After taking players to the year 10,000 BCE with “Far Cry Primal”, developers Ubisoft Montreal & Toronto returned to the franchise’s most celebrated roots by promising to give fans of the last few “Far Cry” games everything they enjoyed and more with the fifth numbered entry in the series – the first “Far Cry” game occurring in the United States – “Far Cry 5”. As expected the formula established then six years ago was still as fun as it was when people were actually quoting the standout character from “Far Cry 3”. Utilizing the map from “5”, “Far Cry New Dawn” doesn’t go back in time to present a spin-off; but produces the first actual canonical sequel in the franchise’s history featuring homicidal twins, more pink than a bottle of Pepto Bismol, and of course firefights aplenty.
Did I Complete “Far Cry New Dawn”?
Just like “Far Cry 5”, “New Dawn” allows the player to take control of an avatar actually created by the gamer with the limited tools provided. Given a nickname of “Cap” (short for “Captain of Security”), the player will encounter the insanity that has taken hold of the fictional Hope County, Montana after “Far Cry 5’s” antagonist Joseph Seed was proven right when he proclaimed he knew what was going to happen to the world thanks to the voice of God speaking to him. Even after the bombs dropped, Hope County is a diverse environment featuring hidden treasures, collectibles such as MP3 players, premium fishing spots, the stereotypical conquerable outposts, and a plethora of wildlife including mutated mammals. With a muted protagonist, the player most likely will see Cap as a digitized version of themselves taking on vicious raiders headed by Mickey & Lou – sociopathic twins who have no problem killing a person for not providing them goods necessary to make their lives better. As per the norm, the player must take their character throughout the map while completing missions, recruiting supporters and having the stereotypical “acid trip” scenario that is meant to be a moment of spiritual evolution. While “Primal” featured fundamental changes to the gameplay tying into the primitive setting, “New Dawn” feels like familiar territory if someone has played the previously numbered sequels; meaning jumping in and completing the game is pretty straight-forward for those who know how not to get overwhelmed with the copious amount of things that can be accomplished. After fifteen hours I gained a majority of the trophies, liberated all the outposts on the highest difficulty as well the newly implemented “Expeditions”, and finished the story with the latter taking about four to five hours of that time.
Did “Far Cry New Dawn” Live Up to the Hype?
After having players questioning their beliefs and discussing the actual ending of “Far Cry 5”, Ubisoft Montreal burns everything down and allows those who survived a bombing to rebuild with the same mindset of their predecessors by utilizing the hard work of others to make a personal profit while claiming to help the oppressed. “New Dawn” doesn’t shake things up when it comes to what made “Far Cry 5” so much fun in regards to gameplay as the player is stuck in a first-person environment surrounded by homicidal enemies, animals both hostile & passive, missions aplenty, outposts to liberate, various vehicles made for multiple terrains while featuring another incredible soundtrack, & guns (guns, guns). The player’s character has the task of working alongside the community of “Prosperity” headed by a minor character & her daughter players of “Far Cry 5” will recognize. The goal of Prosperity is to live without being held under the motocross boots of Mickey & Lou. In “Far Cry 5”, the protagonist gained “Resistance” points by completing main story missions, side quests & taking part in random events such as freeing enslaved townspeople to progress the narrative. “New Dawn” removes the “Resistance” points system and sticks to something closer to what “Primal” offered by having Cap recruit “Specialists” who will help build facilities at Prosperity. Acquiring Specialists involves a sole mission that can range from having a standoff with Lou & Mickey’s “Highway Men” enemies to diving underwater to search for a lost item for a tweaked out scientist. Ethanol is also needed to build those facilities – an item that most emphatically comes with capturing Outposts. The presentation of Outposts has been changed for the better in “New Dawn” as players can “scrap” every captured Outpost individually with each figurative reset bringing forth harder enemies until the challenge reaches its max level of three stars – the higher the difficulty the more ethanol given to the player when successful in capturing an Outpost.
With the map of “New Dawn” being about half the size of “5’s”, there aren’t any bosses outside of those in the final missions; meaning there isn’t a feeling of true progression or skill challenge similar to what was seen in “5” when one boss provided a sniper duel while the other was a mystical firefight. The nameless AI enemies are their usual dumb selves a majority of the time, but have a big change associated with them: visible levels. Above each enemy is a segmented color coded bar with level four enemies being “Elite” adversaries that will take a lot or little to put down depending on what type of weapon the player has in Cap’s inventory. As the player builds up the “Weapons Bench” section of Prosperity while collecting items for crafting, Cap can craft weapons that feature higher damage rates and varied ammo such as armor piercing bullets that will one-shot an Elite enemy. Tying into this weapon leveling system are micro-transactions. If players don’t want to search through the world or complete more missions than the ones solely associated with the story such as the ten treasure mission they can spend real money to buy points, but buying those high level weapons is only available after upgrading the weapons bench to max; a process that will only be completed about two-thirds into the story. A majority of players will most likely not need to spend an extra dime to get the high-powered weapons they want by the game’s final third including a saw blade launcher featuring auto-targeting.
A majority of the missions play the same as any “Far Cry” game before it, but there are some variations to the offerings that add a few extra hours of fun including the implementation of “Expeditions”. Being taken to a specific section off the visible world map like Alcatraz, the player is given the task of invading a stronghold, retrieve an item and return it to the pick-up spot. Between the retrieval and the pick up is two minutes of intense action as the player must survive a plethora of enemies coming to take back what is theirs’. Expeditions are some of the most fun a majority of players will have with “New Dawn”, but on highest difficulty challenge the mode becomes a game of chance & luck as a rocket launcher-wielding Elite can spawn out of nowhere and blow up the helicopter as the player is holding down the button to enter their getaway vehicle. Returning from “Far Cry 5” is the buddy system, “Guns for Hire”. By helping or saving certain NPCs, the player can recruit a partner to work alongside them in battle like longtime fan favorite Hurk and, of course, a loyal canine companion. Unlike “Far Cry 5” the Specialists don’t get involved in battle like Nick Rye providing air support. Completely gone from “Far Cry 5” was crafting pouches & holsters by hunting animals & fishing with “perk points” being used for upgrades instead. Perk points are gained by completing various “Challenges” such as killing a certain number of enemies with a specific weapon or even completing some trophies. Used in the skill tree, perk points will allow the player to hold more ammo, run longer, gain items like the wing suit, and even attain some supernatural powers such as double jumping. Co-op is back in “Far Cry New Dawn” with two friends having the ability to play through the game together, but only the initial player gains progress – meaning the second player is essentially a buddy character. “Far Cry Arcade” doesn’t return with “New Dawn”, nor do the “Live Event” challenges. Technically, “New Dawn” is one of the rougher offerings in the franchise featuring various minor glitches ranging from enemies getting stuck in rocks to weird audio cues including grating static. One of the oddest glitches happened when a call for re-enforcements during an Outpost liberation gone wrong resulted in no more enemies spawning and me having to restart from the most recent checkpoint. “New Dawn” also features an open world game flaw that for some reason continues to occur in the franchise with a single save slot being available to the player.
“Far Cry New Dawn” is a “Far Cry” game if there ever was one by following the “Far Cry 3” formula. The story is pretty much paint-by-the-numbers with the gameplay mostly being the same as what was offered in “Far Cry 5” with a leveling system tacked on. The only real innovations – the handling of Outposts and the addition of Expeditions – definitely adds more fun to the mayhem, but doesn’t remove the feeling of been there, done that.
Should You Play “Far Cry New Dawn”?
Like a majority of the other “Far Cry” games that came before it, “New Dawn” feels all-too familiar. The gameplay is still exceptionally fun when a player is forced to shoot it out with a bunch of masked people rocking helmets & shotguns while attempting to make a great escape via helicopter, or trying to figure out the best route in liberating an outpost. The story struggles in the same way as previous “Far Cry” games with the main antagonists rarely showing up (simply radioing in when the player completes a main mission), and when they do arrive they’re stereotypical at best. Certain gameplay implementations from “Primal” and “Far Cry 5” such as base building and “Guns For Hire” is dumbed down, but adjustments to things like how Outposts function in the world is fantastic & long needed. At a smaller scale than both its direct predecessors, “New Dawn” definitely feels like something between impressive DLC and a full offering from a generation ago. For those who’ve enjoyed everything “Far Cry” games have offered since “FC 3”, this will be a treat. But those who either don’t care or are burned out by the franchise in its current form won’t find much to enjoy even when the irony of a person using their helmet to crack someone else’s skull is on full display.
