For those of us who were born in the 80’s, we were fed movies and games with outlandish plots that featured various versions of the future with cyborg police officers, laser guns, and bleak post-nuclear world wars. The only thing standing in between an entire army of baddies and the end of the world was a single, one-line-giving, super soldier BAMF (Bad Ass Mother F**ker). This is where FarCry 3: Blood Dragon gets its plot.

The story of the game is just as the late 80’s would have it. You play as Sergeant Rex Power Colt, a cyborg commando in an apocalyptic wasteland, who’s mission is to stop an evil dictator from destroying what is left of civilization. The game play is just what you would expect: another rump though
the island of Far Cry 3 with heavy futuristic weapons and a fresh coat of paint. However, this renovated revisit isn’t necessarily a bad thing; the previous installment was groundbreaking and extremely entertaining.

From this version of the FC3 world, you start out with skills that were not even touched until the end of the original game. Multi-enemy take downs and even the throwing knife (now a ninja star) are unlocked the second you turn on the game, making you feel like a super killer from the get go. The hero’s persona helps with that as well.

Delivering one-liners with every enemy downed without ever feeling like the horrible “Duke Nukem’ Forever” style, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is not afraid to make fun of the genre or itself. From the cheesy references of the past to the jokes about gaming elements (as seen abundantly in the tutorials), the humor is what makes this game fun to play.

The introduction to the deadly blood dragons, a massive dinosaur-like creature that is about the size of a city bus, is the only real element of the game that is entirely new. The creatures are dumb, blind, and can only locate you via sound, which means you will be doing a lot of sneaking when they are around. The good part about these lumbering giants is that you can actually utilize them as weapons by using the hearts of your enemies as bait and luring them to the bad guy hideouts. Enjoy the view as the dragons unleash some epic dino fury. They will munch on the enemy, shoot fire laser beams from their eyes, and mow down all that stand in their path.

On some levels throughout the game, you will be required to go toe-to-toe with these beasts, and they don’t go down easy. Even on the easiest difficulty, the blood dragons soak up bullets like a Bounty paper towel to a coffee stain. Sadly, it is very anticlimactic to see the once-terrifying animals simply bust into a puddle of purple goo.

Now the downsides: this game is basically a mod of FC3 and all of the glitches from the original game are still there. In addition, most of the missions are the very annoying “escort” type, which means that for the majority of the game, you will be protecting some random scientist as he opens a door for you. Gone are the hunting missions where you find random animals to fashion yourself a brand new holster for that awesome gun you just got. Animals are not “skinned”, but you can loot them, which once again raises the question as to why a dog is carrying seven dollars on it. That being said, nothing is ever too broken to ruin this game entirely.

All in all, this is a solid game with lots of shoot’em up action and 80’s pop culture humor to make anyone smile. Unfortunately, the repetitive gameplay really hurts this game and makes it difficult to keep interest for a second playthrough. It also doesn’t include multiplayer to keep you busy after the main story is done. But if you are open-minded and up for some gun play, go ahead and
give it a whirl. Just don’t expect anything entirely different from Far Cry 3.

Gameplay

Graphics

Sound

Overall

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