FarCry has always been a struggling series for me, I have never been sucked in by the stories or engaged in the gameplay. It always felt generic and a bit of a wash, just another Ubisoft open world game. I was all prepared to lump this game into the same category when I watched a play through of the first hour of the game (on Good Game!). I was immediately drawn into this prehistoric paradise, set in 10,000 B.C. with no guns, machetes or bombs. In a completely vast and bountiful world, the aim of the game is to build a tribe that have been scattered throughout the country (or map). It is a brutal world of man vs. wild with an interesting premise that put this at the top of my favourite games of 2016 so far.
Set in 10,000 B.C, FarCry Primal has you playing as Takkar, a young man who is separated from his tribe by a herd of angry mammoths and sabre tooth tigers. Takkar must travel across the land reuniting his Wenja tribe and rebuilding their camps and huts to establish them as a force to be reckoned with. Along the way you train beasts who will hunt and kill for you, owls who can survey the land ahead and command trained animals to kill at your beckon and call as well as dealing with two other tribes (one of which are cannibalistic!) who will attempt to destroy your newly placed dwellings and slaughter your friends (the pricks!)
The beauty of this game lies in evolution. You have to source materials from the bare land to build primitive weapons like a bow and arrow, spears, clubs and even bee hive bombs to throw at groups of enemies. In addition Takkar gathers resources to build huts for village bases and the accompanying upgrades. The more you play, kill and gather, the more skill points you achieve which upgrades your weapons and attack moves. Not only for yourself, but for the villagers and tamed beasts as well.
Graphically this game is gargantually beautiful, the contrast between the harsh dry land, the large lakes and rivers, gushing waterfalls and chilling snow covered mountain tops all blend together to make this rather large map feel like a living and breathing world. I have taken so many screenshots in this game just based on the environment alone. Then you add in the many animals and character design for the tribes and this presents one of the best looking games on the Playstation 4 system.
It wouldn’t be a FarCry game without some gadgets and the one you can use in Primal is a grapple. It is used to easily ascend or descend cliff faces that make objectives easier to get to (a great idea, especially if you plan on doing what I did and trying to slide down cliff faces and falling to your death!)
The game is quite intense when it comes to kills, and using a flaming arrow or spear to brutally murder your enemies is a satisfying and confronting challenge. Similarly the club is a bone crunching, blood splattering weapon that my partner found hard to watch over and over, as I took out groups of tribes repeatedly.
Far Cry Primal is a complete departure from the previous games in most respects, you spend 
the game trying to build your tribe and collect resources and tame animals to help you on your quest. The story and missions are varied and help bring the world to life, the brutal nature of the terrain and enemies are confronting and appropriately intense. Far Cry Primal has taken a huge step back in time, but has taken a massive step forward in the series in forms of story-telling and character development . This game gripped me from the first hour and kept me coming back to my PS4 to play as much as I can. Far Cry Primal is well worth your gaming dollars and deserves a solid place in your gaming library.
This game was reviewed on a Playstation 4 system, the game was purchased by the reviewer, and all pictures are in-game screenshots.
