to other open worlds and left Far Cry 3 stranded on its own little closure-free island, forever to rest until I forgot Just Cause 2 existed. But this, this is good news. We’ll be able reset outposts soon – at least, after beating the game. Also, other things! Those things are after the break.
Popular Videogames In Planned Sequels Shocker
By Alec Meer on February 8th, 2013.
The popular videogames in this instance being Ubisoft’s Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry series. Of the former, we can expect a new installment, featuring a new time period and protagonist, to arrive before next March. For the latter, meanwhile, apparently the wait won’t be as long as it was between Far Cry 2 and Far Cry 3.
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Also: Far Cry 3, preventing kingpins and the 'but is it a game?' debate
Rohrer On The Castle Doctrine, Guns & Chain World, Pt 2
By Alec Meer on February 1st, 2013.
In the first part of an extensive, illuminating and arguably controversial interview with Passage, Sleep is Death and Chain World creator Jason Rohrer, we discussed his new game, the fascinating but sinister home defence MMO The Castle Doctrine, making virtual possessions and people matter and why he chose to include only male protagonists. In this second and final part, we pick up mid-chat about issues of authorship in games, leading to his thoughts on the divisive Far Cry 3. Then we cover his outspoken feelings about gun control, before moving on to how house and trap construction works in The Castle Doctrine, how he thinks he’s made player-generated content meaningful, and, inevitably, whatever happened to his mystery Minecraft mod Chain World.
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