History Of Far Cry

with the release of far cry 6 we decided to go back to the very beginning to see just how far the franchise has come from impressive tech demo to goofy open world juggernaut for more deep dives into your favorite game series make sure to like this video and subscribe to the channel [Music] it started in 1999. developers from german studio crytek had one hell of a time getting to e3 that year they almost missed their flight didn't have a hotel and had to shell out the last of their money to pay for passes eventually they made it into e3 and were permitted 15 minutes to show their work at the nvidia booth back then crytek had a demo for something made in their cryengine called exile dinosaur island in which players walk around an island populated with dinosaurs the cryengine boasted some of the most impressive graphics at the time water had reflections the lush island was huge and the draw distance was unlike anything anyone had ever seen nvidia snapped up exile to be a benchmarking software to ship with their new graphics cards and ubisoft signed it to become a full aaa game in 2004 exile launched as a pc game called far cry there's a lot of modern far cry dna present even at the very beginning open sandbox environments vehicles the ability to approach encounters in multiple ways an underwhelming multiplayer and so on however the first game goes off in a sci-fi direction that the franchise never really revisited you play as jack carver ex-us army special forces who finds himself washed up on a mysterious tropical island after the boat he was charting is attacked by mercenaries he scours the island searching for the woman who he was transporting killing mercenaries along the way seems pretty straightforward but before long you start running up against trigens the hell is that thing it must be a tragen see the mercenaries were hired by a man named dr krieger to protect his pet project genetically enhanced soldiers traversing the lush jungle was made all the tougher by mercenaries using the dense foliage for cover as they'd sometimes opt to sneak up on you rather than coming at you guns blazing the island was a standout location and there was an immense juxtaposition between the cheery colourful backdrop and the lingering creepiness from what was happening there upon release far cry was a critical and commercial success with most of the praise going to its visuals gamespot viewer jason ocampo called it the best single-player first-person shooter since half-life and couldn't stop gushing about how it looked far cry is a stunning game in so many ways it certainly raises the bar for graphics to new heights and yet it's not just a technology demonstration others felt similarly and the game sold over 730 000 copies in four months with ubisoft fast tracking a console release far cry had put crytek a previously unknown developer on the map and in 2004 the studio signed a deal with ea to leave far cry behind and create a new game franchise for pc crisis ubisoft montreal took over development of the console version of far cry and it launched for the original xbox in late 2005. due to processing limitations on the xbox the game needed to be rebuilt from the ground up to get it to run on the console and the graphics while still incredibly impressive for the og xbox weren't quite as good to offer something new to returning players a number of gameplay features were added including more vehicles dual wielding and the ability to set traps that you could lure your enemies into not only that but you yourself became a weapon you were injected with an experimental serum and gained feral abilities such as superhuman strength speed and the power to see the scent trails of your enemies which proved incredibly useful in the dense jungle it really captured the feeling that you were evolving and changing over time and that was reflected in the gameplay although the players started outnumbered and outgunned they'd eventually overcome whether with firepower or abilities multiplayer also received some tweaks it wasn't exactly the most notable part of the pc version but on xbox it received some new modes and a level editor with the ability to share maps via xbox live far cry instincts was also released in arcade as a two-person rail shooter in 2007 under the name paradise lost and it wasn't long before the remake slash port got its own sequel expansion far cry instinct's evolution launched on the original xbox in march 2006 and picked up the story where instincts left off following the beleaguered jack carver who was still stuck in paradise on the run from rebels and of course animal human hybrids the story was about half the length of instincts but the levels were a bit more open-ended there were new vehicles multiplayer received new maps and modes and you had a bigger arsenal including molotov cocktails it didn't exactly reinvent the wheel but if you were hankering for more far cry at the time this was a nice little extra instincts wasn't backwards compatible on the xbox 360 though so if you had one of microsoft's shiny new consoles and wanted to play you had to grab far cry instincts predator look i didn't name these predator packaged instincts and evolution together for the new console but it received some flack because the graphics weren't quite up to par with other 360 games at the time the same week ubisoft launched evolution and predator it announced that it had secured all rights to the far cry series bagging both the intellectual property and quote a perpetual license to use the cry engine far cry edition that engine would eventually be tweaked and adapted by ubisoft into its own engine dunya far cry made its way onto the nintendo wii in late 2006 and it was a bit of a mess ubisoft had taken parts of some levels from the xbox version of the game and mashed them up with new content specifically for the wii like the training level and levels that just basically became shooting galleries the ai wasn't the cleverest and had pretty bad aim making the game a breeze it had a split screen multiplayer but it was limited to only two players which didn't really make for the most thrilling deathmatch mode story-wise it threw you in at the deep end offering no exposition as to who jack carver was or why he had weird superhuman abilities and for a game series known for its outstanding visuals the wii just couldn't compete but far cry vengeance wouldn't be the lowest low for the franchise oh no far cry a history of far cry wouldn't be a history of far cry without mention of the awful movie that was released in 2008 directed by oui bol yes that one who apparently snapped up the rights before the game even launched it follows jack carver roughly through the plot of the first game and it's frankly speaking pretty awful i won't subject you to too much of it shocking no one it completely bombed let him loose let's see how he moves no i cannot do that without sedating him he would kill everybody in this room including me although one fun fact about it is that on the dvd there's a commentary track with ball some producers and the intern weird shortly after the movie came out so did the game's sequel far cry 2. it took players to 50 square kilometers of african wilderness and at the time ubisoft really really wanted you to know how big that map was far cry 2 was an ambitious mix of open-ended game design multiple interacting gameplay systems and a bigger emphasis on realism yes of course fire propagation and malaria too you were a mercenary sent to an unnamed african nation at the height of a civil war to take out an arms dealer known as the jackal and far cry 2 offered you a lot of freedom in how you chose to play to achieve this objective your map would display available missions each with different rewards and depending on what you were after you could undertake them in whichever order you liked and in more creative ways the day night cycle impacted enemy behavior so you could put off finding a target until night time where you'd be less visible or you could let the environment do the work for you the weather conditions changed the battlefield in interesting ways fog could hide your position and wind could turn a small fire into a blazing inferno you had buddies dotted around the map which would act as the forebearers of the guns for higher mechanic in later far cry games who appeared in your game was randomized but by undertaking missions with them you'd increase your relationship they could also die not all of far cry 2's mechanics were beloved though the game had a weapon degradation mechanic and not only that your character also kind of had malaria this meant that every so often your character would need to take pills to stay alive farcry 2 was ambitious and it suffered from numerous technical issues at launch but overall it was widely praised and it's amazing to look back and see just how much other far cry games have borrowed from it pre-production on far cry 3 started in 2008 and originally attempted to bring together the previous games into one cohesive narrative but after some key staff from the previous games left ubisoft plans for far cry 3 shifted according to ex-narrative designer rafael van lierop the game became a little more mainstream it returned to the jungle ditching the gritty aesthetic of far cry 2 for a sunnier more colorful approach it did however continue with its fish out of water shtick the game follows protagonist jason brody who visits the lush rook islands with his friends on a holiday of a lifetime but they're all captured by pirate leader vas montenegro jason manages to escape and finds himself working with the island's residents to try and rescue his friends and get rid of the pirates terrorizing the island continuing the tradition of the villain being far more interesting than the protagonist the character that caught everyone's attention was pirate lord vas portrayed by michael mando i don't have to tell you about the infamous definition of insanity speech but it immediately became iconic and even won a golden joystick award for best gaming moment it's like water under the bridge did i ever tell you the definition of insanity mando also played the character in the game's spin-off live action series the far cry experience which also featured christopher mintz place aka mclovin i am mclovin rook islands was an expansive sandbox filled with things to do and everything offered players progression there was crafting skill points and in what would become classic ubisoft fair there were outposts to liberate and watch towers to climb you weren't just up against the pirates who had taken over the island there were also animals to hunt and by collecting their pelts you could upgrade your equipment far cry 3 also features one of the series most iconic missions burning marijuana fields to make it bundem by skrillex and damian marley the story caught some black particularly in its portrayal of the island's native inhabitants but when it came to critical and commercial reception rook islands and vass were the stars far cry 3 was praised for its open world the interacting systems and vassa's charismatic presidents within two years it had sold 10 million copies and firmly cemented far cry as one of ubisoft's blockbuster franchises on april fool's day 2013 ubisoft released a teaser trailer and a website for a project called far cry 3 blood dragon given its over-the-top neon 80s aesthetic it was assumed by many to be an april fool's day prank but no it was an actual standalone game that was released a month later it gently took the piss and revered the action movies and saturday morning cartoons of the 1980s in equal measure and featured a soundtrack by synthwave duo powerglove that absolutely banged it plays almost identically to far cry 3 but you take on the role of cybernetic super soldier sergeant rex power cult voiced by terminator and alien star michael bean it was a hit both commercially and critically and in 2021 adi shankar executive producer of the netflix castlevania series announced an animated series set in blood dragon's world called captain laser hawk a blood dragon remix a remastered version of the game would also be bundled with far cry 6. after the enormous success of far cry 3 ubisoft immediately began working on a sequel early on in development the team talked about making it a direct one that continued jason's journey on rook islands they even discussed bringing back everyone's favorite baddie vas according to producer dan hay those talks lasted for about four days before the team decided to up sticks from rook island and set the game in the fictional country of kirat in the himalayas i've cleared my calendar for you you and i are gonna test up playing is rj gale a young kirati american who continues the fish out of water trend by returning to his native country to spread his mother's ashes but finds kirat in the middle of a civil war between a rebel movement called the golden path and the royal army which is led by its eccentric king pagan min who was voiced by troy baker far cry 4 added choices to gameplay with you choosing ultimately who would rule kirat gameplay-wise it also expanded on what people loved most about far cry 3 its world adding more activities customization and quests wildlife wasn't just something to hunt or be hunted by now you could ride an elephant into battle like a tank or issue orders to a tiger during the trippy shangri-la missions or if you fancied getting some more air a gyrocopter was available to ride and leap into battle from a mechanic cut from far cry 3 made it into four guns for hire which allowed your buddy to play the game cooperatively with you and if played on a playstation console the keys to kirat offer meant that you could play with a friend who didn't even own the game for up to two hours far cry 4 was the biggest launch for the franchise so far with ubisoft announcing that it sold 7 million copies in its first few months on sale in 2016 another spin-off was released and while it kept the spirit of far cry it was a real departure for starters it wasn't set in the modern age at all instead going all the way back to 10 000 bc as takara a member of the wenger tribe you find yourself in a harsh foreign valley and must build up your village while fighting off rival tribes and predators naturally there are no guns to be had and so clubs bows slings and eventually bombs helped you cut through your enemies while far cry had dabbled with bringing animals into the gameplay mix far cry primal committed takart was able to talk to animals and bring them on side and like controlling the tiger in far cry 4 you were able to sick your furry friends onto your enemies instead of having a camera or binoculars to tag enemies in the distance you had a pet owl to do that for you one of the coolest things about primal was that ubisoft worked with language experts to create a language just for the game with distinct dialects for the different tribes for palsy khan who have patash far cry primal definitely lent more into the prey becomes predator elements of far cry but those who miss the bombastic nature of the franchise didn't have that long to wait [Music] [Music] [Applause] far cry 5 returned players to modern ish civilization specifically hope county montana which was home to doomsday cult called the project at eden's gate instead of just one antagonist though you were up against a whole family although the cult was headed up by the charismatic and dangerous joseph seed players had to first get through the lieutenants before taking a shot at the leader far cry 5 was certainly the most open of any of the titles as soon as you got through the tutorial you were dropped into hope county and were able to tackle it in any order you liked skills weren't locked by prerequisite skills meaning you could hone your playstyle quickly by undertaking activities in its three regions you would earn resistance points make enough of a nuisance of yourself and you'd catch the attention of the ruling lieutenant who you'd then have to face far cry 5 took away ubisoft's beloved watchtowers and mini-maps to encourage exploration and interaction with the world far cry 5 also doubled down on ai helping you out guns for hire brought specialist characters along for the ride with you thanks for hire meanwhile allowed the player to recruit animals like cheeseburger the bear or boom of the dog to help you out or you could bring your real life friends along for the ride far cry arcade let you make your own maps using assets from far cry 5 other far cry games and even other ubisoft games like assassin's creed and watchdogs gameplay-wise far cry 5 certainly seemed to be trying new things and getting a lot of it right the story however was pretty polarizing due to its themes of separatism religious fanaticism and similarities with far-right political movements that seem to mirror events in the real world it didn't help that ubisoft actively shied away from making any kind of definitive political statement while evoking the hot button issues of the times it was released in the game was the fastest selling in the franchise and in may 2019 ubisoft revealed that in under a year it had become the best selling ubisoft game of the entire console generation it eventually received a bunch of wacky dlc featuring some of the supporting characters from the game spoilers for the good ending of far cry 5 here but at the end of that game joseph seed detonates a nuke new dawn takes place 17 years later in hope county albeit on a smaller version of the map in the game a bunch of survivors struggle to rebuild while facing off against the highway men who were scavengers attempting to take everything that's left after the nuke a superbloom re-vegetated the land replacing the brown palette we've come to associate with post-apocalyptic games with dashes of pinks and greens gameplay wise new dawn introduced damage numbers and tiered enemies effectively gating your progress and preventing you from easily journeying around hope county it also gave you superpowers kind of reminiscent of far cry instincts reviews were mixed and its sales reflected this ubisoft is really having a moment where it's trying to pull on nostalgia strings in an attempt to generate goodwill can't think why but anyway far cry vr dive into insanity is in development and it's a virtual reality experience that will take players back to rook islands and yes you guessed it reunite you with vas but that's not the only place he's gonna be cropping up he'll play a role in the upcoming far cry 6 dlc we'll get to that in a sec but the latest iteration of the series is gonna take us to the fictional caribbean island of yara inspired by war torn cuba you'll play as danny rojas nope not that one a different one that's part of the local guerrilla resistance who are trying to remove corrupt dictator anton castillo from his rule still though football is life castillo is played by giancarlo esposito who you may know from his iconic role in breaking bad castillo rules with an iron fist and is training up his young son diego to take his place far cry 6 is said to be the biggest game to date and it brings back a lot of what we know and love like cute animals playing alongside you this here for example is chorizo the dog good dog good dog you'll also be able to play the whole game in co-op leaning into the gorilla resistance themes resolver weapons are unique weapons that are improvised from junk like the saw blade that plays the macarena the supremo backpacks act as more heavy hitting pieces of equipment and can be used as jet packs flamethrowers or projectile launchers if far cry 5 shied away from making a political message far cry 6's developers have actively said it'll be a political game while the cuban revolution acted as inspiration the game's political messages will be firmly within the context of the fictional country of yara the far cry 6 season pass includes new story episodes where you can play as some of far cry's most infamous villains vas pagan min and joseph seed there'll also be dlc missions featuring danny trejo and crossovers with rambo and stranger things so there we have it the history of far cry from its humble beginnings to present day for more on the game subscribe or head over to gamespot.com where you can also learn more about ubisoft's employees taking action to change hostile company culture and how the company itself has responded thanks for watching i'm on twitter at lucy james games and we'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: GameSpot

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Length: 24min 3sec (1443 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 05 2021