It's like the last three years of morality system experimentation simple didn't happen, instead we're presented with a black and white good versus bad choice where there's accidentally no reason to choose the less favourable option, other than for the sake of it, and worse still is that the game gives this away right before the final mission. Lo and behold! Far Cry 3 is an entirely open world game with an entirely linear plot, culminating a single binary choice ending. Throughout the the game his 'descent', as the game insists on implying, is very much believable, the sense of progression through both the narrative and Jason's increasing proficiency is just about paced correctly and by the midpoint his saved friends become but a distant memory of his previous left cast aside in favour of life beside the sirenlike aura of Citra, leader of Rakyat people. As the game progresses, Jason goes from butter-wouldn't-melt to king of the jungle, a the initial rescue mission of his friends evolving into a tale of stone-cold revenge. The entire game charts the descent of privileged pipsqueak and culturally bereft twenty-something-er Jason Brody, his two brothers and group of friends holidaying, subsequent capture and escape on Rook Island. It's about raw, animalistic bloodlust, the rejection of Middle-American entitlement and setting fields of marijuana on fire with a flamethrower, but its ending might be the single biggest case of LD ever forged. Far Cry 3 certainly isn't even approaching the same league as Bioshock in terms of plot, but never does it attempt to scale those heady heights. I never found this to be an issue with Bioshock, more the final act's bizarre descent into stock set pieces and general flim-flammery. In layman's terms, it's that moment of realisation where your immersion is broken and you question the actions of the very protagonist you're supposed to be roleplaying. Hocking used this specifically in relation to the seminal Bioshock, and how its central theme of Randian self-interest, as explored through the Little Sisters game mechanic was undermined by the altruistic nature of Jack and his desire to help Atlas in the narrative. Rook Island is wondrously vibrant world, with appropriately jaunty colour palette and inhabitants to boot but there's something about it which just doesn't quite gel, resulting in a very good game rather than one of excellence.īack 2007, Clint Hocking ( ed: lead designer of Far Cry 2) penned the phrase 'ludonarrative dissonance' -LD-on the face of it a term not exactly friendly and approachable. If you've heard anything at all about Far Cry 3, it'll almost definitely be about how chuffing wonderful it is, be it hurtling through the jungle in a battered South African hatchback in pursuit of a lion, only to drive off a cliff in a cloud of hubris or crafting a rather fetching sharkskin casual jacket.