Far Cry Primal, a review 40% of the way through the game.

Far Cry Primal….or Mesolithic Fallout 4

 

 

I never went anywhere near the Far Cry games. I have no idea what they are about, but there are guns involved.

Then I saw someone playing Far Cry Primal.

Ummm…open world set in 10,000 B.C.? Hmmm……crafting system? Errrr…. You can level your guy and there is a sort of skill tree? Ahhhh….you can tame animals to kill for you? So an unkillable pet that you choose?

Yeah. This looks like Fallout 4 but with cavemen, wooly mammoths and such. How did I not pay attention to this before now?

Nice furry elephant. I just want to ride you.
Oh crap!

Alright the story and game play. Well let me see as I said above this takes place in 10,000 B.C. in the Oros Valley (not a real place) in Central Europe. You play as Takkar a dude who is part of the Wenja tribe. You are tasked with surviving, gathering, hunting, saving your scattered tribespeople, building  a little hut city, fighting animals and two other tribes that are out to get you  and yours.

 

Well this is a thing that happens.

Yeah the story is tried, true and pretty standard stuff. The look and game play is what peaked my interest the most.

The world looks really pretty. You have all the hallmarks of big open natural world here: mountains, snow, lakes, rivers, forests, rocky outcroppings and everything else you want. You get the day/night cycle to deal with as well. It is like Skyrim pretty and I’m glad I have this on the PS4, my PC wouldn’t do it justice.

Wenja Village, a community on the move!

 

You have to craft everything you need. That can be annoying in most games, yet in a game set in 10K B.C. it make total sense. Having to hunt critters to get the bits needed to make better gear is pretty fun and at times gratifying. A crafting system that has a purpose. I like that. The downside is that there is only so much you can craft/upgrade weapon-wise. It is repetitive making the same club and spear over and over again, but remember, caveman times. That was all they had.

Who's a good boy?! You eat those cavemen buddy. Good boy!

Then there is the animal buddy system. You can unlock the ability to tame and train animals to fight with you! Yeah there is nothing more fun than unleashing a giant wolf, bear, jaguar or the dreaded honey badger on unsuspecting enemies. Even better is that if they die you can easily resummons them, so no big loss when your giant wolf buys the farm. Even better is the owl you have as a version of a living primitive drone. It can scout area for you . Dive bomb enemies. Hell it can even be trained to drop primitive bombs on people. That is some good stupid fun right there. Better still is the option to eventually be able to ride wooly mammoths! Yeah I need me a furry elephant to ride into battle!
 

The downside of Far Cry Primal?

Well the story is nothing super new or exciting. I start as a lowly hunter, rise to hero and then tribe leader? Who would have seen that coming? Well I have yet to get to tribal chieftain, but I think it will happen before this game is over.

Well thank you for the lovely gift of someone's ear.
Wait now some stick about me not be the chosen one, but the chosen one?

If you love dialogue, well you’ll hate it here. Why? Well everyone talks in some toy cave man language. It is like listening to crappy knock-off Klingon. Yes  it works, because if these primitive people spoke the Queens English it would be beyond stupid. It is a necessity, but it can get annoying at times.


The little missions that pop-up get repetitive, much  like in Fallout 4. I tend to do the kill the other tribe and hunt beastie missions, but tend to pass on the others. Especially the escort people missions. Why are we still getting escort missions in games?!


Outside of this stuff, Far Cry Primal is pretty damn enjoyable. Seriously it is Fallout 4 meets caveman. How can I not like it?

 

Well off to level a bit more so I can get the ability to ride wooly mammoths!

Addendum…a day after writing this I unlocked the ability to train big bears and saber tooth cats. Plus the mammoth riding ability. I have ridden all of them and it is stupid fun!

I have done all the rare “super” beast hunts as well. Having a “super” sabertooth cat as a fighting buddy is awesome!

Also have taken the Iliza down witch was just an annoying as all get out boss fight too.

They love blue and using fire. How fun is that? Not much.