In case you missed the previous three parts, here's the links for Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four.

Welcome to Part Five of this ongoing series of every Far Cry main game in chronological order. As previously mentioned, having dedicated 21 years and thousands upon thousands of hours to this series, I have decided to write a review of my experience with each game. Bear in mind this is coming from a PC gamer.

This post will focus on the fifth game in the series without revealing too much spoilers.

The hilly, mountainous region of Hope County, Montana makes for great exploring, especially since the Guns For Hire are now a lot more competent, useful, and specialised than the ones from Far Cry 4

Far Cry 5 (2018)

Some might consider this game Ubisoft’s pièce de résistance of the Far Cry series, and in truth, they’re not far off. While it’s impossible for me to pick the best Far Cry game, Far Cry 5 offers up many qualities that endears it to many new and existing Far Cry lovers alike.

Set in Hope County, a fictional region of the American state of Montana, players assume the role of the Deputy, a new addition to the county’s rather small police force. After an arrest attempt on Joseph Seed, the game’s main antagonist, goes pear-shaped, the Deputy must team up with the resistance and rescue his crew, now prisoners of each of Seed’s three lieutenants: John, Faith, and Jacob. All three control their individual region and specialise in different forms of combat.

Being able to use guns like the M60 LMG was a highlight for this gamer because it originated from the Vietnam War-era

There is no set path for players to follow, although the game will offer recommendations on which region to target first. New players are strongly advised to follow suit, while those returning for their third playthrough and above should be experienced enough to source out their preferred path. What this game offers best is that there is no correct path to take, with all roads leading to the same final confrontation. I have played this game more than 10 times over, and each time I’ve experimented with different loadouts (stealth only, sniper only, avoiding heavy weapons and moving light, etc) and had equal amounts of fun.

I personally found the concept of a niche brand of “civil war” pretty invigorating, as most of the resistance fighters are simply civilians protecting their land and livelihood. As the cultists respond with violence, so do the civilians. This game also brings back a more advanced version of the buddy system, termed as “Guns for Hire”. An NPC will now follow players and attack the enemies alongside them. This makes for more ways to set up ambush points: For example, players could position an NPC equipped with a rocket launcher further down the road and command them to attack the lead vehicle in an enemy convoy, while simultaneously laying down fire from another ambush point in a pincer movement.

Boomer is undoubtedly a fan favourite NPC. This cute doggie will attack enemies on command, mark them out in combat, or be readily available for scritches

NPC allies aren’t just limited to humans, either. One of the game’s most beloved characters is a dog named Boomer, one of three Fangs for Hire. Players will be able to interact with Boomer and pat/play with it, as well as any other dogs they come across in the region. If this doesn’t strongly compel you to give Far Cry 5 a shot, I honestly don’t know what will.

Players can also now fly propeller planes, some of which come equipped with bombs and machine guns. These are seemingly modelled off the British Hawker Hurricane and Spitfire models. It does take some practice to master flying, but once players get the hang of it, laying waste to enemy cultists in a World War Two era plane seems pretty damn fun, until they return the fire with automatic weapons instead of bolt action rifles.

Having a gaming setup that can run Far Cry 5 at full pelt is a must if you want to experience the full graphical beauty that awaits

All in all, Far Cry 5 offers up a magnificent blend of story-telling and immersive landscape, with fast travel a lot more convenient. However, a common theme remains: Animals still want to kill you.

In Part Six, I will focus on the sixth installment of the Far Cry series.

~ Fremont

(Pictures from Wallpapers.com, SteamDB, Techgoondu, The ScribblingGeek, Flickr)