Almost two years ago I reviewed Far Cry 3 and overall thought that it was a fun to play game. Ubisoft’s sequel, Far Cry 4, returns with everything that made its predecessor fun while adding new parts to make it even better.

The game follows the story of Ajay, an American man who, upon the final wish of his mother, journeys to the fictional Himalayan country of Kyrat to spread her ashes. However, when he arrives in his native land, Ajay discovers the region is plunged in a civil war, instigated by Ajay’s estranged rebel father. With the conflict destroying his mother’s home, Ajay is forced into the battle for Kyrat’s future.

Far Cry 4 is a fast-paced open world third person shooter with a beautiful open world to explore. Even in between missions, no part ever feels boring. You can run around and collect every piece of government propaganda, hunt for animals to make new pieces of gear or simply relax and look at the beautiful world that is Kyrat. Surprisingly enough, snow-topped mountains and grassy flowered glades look much better than the island tropics of Far Cry 3, thanks to  better graphics.

Far Cry 4 sticks to the mechanics established in Far Cry 3 with the bulk of the game built upon open situations that players can approach from many different angles. If Ajay needs to retake a small village the player could wait on top of a nearby hill and pick off each guard one by one, or maybe sneak in during the night and assassinate every enemy or even storm the stronghold, toting armor and heavy machine guns whilst riding an elephant. As extreme as that last option might seem, all three are completely possible and doable plans of action that could work in achieving your goal. Far Cry 4 is very much a “do what you want” kind of game, which is a breath of fresh air in  genre normally filled with linear and boring games.

Some small bits from the last game that could have been fixed, however, are still not great. The driving system was completely revamped  in an attempt to fix the old version but now every direction of motion in a car is controlled with a stick, instead of the standard “one button throttles, stick steers.” As well, there are parts of the game where it feels like you are forced into using a specific way to get your goal. You could sneak into every building and wipe out your foes, or do the much easier much quicker option of releasing a pack of wild elephants trapped in the compound. In a game of choices, it feels strange to be more or less incentive to do a particular choice. These aren’t terrible issues, but do definitely hold back the fun of the game.

The overall story of Far Cry 4 feels much stronger than 3, but Ajay’s motivation seems more flimsy than that of its predecessor’s protagonist, Jason. Jason was stuck in a paradise gone wrong and could only leave his island prison if he saved his friends from his enemies. However, Ajay has no real reason to stay and fight other than the player’s own desire to go and fight. If he wanted to, or was a sane individual, he could have simply entered the country, spread the ashes and left. No real reason is ever stated on why he needs to stay until after he has already gotten knee deep into the conflict. This is a bit of a nitpick, but it feels like Far Cry 4 would have been more enjoyable if they had given Ajay more of a valid reason to even be in this situation.

An interesting part of Far Cry 4’s plot is that it constantly raises ethical questions for the player to contemplate if they actually feel like they have significance. Players are given choices on a regular basis on how to lead the revolution, each with their own pros and cons. No option ever really feels like the right thing to do, each bringing with it two bad things for one good. Aspects like this make choices much harder to make in Far Cry 4, making me want to play through the game again just to see what would have happened in the end.

Far Cry 4 is a great amount of fun to explore and play in but once again is held back from greatness by a set of fixable mistakes like the story and driving controls.