While visiting the Sony booth to play the God of War: Ascension multiplayer demo, I decided to stop by the Far Cry 3 station and try out the cooperative mode. I am greatly looking forward to Far Cry 3 so needless to say I was excited to get my hands on any portion of the game that I could. What I got was an average experience that needs a great deal of improvement before it releases in September.
One of my favorite things about the demo was that everyone has the ability to perform something called a “Battle Cry.” A Battle Cry allows the player to give a team bonus by clicking both analogue sticks. These range from granting health bonuses to giving players a speed or damage boost. This greatly emphasizes the use of team work in order to complete your mission. The other thing I found interesting was that there are certain points in the missions where you will be given a chance to go head to head with your teammates in a bout of friendly competition. The one in the demo I played had all four players sniping pirates to see who could come out at the end with the most kills.
Of course the demo was not without its flaws. One of the biggest things that bothered me was that the aiming felt off. It was almost impossible to acquire and when I did I had to spray a slew of rounds just to hit him. When I did hit my target it took entire magazines of ammunition just to bring him down. Not to mention it doesn’t take very long for them to take you out due to their numbers and the damage they are able to inflict on you. I shouldn’t have to pump a continuous stream of rounds into someone not wearing s bit of armor just to bring him down. If you ever played Far Cry 2 then you will have an idea of what I mean. The enemies in 3 are just as durable and this makes for a minor annoyance.
Far Cry 3’s cooperative mode has plenty of potential that has yet to be unlocked. If they can tweak the aiming just a bit and fix the amount of rounds it takes to take down an opponent (I hit a guy in the chest with a .50 Cal rifle and he didn’t even flinch) then I think it could be a great add on to a game that already has plenty to offer. Far Cry 3 releases on September 4 for the Playstaion3 and Xbox 360 and will give players a single player campaign, co-op campaign and online competitive mode.
