Far Cry Primal - Review in Progress
The story of our species is an amazing one. Our ancestors were born without giant teeth or claws into a world that tried it’s best to eradicate them. Early humans had to adapt to their environment and create the tools needed to survive. It was an amazing time in our history that is ignored, for the most part, in entertainment media. Far Cry Primal shuns the media norms and places you in the body of Takkar, an early human in 10,000 B.C.
One of the biggest criticisms I’ve heard about Primal is that it feels like a Far Cry 4 add on. I personally don’t feel this way. Of course it feels like a Far Cry game, it should. The gameplay shouldn’t change to the point it is not recognizable as an entry in a series. Ubisoft clearly cared about this game and it’s setting. You are immersed in a prehistoric world that the developer went and created an entire language for. They easily could have had every character speak English, yet they went out of their way to make us feel immersed in their world.
The biggest step away from the Far Cry series is that I feel so weak and vulnerable in the environment. If a bear attacks me, I no longer have an RPG to quickly dispatch it. I am given the tools that are available to a man of Takkar’s time: a bow, spear, and a club. I am still very early in the game so Takkar’s repertoire may grow larger as the game goes on. I respect that Ubisoft took the risk and made a game where you never pull out an AK47. It is entirely refreshing and these rudimentary tools make me feel as if I am wandering through a hostile environment. I only have so many arrows and spears and there are plenty of hostile creatures that are out to eat me.
Every chirp or roar makes me frantically look around to ensure that a cave lion is not stalking me through the shrubbery. This is incredibly refreshing for a game in 2016. Most video games make you a certified badass that can only be felled by a massive amount of enemies. This is not the case in Primal. A single bear or a group of rival tribesman make for tough opponents and tax your limited resources. I constantly find myself running out of arrows or spears and have to duck behind cover to quickly craft some ammunition. This is much different from previous entries in the series, as you no longer have a store to purchase ammunition from. You must rely on resources from the environment in order to survive.
The new feature of taming animals fits well into the universe and is a welcome addition to the series. Every animal type has its own strengths and weaknesses. They have abilities specific to them, such as the dhole’s ability to skin and loot animals. It makes each animal unique and keeps you wanting to tame more and more animals. So far I have tamed a wolf, dhole and cave lion. Though these are just a few of the many options, they have each been useful with their differing abilities. The owl is obtained early on and essentially works as Takkar’s UAV. The owl can mark different enemies and can be upgraded to attack a single enemy before going on a short cool down period. I must say that it is incredibly fun to dive-bomb animals and humans alike with the owl.
So far the story of the game has been fairly basic. Takkar is trying to unite his scattered tribe and survive the harsh wilderness. I do not expect to have massive character depth in a game centered on early humans, yet the characters are interesting enough to make me want to continue learning about them. Story missions thus far have been fairly simplistic and have consisted of go here and kill this. This is about the norm for a Far Cry game, yet going forward I hope to have some variation to the missions.
I will continue to post my impressions of Far Cry Primal as I progress through the game and will eventually post a review as soon as I have completed it. Thus far the game has been an interesting spin on the Far Cry series and stands alone among its brethren. The B.C. setting is a refreshing change from the near-future shooters we have played recently and I am thoroughly enjoying playing an early human. As of now I would recommend picking up Far Cry Primal, I do not think that you will be disappointed if you are a fan of the Far Cry series.
