Far Cry 4: Blurred Lines

So Far Cry 4 is coming out in a couple weeks, and I'm... cautiously pessimistic? There's been a ton of gameplay released on YouTube, which could've been cool, but mostly just shows the same couple of missions and areas, which is weird. At this point, I think we all know what we're getting, which is a problem I have with this game - overexposure.

The game mechanics are another - and yes, I realize the developers had only 2 years instead of the usual 4 for this one, and that Far Cry 3 was such a huge smash that of course they would keep the mechanics in place. My problem is that, while they were pretty sweet, Far Cry 3's mechanics felt very unique to that game - and by re-using them (in a practically identical way, too) in a different title, they won't make as much sense.

A Sequel in Name Only

One of this series' main claims to fame (Pretty good, right?) is that each entry has been pretty significantly (mechanically, at least) different from its siblings. The original was a fast-paced shooter/tech demo with an emphasis on challenge. The sequel went in the opposite direction, with stiff, uncompromising gameplay and a bleak, (unintentionally) nearly-absent narrative that came together to form a very different experience . Then, Far Cry 3 came along and pulled another switcheroo, shoving all these characters into our faces and giving us a deep, if narrow sandbox to play in. 

What's significant about all this crap that you probably already knew, is that Far Cry 4 is clearly recycling a lot of stuff from Far Cry 3 - which is...fine, Far Cry 3 took the setting and camera mechanics of the first Far Cry and that worked pretty well - but I'm worried that some of the stuff they're re-using maybe won't work as well in this new game.

Smooth Moves

First, the "takedowns". These were a huge part of what made Far Cry 3's combat so fun, while also being a great metaphor for Jason's transformation into a monster. Remember these?

One thing should be clear to you: these are not nice ways to kill people. In fact, when you think about it, sneaking up behind someone and jamming a machete down their throat is a really, really crazy (like mentally ill crazy) way to murder someone, and the fact that these moves are so powerful and useful (compared to, you know, guns) speaks a lot to the game's message. Jason/you is kind of a psycho, hence the Michael Myers-esque combat.

And now, we're playing as a totally different guy who seems to be pretty normal, yet who continues the tradition of these over-the-top, horrific killing methods. Just doesn't make any sense.

And that's not even getting into the rest of the same-old stuff, like the bell towers, outposts and "bigger" outposts, and the grab-bag of assorted filler that Ubisoft is known and loved for. With all the negative reactions the game is getting, though, maybe Far Cry 5 will be something different again.