Who needs E3, when all the major companies are getting so chatty in the run up to the trade show? Ubisoft are the latest to jump on this particular bandwagon, as they announced Far Cry 4. Hopefully this doesn’t preclude a big surprise reveal at E3, though.
Far Cry 4, then, is set to take players away from the tropics once more and off to Kryat, a wild region of the Himalayas under a tyrannical regime. Presumably the main villain will be the chap in the fetching pink suit on the game’s cover.
If the setting has changed quite drastically, then it’s doubtful that the gameplay will lose much of what made Far Cry 3 so popular, as there will be another big selection of weapons, vehicles and animals to encounter on your travels. You’ll almost certainly have to skin a snow leopard in order to fashion yourself a bigger rucksack to carry more grenades, or something equally ludicrous.
There will also be the return of Hurk from Far Cry 3, in the form of DLC missions, which also implies that Far Cry 4 might take place in the same universe as that game and possibly even be a direct sequel, depending on the ending you saw.
Naturally, the game is set to come out for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, but Ubisoft haven’t forgotten those of you sticking with older hardware, as they will also have a version for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 for the game’s release on November 18th in the US, 19th in the EU and 21st in the UK.
An interesting point to note is that Ubisoft’s financial report also came out today, with CEO Yves Guillemot mentioning Far Cry 4 in his list of five major games that should help Ubisoft return to profits in 2014-15, with Watch Dogs’ delay surely to blame for the missed targets of 2013-14. Notable by omission from that list was The Division, Ubisoft Massive’s ambitious and graphically impressive upcoming title.
Either way, Ubisoft will be bringing more details about Far Cry 4 and plenty more to E3, so be sure to try and watch their press conference if you’re a fan of the company’s work.
Source: press release
Jacko
Less camera shake this time, please.
Far Cry 3 is the only game to ever give me motion sickness. :(
3shirts
Yep, same here.
3shirts
Dude looks a little like Val Kilmer, before he ate all the pies
gazzagb
Whoever the villain is, he’s got a lot to live up to after Vaas, but the prospect of exploring the Himalayas is very exciting!
Broonba
Aye. Wonder if there will be any Yeti’s in the game :P
tonycawley
Excellent. Far cry 3 was one of my favourite games of last gen so I’m looking forward to a new one, should be awesome!
Starman
Nice to see a big game just get announced out of the blue instead of the usual months of rumours & speculation.
AddictedAndy
I didn’t play Far Cry 3 but don’t remember skinning any animals in #2. Pretty disgusted that you’d even suggest skinning one of the most beautiful and endangered big cats in the world. If the game does include that then I won’t give them my money, it would be incredibly poor taste imho
Kronik76
So it’s ok to shoot people in the face, or to skin less endangered or what you would deem to be ugly animals? I’m sure that the game developers wouldn’t offend you with such digital monstrosities as Stefan describes, but if they did they could probably live with one less game sale.
AddictedAndy
Glad you agree then that it would be a monstrosity. Also there are no ugly animals on this earth. I don’t care who disagrees I thought it was a nasty thing to write and gave my opinion.
Steelhead
The common consensus is that its ok to shoot people in videogames because people are generally arseholes.
bunimomike
What a strange situation. Stef (Tef) was hardly salivating over such an act and merely pointed something out. Add to this that there are so many unbelievable horrors in video games, books, films and TV programmes it seems such a strange standpoint to get heated over.
Obviously if there was actual heat produced I’d rustle me up a snow leopard burger!
RudeAwakening
You do realise that its all just pixels. Don’t worry. :)
Stefan L
Yeah, it’s odd but Far Cry 3 and Assassin’s Creed 4 both feature the hunting of endangered animals, and these were a part of the upgrade system or for cosmetic crafting. It’s easily my least favourite part of those games.
I wasn’t revelling in the fact that I’ll get to skin an animal in the game, mind you, just pointing out that, if Far Cry 4 follows the same game mechanics as 3, then it will likely feature in this game.
JR.
I ate snow leopard once… with some fava beans and a nice chianti thththththththththth
Andrewww
I loved FC2 and 3, but found it quite odd to be sent hunting tapirs, as I feel related to them quite strongly.
However, it’s even more strange that shooting other people in a game feels much more natural.
Kennykazey
You’re related to Tapirs? (Andr)ewww! ;-)
Hunting endangered species is a cruelty, but this is just a videogame and a far cry from reality. I don’t expect many people to get the urge to fashion themselves a white tiger suit after playing, but perhaps a morality meter could be implemented?
3shirts
A far cry from reality? Nice
3shirts
You must have a pretty miserable life if the mere suggestion of skinning a fake computer generated animal in a game disgusts you! You were happy killing all those people in #2 were you? I suggest you get some perspective.
It’s not real.
AddictedAndy
Nothing like a bit of controversy eh? Hilarious how defensive some of you are. Simple fact is I am very passionate about conservation. My wife and I donate money each month to help save the snow leopard and various other endangered species. yes the game is not real, but animals are taken from this world every day for no other reason than greed. The very idea touched a nerve (but I still love TSA). That is all
Andrewww
‘You must have a pretty miserable life…’..?
Come on, now. AddictedAndy made a perfectly valid statement of how he feels about that. And he cares for the planet, which also you live on.
bunimomike
That’s really quite different (and admirable), AA.
Thing is, we can’t just lose our sense of humour, wonderment or fantasy just because something innocent is trampled, shot, explodededed! In the real world? Definitely. In the realms of fiction and entertainment? Nope. Or we’ll have nothing edgy or questionable happen again.
Top efforts on the conservation stuff, though. Much respect.
DividSmythe
I just hope it’s quite similar to FC3. I found that immense fun. I can see birthday present for me with this.
MICKY17
Really really enjoyed FC3 so will be picking this up for sure. Himalayas is certainly a location not exactly common in the gaming world either so that should be fun too.
gamerbuff
Let’s hope Microsoft’s platform parity contract is ripped up before November. A downgraded PS4 version to keep parity with the Xbox one means I won’t be buying it.
In fact any company clearly keeping Microsoft sweet at the expense of PS4 gamers can go screw themselves.
Stefan L
Which parity contract would that be? As far as I can see, Assassin’s Creed IV and Watch Dogs both run at a higher resolution on PS4 than the XBO versions.
bunimomike
I was off to go eat something and wondered if I could borrow some tinfoil from your hat so I can catch the grease from my snow leopard meat. :-)
gamerbuff
Why else would the PS4 version nsgicslly transform itself from 1080/60 to 900/30 in the space of a month?
Why else would several other titles (from separate publishers) get a day one patch to restore the original resolution?
If you believe Microsoft aren’t holding publishers to ransom by the threat of blocking all their titles then you are the delusional one.
Its common knowledge in the industry but even talking about it gets you into all sorts of legal strife (there is a confidentiality clause on even discussing it).
The indie controversy on the platform parity contract is just a very small part of it.
tonycawley
If there’s a confidentiality clause on even discussing it and therefore it’s never been discussed, how are you privy to such information?
These clauses are mere rumour and nonsense unless anyone can provide tangible evidence to prove otherwise?
tonycawley
Mike can you please cook me up one of your pretend digital snow leopard burgers so I can eat it whilst shooting people in the face in the imaginary digital world that I’m playing my game in? Please? Because we all do things in games that we wouldn’t even dream of in real life like stabbing people, skinning leopards and driving at 200mph.
bunimomike
Which games are having day one patches to bump up the resolution? Do you have a list? I’d be interested to read about it as that sounds crap if they are.
The internet allows for a degree of transparency with certain things and I’d be surprised if Microsoft has managed to operate with this degree of control.
Kennykazey
Black Flag went from 900p to 1080p after a day-one patch, but that’s all I can think of.
Don’t think WatchUnderscoreDogs ever was 1080p @ 60FPS on PS4, that was likely no more than a total screwup. There’s no way they’d drop the resolution and cut the framerate in half just to match the Xbox. The Ps4 is approx 50% more powerful (at best), not 125% (half the framerate and about a quarter off the resolution).
Kennykazey
(we need an edit within 5 min option, pretty please)
And yes, I know performance impact isn’t linear to resolution, so it’d be a bit less than that… 115 percent perhaps. Anyway, I’d kill for some snow leopard about now.
gamerbuff
Black flag and cod ghosts to name a couple, there are plenty more titles that are turned down on PS4 and not day one patched for fear of the wrath of Microsoft.
The wording is such that in short if you want to publish on either Xbox console then there should be no significant difference in quality with other consoles from the sane generation.
Basically whilst Microsoft still have a significant portion of the market you have to play by thier rules to publish on xbox.
Now I would think this falls foul of anti trust laws, but until publishers grow a pair and stand up, there will always be an artificial platform parity and now way for the ps4 to show its full advantage in multiplatform games.
Stefan L
There was also the odd bug in Call of Duty: Ghosts, where the single player was 720p, but the multiplayer was 1080p… that was a fun one…
Anyway, if these “parity” clauses exist, the person that wrote them has been fired, because whether patched or on the disc, they’ve simply not achieved their intended goal.
bunimomike
GB – Sony has the biggest portion of the new-gen market. That doesn’t make sense. Also, I’d like to see the clause. This is ludicrous at best!
The reason why we see so many multi-platforms not taking full advantage of the hardware is the amount of time it takes to optimise software for any given platform. It happens in games and business software (as well as everything else in between). I work in the software industry (in a way) and deal with programmers every day. Optimisation is a bugger. You finish your work and just want everyone to have the PC you have. It’s the same with consoles. If you code for one platform, that 5% of dev time at the end can be spent on one specific piece of hardware. Not spread thinly across more and, thus, compromising the looks of a game. Same goes for sloppy console ports to the PC. It’s the precise same reason that PC gamers complain when developers haven’t made much effort to ramp things up.
You basically sound mad and not in a “eh! Let’s go drinking with gamerbuff” sort of way.
Don’t get me wrong, there could be the slimmest of chances that Microsoft has tried and actually implemented this but common sense shows us that most people don’t think so.
Steelhead
An interesting location but if the gameplay remains unchanged then I will definitely avoid. For me Far Cry 3 was one of the most overrated game of the past-gen.
3shirts
Well there is never going to be a game that is universally popular. Just out of interest, what didn’t you like. Are you a fan of FPS in general?