Far Cry 5 (2018) | Video Game Review | Tips, Hints, Recommendations & Discussion
Far Cry 5 is a first-person shooter action-adventure video game that is available on Microsoft Windows (Steam), PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. It was developed by Ubisoft and released on March 27, 2018. It is the fifth game in the Far Cry series.
Since each game in the Far Cry series has a different story, this game is no different. This time around, the story follows a deputy who has been called to apprehend cult leader Joseph Seed in Hope County, Montana. In the beginning of the game, we learn that Joseph Seed started a cult named Eden's Gate and has oppressed the citizens of Hope County. The deputy learns that the citizens have been kidnapped, tortured, and murdered and that Joseph Seed, his two brothers (Jacob and John) and a woman named Faith are to blame.
The deputy is part of an assembled team which consists of the sheriff of Hope County, a U.S. Marshal, the deputy's partner, and another deputy. The team flies in a helicopter to Joseph Seed's location with the help of the sheriff's dispatcher and apprehends him without much trouble. However, as the helicopter takes off, the cult followers attack the helicopter and Joseph escapes. The U.S. Marshal, the deputy's partner, and the other deputy are all captured by the cult.
As the deputy, it is your goal in the game to take down Jacob Seed, John Seed, Faith Seed, and Joseph Seed. The cult follows the word of Joseph Seed, who has convinced the cultists that the world is ending and it is their responsibility to repent and "save" as many people as they can.
Gameplay
The Regions
Jacob, John and Faith all have their own separate regions in Hope County that feature unique obstacles.
Jacob's region has cultists that are harder to defeat because they are trained with weapons and use animals that have been experimented on with Bliss (Bliss is a drug which was developed by the cultists in order to help control the minds of people and animals), which has made them especially aggressive and hard to kill.
Faith's region has cultists whose minds have been taken over by Bliss, which makes them hard to kill. Faith's region also makes you hallucinate quite a bit because you are exposed to Bliss regularly, so it's difficult to tell what is real.
John's region has cultists who follow John's lead of torturing citizens who have seemingly committed sins against the Seed family. This was the most normal of all the regions in my opinion. A lot of the scenes with John Seed were disturbing, but the region wasn't especially difficult to conquer.
Each region features a different lieutenant of Joseph Seed's cult (John, Jacob, and Faith) and you will experience different cut scenes in each region with each lieutenant. Jacob's territory is in the north, John's territory is in the west/southwest, and Faith's territory is in the east/southeast. Getting to certain levels unlock cutscenes with the lieutenants and you will be notified by a title of a mission in yellow when the cutscene is about to start. Usually when I saw the yellow title, I was almost immediately shot in the leg with an arrow, I'd wake up with one of the lieutenant's talking to me and the cutscene would begin.
Types of Missions
The game consists of main story missions, side missions (missions to unlock companions, liberate citizens, liberate cult posts, find prepper stashes (valuable loot and money), and finding various weapons and vehicles). The game can be played in any way that you like, so you can choose to defeat enemies using stealth tactics or by finding the best weapons and vehicles you can in order to defeat enemies aggressively.
The game features single-player and co-op gameplay. The co-op gameplay is fun, but there are several problems with
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If you need help, here are some tips:
Gameplay:
In the game, there are many ways to play. There are cult outposts, which are buildings that have been taken over by the cultists. When you take these over, the citizens of Hope County come back and you can unlock new missions by talking to them. Shops will also unlock once you free the post and will be marked by a green icon with a white gun. At some posts, there will be a companion that can be unlocked by completing a side mission, so make sure you do those if you are interested in a companion.
At the cult outposts there is an option to get a cash bonus if you can make sure that reinforcements are not called in. In order to do this, you must disable the alarms at the outposts. The alarms are located on towers with a green light on them. Sometimes there are two and sometimes there is only one. It is possible to sneak in to an area by doing takedowns (sneak up behind an enemy and press the button that prompts the takedown). Make sure you hide the enemy though, because if they are discovered they will sound an alarm. It usually only takes a couple takedowns for each alarm. Once the alarms are disabled you are free to either continue stealth tactics or kill as loudly as you want. You will receive a cash bonus once the outpost has been liberated. If you are playing co-op, your teammate can take out enemies with a bow or a sniper rifle, but if the enemies see a person being killed, they will sound an alarm, so taking the enemies out using takedown seems to work better if you want to disable the alarms.
The more citizens and outposts you liberate, the more you will find that citizens will help fight against the Eden's Gate cultists. There will be more citizens along the road who will shoot at enemies, making the roads safer to travel on. You won't see a huge change at first, but the more you liberate people, the better it will get.
Make sure you are talking to as many people with icons over their heads as possible. This is how you will find side missions. Sometimes the icon will be a white diamond, sometimes it will be a green diamond, and sometimes it will be a white diamond with an American flag in it. I walked up to people and looked for a prompt that said talk and talked to everyone. Sometimes they will stop talking if there is an enemy nearby, but will resume once the threat is gone. Make sure you follow them and resume talking so you get the mission to pop up. You will know this has happened once the mission title pops up and gives you a prompt to follow it. Make sure if it's a person that you can contact or a prepper stash that you click the button that allows you to view it on the map so it is marked. Sometimes people would leave and it wouldn't be marked, so I wouldn't have any idea where it was.
Perks:
Perks are special abilities you can buy when you find perk magazines in prepper stashes, bunkers, buildings, and by completing special tasks).
I found the best perks were:
Locksmith (lockpick for doors and safes that don't require special keys)
Grapple (use a grappling hook in certain locations-great for finding prepper stashes)
Black Market (craft specialty explosives and buy special ammo from shops)
Sneaky Sprint (move faster while crouched - great for stealth)
Ghost (make much less noise and falls take less damage - great for stealth missions)
Parachute/Wingsuit/Air Drop (Get all three and you can air drop into any fast travel location-this is great if you haven't explored an area yet and want to fly into it (it's also a lot of fun))
Any of the gun mastery perks (if you use guns, this makes them easier to use)
Repair Torch (if you plan to use vehicles, this is great to have so you can ride in anything that has been damaged - you can also open safes, but sometimes it can set houses on fire if you aren't careful)
Nimble Fingers (allows you to disable cult outpost alarms faster and open locks faster - great if you are using stealth to disable alarms as it cuts the time in half)
Additional Holster (carry a third weapon)
Weapons Collector (carry a fourth weapon)
Companions:
Companions are located in many areas of the game. A lot of them are denoted by white diamond icons and filled with a picture of the American flag. Others are obtained by side missions granted by people at cult outposts that have been liberated.
There are nine:
Nick Rye - (airplane pilot, air support)
Adalaide Drubman - (helicopter pilot, air support)
Hurk Drubman Jr. - (RPG, ground support)
Peaches (mountain lion) - (stealth kills, ground support)
Boomer (dog) - (scout, ground support)
Cheeseburger (bear) - (aggressive kills, ground support)
Grace Armstrong - (sniper, ground support)
Sharky Boshaw - (flamethrower, ground support)
Jess Black - (bow and arrows, stealth, ground support)
As far as which companions to go for, the easiest one to get is Boomer, who is located at Rae-Rae's Pumpkin Farm. Boomer is great to start out with as he will scout out and identify enemies. As you get further in the game, however, Boomer becomes less of an advantage because he doesn't kill that many enemies and seems to get hurt often. As the game went on, I looked to other companions to fit the needs of my game.
I found the best one for stealth and takedowns to be Peaches. Peaches is a mountain lion who can be unlocked by completing a side mission granted by Ms. Mable at Peaches Taxidermy, located in Faith's region. I found Peaches great at reviving me when I died, great at sneaking around without being detected, and great at taking down enemies.
Another good companion is Hurk Drubman Jr. Hurk Jr. is great for shooting helicopters and planes out of the sky as Hurk Jr. carries an RPG. If you use an aggressive approach to defeat enemies, Hurk Jr. is a great companion to have. I found that he very rarely needed to be revived and was accurate with the RPG. He didn't tip off enemies to his location before I was ready, so it seems that once you start shooting, he does too. Hurk Jr. can be unlocked by completing a side mission granted by Hurk Drubman Sr. at Fort Drubman, which is Hurk Senior's cabin, located in Jacob's region.
Finally, a good companion for air support is Nick Rye. Nick is great for shooting other aircraft in the sky and helping shoot enemies from above. Nick is great for using an aggressive approach to defeating enemies. Nick Rye can be unlocked by completing a side mission. In order to start the side mission, you must go to Rye and Son's Aviation Airport which is located in John's region. Go to the hangar where there is a yellow plane and unlock the hanger door, then get in the plane and the mission will start. Completing this mission will unlock Nick.
Faith Seed:
After a portion of Faith's region has been conquered and you have experienced a few cutscenes, you will start to hear Faith talking and think that you see her. If you shoot her, sometimes she will just disappear, but other times more cultists overcome by Bliss will show up and try to kill you. You can always tell Faith is a hallucination by the green cloud of Bliss that surrounds her.
Jacob Seed:
Jacob Seed's cutscenes include a maze where you must shoot enemies. Each time you experience a cutscene, the maze is the same, so it's important to pay attention to the maze layout the first time as they are timed. You can die during these cutscenes, so make sure that you are shooting enemies quickly so you don't have to start over.
Notes:
Make sure to read all of the notes. They will give you more of the game's backstory, more insight into characters, and clues to find items. Yellow notes will tell you where to find prepper stashes and white notes will give you information about characters and items.
Prepper Stashes:
Prepper stashes are denoted by green diamonds. You can find them by exploring and finding yellow notes or by helping civilians who have a green diamond over their head and talking to them. You can often see civilians with the green diamond from a distance away, so if you see one while driving, make sure you head over to talk to them. Prepper stashes are often difficult to find, so read all the notes in the area for clues about where to find them.
The grappling hook came in handy in a lot of the prepper stashes, so you might want to get that perk first if you plan on going for the prepper stashes. I'd also recommend the parachute in case you fall from a high location.
If you see a wasp nest blocking your way, use a molotov to burn it because shooting it will make them attack you. You could probably use a flamethrower, but it's more difficult to control and fire in the game spreads very quickly.
X Marks the Spot:
There are locations in the game where you will find an X on a wall with three dashes. This means that there is treasure nearby. It will often be found hidden under items, but close to the location of where you found the X. Search around, shoot at boards, jump through areas where you have shot off boards, and you will find the treasure.
Cult Vans:
Cult vans are white and marked with a black cross. There are often civilians who have been kidnapped in the back, so try to shoot only the driver when the van passes by you. You have to open the back of the van to help them escape and there are usually two.
Fire:
Fire can spread very quickly in this game. If you see a fire, run a distance away and wait until it burns out. Make sure you move your companion to a safe location too. There were a few times in the beginning of my game where Boomer would run through an area and catch on fire and I'd have to revive him. You can point to an area to make your companion stay until you tell them to follow you again. You can also run off and they will eventually follow you, but telling them is easier.
Air Drop:
After you get the parachute, wingsuit, and air drop perks, you can air drop into locations when using fast travel. As soon as the game loads and you begin to fall, open your parachute. This way you have time to direct your parachute into the area you want to go, especially if you are aiming for an area far away. I used this feature for flying into areas when I didn't have a helicopter shop nearby and wanted to get to an area that was far away. You can use your wingsuit too, but I found that I didn't travel as far with it as you drop fairly quickly.
If you need to look at your map while falling you can, just remember it doesn't pause the game. I found it easier to mark the location I wanted to get to on the map before I used the air drop so I didn't have to use the map. The only problem with that is sometimes the marker would disappear, so I'd have to go into the map and remark it. The best way to remedy that is just to open your parachute immediately and then check the map so you buy yourself some time.
Try not to hit any trees when parachuting to the ground or you will immediately close your parachute and risk dying when hitting the ground. You can parachute into cult outposts, but I don't recommend it if you want the cash bonus for disabling alarms. The best distance for dropping in was about 100 meters out, then you can just crouch and sneak in.
Helicopters:
You can parachute down from helicopters, just jump out and hit your parachute button or wingsuit button. If you sit in the back of a larger helicopter, you can use your gun if you are playing co-op. If you are flying, you can use guns if they are equipped, but if you are playing co-op and not driving, if you sit in the front you can't use your guns. You can also have your co-op partner fly the helicopter and grapple onto the helicopter and ride it on a rope in the air. That was fun, but the helicopter was really jerky when I was riding on it, so I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a feature of the game or a fluke.
The lighter helicopters are harder to fly because they are not as stable, so if you are buying a helicopter, I'd get one that is more sturdy. I found that the lighter helicopters bounced around more and were harder to control when getting them off of the ground. The heavy helicopters have better control and allow your co-op partner to use their guns if they sit in the back, which I found to be a huge plus.
Discussion
Would I play this again?
Yes. This game was a lot of fun to play and had an engaging story. The characters were memorable and unique.
I liked that there were a lot of weapons to choose from, although a lot of the weapons were very obviously better than others. I liked that there were a lot of vehicles and modes of travels. The most fun I had was when I was flying helicopters and air dropping into locations using fast travel. You can explore Far Cry 5 using boats, planes, helicopters, trucks, cars, and ATV's, and they are all a lot of fun to use.
Co-op has its pros and cons. One pro was that it made it so much easier to liberate cult posts if you have a partner and a companion. One person can turn off alarms and the other can take out enemies with a sniper rifle, while the companion can help support the players using various methods. Another pro is that it made it a lot of fun to drive a vehicle or boat, or fly a helicopter or plane and be able to shoot at enemies while on them. Driving is fun on its own, but shooting enemies and watching their vehicles blow up is a lot of fun too. The regions are so massive that it can be overwhelming to play alone, so having an extra set of eyes to discover notes, loot, and enemies is very helpful.
I liked the ability to play co-op, but there were some problems with co-op play that I hope the creators fix in the future. One problem was that the second player does not get to unlock the same weapons that the first player gets to unlock when playing the game. This puts the second player at a disadvantage if they are interested in getting the best weapons in the game. Another problem was that when unlocking safes, the first player would get money and silver bars and the second player would only get money. The second player has their loot and weapons saved in the game, but they cannot save their place in the game, so they have to rely on the first player to start in a certain part of a story. This is fine if you are playing at home with another person in the home, or with another person you know who is only going to play with you throughout the entire game, but is terrible if you are going to play with strangers. If you like the ability to drop into games and not know what part of the game you will be in you might like to play co-op this way, but it really wasn't for me.
Did I like this game? Why or why not?
Yes, I liked this game. I really liked the story and how each character had depth that explained their motivations for their actions.
Joseph Seed was perfect as a cult leader; Greg Byrk played the character as charismatic, magnetic, and oddly charming. Even though I was repelled by Joseph Seed's actions throughout the game, he was impossible to ignore. The character was very believable and wasn't a caricature of a cult leader. Other characters were obvious caricatures of unintelligent people (like Hurk Drubman Sr. and Jr.), but I thought Joseph Seed's motivations were true and believable.
Faith Seed also stood out as a woman who had been manipulated into submission by Joseph Seed. Jenessa Grant plays Faith as a young woman is has been severely traumatized throughout her life and has learned to be manipulative in her time with the cult. Towards the end of the cutscenes in her region her innocent facade begins to crack and we see how damaged she truly is. I felt sorry for Faith as she was most certainly a victim of Joseph Seed and his cult and was actually sad about what had happened to her. It made me see that not everyone was a part of Joseph's cult by choice, even though at first it seemed like they were.
There were several other characters I really enjoyed meeting that made the game a lot of fun. Nick Rye, Peaches the mountain lion, Boomer the dog, Hurk Drubman Sr., Hurk Drubman Jr., Cheeseburger the bear, Adalaide Drubman, and Sharky Boshaw made the game hilarious and engaging.
The only thing I didn't like about this game was the cover of the game, which seemed to sort of mock The Last Supper mural painting by Leonardo da Vinci. I understand that the game is about a cult who say that they go by what God wants and have their own twisted views of the Bible, but it bothered me to see that picture on the cover of the game.
The game also pokes fun at President Donald Trump with titles of missions like "Make Hope Great Again", but doesn't really go into a tirade of politics. Most of the game sticks to the story of the cult theme, so while the religious themes may bother some people, the politics probably won't. The game does make fun of uneducated Caucasian people a lot, so if depictions of people in trailer parks who drink beer and talk about 'Merica bother you, you might not like this game. I didn't really think that this depiction was that bad honestly; it seemed like they were caricatures of people, were pretty funny overall, and weren't meant to be inflammatory.
The game switches between serious and disturbing to funny, so you never really know how the story is going to go from one minute to the next. I liked that there was a reprieve in the story at times, so the heaviness of what was happening in Hope County wasn't always too much to bear. I think if they hadn't added these ridiculous characters that the game would have been too dark.
Overall, I thought the game was interesting, engaging, and a lot of fun to play. There was a lot of variety in gameplay, characters, and the story, so I'd definitely play this again.
I hope these tips have helped you.
If you have any questions about this game or need more tips, please feel free to ask.
Thanks,
A
