Beast Master: Cat Cuddling In Far Cry Primal
A walk on the wild side
There's a scene in the new Far Cry Primal [official site] trailer in which the player character instructs his pet owl to eat someone's face. It's amazing how inconsequential the lack of vehicles and rocket launchers seems now that the full extent of the animal-taming can be seen. Feed wild beasts and they can be tamed, which leads to big cat snuggling, guard bears and tiger ridin'. Given that sniping the locks off animal cages was my favourite way to take out a baseload of baddies in Far Cry 3, Primal suddenly looks very tasty indeed.
This looks like a game I'd like to play. I'm still miffed that there are no dinosaurs (and I don't give an attack-owl's hoot about the time periods - this is a fantasy game in which you can ride around on a tiger and punch a bear), mostly because galloping into a fight on the back of my personal battle-raptor might wash away the memory of Jurassic World. I much preferred Pratt when he was living in the pit.
There's a more in-depth look at animal behaviour in the following video, which also provides a glimpse of the map. Bonfires are the new outposts. Bears are terrifying, even when they're on your side. Bees are our staunch allies.
Ubi say there will be more than 14 animals to tame. 15 then? Or maybe 12,542. Gotta tame 'em all. Maybe this is the Pokemon game I've always wanted. Or maybe Kinectimals.
The game's due on February 23rd. There are more animal antics in this video featuring the developers and their thoughts about wildlife: