Picking up where we left off a week ago (read that one here if you missed it), Drew is busy detailing his hunting experiences with Ubisofts masterpiece FarCry 3. Having long since forgotten about the storyline, he has taken the role of curious wilderness man, hunting and killing like a man possessed. Here is the second instalment of his trials and tribulations on the Rook Islands, and if we’re honest things haven’t got all that much better for him…

 I Like Turtles

Having honed my crafting skills still further (in spite of the unfortunate incident with the crocodile), I was now distracted from the storyline. I found myself now exclusively looking for animals to hunt, and the pirates as an unnecessary distraction. I mean I couldn’t kill and skin a pirate; FarCry 3 is a playground for those who want to be Bear Grills, not a medium for Silence Of The Lambs style serial killers to get some practice in. Anyway, having learnt an important lesson about 4x4s and crashing into cliff faces (I’ll help you out – it makes them stop working), I was walking along a Cliffside path looking for some pirates to ambush and rob. As I looked out to sea, a beautiful full moon cast a shimmering glow across the Pacific Ocean and the beach far below. Idyllic. Although my keen hunter senses had spotted something far more interesting. Far below on the beach, snacking on seaweed, were three giant tortoises. My mind boggled at the possibilities of what I could fashion from one of them and, with visions of teenage mutant ninja body armour in my eyes, I scaled/fell down the cliff.

As I reached the beach, the tortoises clearly heard my approach. Slightly baffled by this strange man falling down a cliff, they soon realised that they were in danger. As I drew closer they retreated, quivering in fear inside their shells. Cocking my shotgun, I crouched down to ensure that I could not miss, and fired a round inside each of their shells. As I looked upon the carnage, only one thought went through my mind; ‘I’ve just shot a giant tortoise in the face. What the f**k am I doing with my life?’ Having turned off my Xbox, drunk some cider and taken a long hard look at myself in the bathroom mirror I turned to Twitter with my newly acquired guilt and thousand yard stare. Fortunately, and somewhat surprisingly, redemption came from an unexpected source…

 

Screw You Jaws!

I am now the master hunter. I’ve killed, lions, tigers, crocodiles…erm…tortoises; but one of nature’s great apex predators still eludes me. As I stood on the jetty of a beach hut that I had raised to the ground, a pile of dead pirates on the beach behind me, I stared out into the glistening blue sea. Far on the horizon, I saw what I was looking for; the tell-tale fin of the Great White Shark.

Time to go fishing.

I jumped on my jetski (JETSKI! HUNTING SHARKS ON A JETSKI! WHAT ON EARTH WAS I THINKING?!) and headed out into the deep blue sea. As I drew alongside the unperturbed shark, I killed the engine and raised my AK 47 and emptied all my ammo into its back. The shark casually swam away. No matter, I thought to myself, I shall go mano o mano with it, and take it down with my machete. Into the water I went and, adopting my most convincing ‘Come at me bro’ pose that I  could manage whilst bobbing on the surface, I waited. As the shark lined up to attack, I steeled myself ready to strike. As the shark approached it opened its fearsome jaws and I clicked to strike it down with a swing of my blade. This was not the perfect moment to realise that I was unable to use my knife in the water, and the shark savaged me angrily. Deciding once again to run, I swam frantically back to my jetski, climbed aboard and raced for shore.

Like a shipwrecked mariner cast adrift on a desert island, I lay on the beach recovering, ruing my hubris and planning my next move. Then however, I was surprised to see that my new found nemesis swimming casually, not ten feet out, having stalked me all the way back to shore. I strafed along the beach, and the shark followed. I looked around but there was no sign of any ammo anywhere; I was going to have to take down my fishy friend using brains. Bugger.

I edged along to a small river flowing into the ocean, and the shark followed into the narrow and shallow channel. I bravely stepped in to the water to cut of its escape, then ran away like a girl as it took a swing at me. Then a thought occurred; When all ammo runs out in FarCry 3, all that you’re left with is some C4. Frantically I threw lumps of C4 into the river, explosions erupting all around the startled shark. I chased it up and down the river until finally, I caught it full in the face with C4 and my foe sank to the bottom dead. Admiring my kill, I failed to notice the small group of pirates who, presumably having heard someone blowing stuff up, had come to investigate. Having no ammo and no C4 I was a sitting duck, and as I hadn’t managed to skin the shark, I didn’t even get anything to remember my epic battle with. As I respawned, I found to my dismay that my fallen foe was now happily swimming around back out in the deep blue sea, and my inventory was devoid of any shark related loot.

 

There are hundreds of moments just like this that litter FarCry 3, making it one of the truly epic gaming experiences of the past 12 months. If you’re a pre-owned section surfer such as myself, this really could be the best 40 – 50 hours of gaming you’re going to find.

© 2013 – 2014, zero1gaming.com. All rights reserved. On republishing this article your must provide a link to this original post