Far Cry 5 is a mixed bag. It makes some very smart decisions in regards to gameplay, finally dumping the tired radio tower mechanics that dragged the pacing of previous games and bringing in the "Guns for Hire" system that is a fairly effective merge of Far Cry 2 and Far Cry Primal's companion systems. The Arcade is a far more powerful and accessible editing tool than previous map editors, the new customization systems for characters and vehicles is a nice touch, and movement feels more refined and smooth. But on the other hand the AI is much less intelligent than before and the arsenal has been curiously trimmed from past installments and padded with variations that could easily been rolled into the new customization system, and I suspect that is because Ubisoft is reserving a number of weapons for live events or DLC. The changes to the skill system which now forces you to perform challenges for skill points is more annoying than interesting, there is no motivation for fishing or hunting beyond money, and the removal of some of the series trademark immersion elements like the segmented health/healing system is an odd step backward.
What truly leaves me with a bad taste is the story, which might be the weakest of all the post-Crytek games. The Ubisoft games have leaned on strong villains to support what is frankly a weak story and thin supporting cast, but 5 lacks this important touch. The cult that serves as the antagonists are cartoons with little grounding in reality, leaning way too hard on the Fantastic Drug "Bliss" instead of dealing with real reasons that people join cults or exploring aspects of cult life beyond typical Hollywood cliches of raving fanatics and scribbles on walls. Big Bad Joseph Seed is performed well enough, but compared to the weary Real Politik of The Jackal, the magnetic menace of Vaas, or the Affably Evil flamboyance of Pagan Min, Joseph Seed only manages to be a vaguely unsettling Sinister Minister at best. None of the Seed family has enough time or characterization to really make an impact, and the game having the player captured or incapacitated to enable plot events gets predictable and tiring very quickly.
Further compounding the story issues is how hollow the endings are, forcing the player to choose between an Anti-Climax that renders the player's efforts irrelevant or a bleak Diabolus ex Machina. It clearly goes for the same subversive narrative as Far Cry 2 or Far Cry 4, but the villains are too flat to care about and too evil to sympathize with and as a result the moralizing against the player's actions becomes a Broken Aesop at best and leaves Unfortunate Implications at worst. Far Cry 5 attempts to give the player more freedom than ever before, but strangles that freedom dead when it could impact the story.
One step forward, two steps back
Far Cry 5 is a mixed bag. It makes some very smart decisions in regards to gameplay, finally dumping the tired radio tower mechanics that dragged the pacing of previous games and bringing in the "Guns for Hire" system that is a fairly effective merge of Far Cry 2 and Far Cry Primal's companion systems. The Arcade is a far more powerful and accessible editing tool than previous map editors, the new customization systems for characters and vehicles is a nice touch, and movement feels more refined and smooth. But on the other hand the AI is much less intelligent than before and the arsenal has been curiously trimmed from past installments and padded with variations that could easily been rolled into the new customization system, and I suspect that is because Ubisoft is reserving a number of weapons for live events or DLC. The changes to the skill system which now forces you to perform challenges for skill points is more annoying than interesting, there is no motivation for fishing or hunting beyond money, and the removal of some of the series trademark immersion elements like the segmented health/healing system is an odd step backward.
What truly leaves me with a bad taste is the story, which might be the weakest of all the post-Crytek games. The Ubisoft games have leaned on strong villains to support what is frankly a weak story and thin supporting cast, but 5 lacks this important touch. The cult that serves as the antagonists are cartoons with little grounding in reality, leaning way too hard on the Fantastic Drug "Bliss" instead of dealing with real reasons that people join cults or exploring aspects of cult life beyond typical Hollywood cliches of raving fanatics and scribbles on walls. Big Bad Joseph Seed is performed well enough, but compared to the weary Real Politik of The Jackal, the magnetic menace of Vaas, or the Affably Evil flamboyance of Pagan Min, Joseph Seed only manages to be a vaguely unsettling Sinister Minister at best. None of the Seed family has enough time or characterization to really make an impact, and the game having the player captured or incapacitated to enable plot events gets predictable and tiring very quickly.
Further compounding the story issues is how hollow the endings are, forcing the player to choose between an Anti-Climax that renders the player's efforts irrelevant or a bleak Diabolus ex Machina. It clearly goes for the same subversive narrative as Far Cry 2 or Far Cry 4, but the villains are too flat to care about and too evil to sympathize with and as a result the moralizing against the player's actions becomes a Broken Aesop at best and leaves Unfortunate Implications at worst. Far Cry 5 attempts to give the player more freedom than ever before, but strangles that freedom dead when it could impact the story.