Later visions are completely outré – in one, you have to shoot the moon with flaming arrows until it shatters. The shaman makes you drink disgusting liquid from an animal skull, which induces visions – in the first, you chase an owl, before taming it. The shaman is the key to your awakening as a beast-master – and the scenes in which he features are very reminiscent of the psychedelic mushroom-tripping ones from Far Cry 3.
lion?Ĭhief among which is the ability to tame wild animals, which then fight at your side. Ubisoft Far Cry Primal review: The Taming of the. So, as you set out to find them, and encounter random events, side-missions and settlements which you can claim for the Wenja, you acquire quite an arsenal and an impressive set of skills. Sayla has heard talk of other Wenja with specific skills – one a shaman, another a hunter, a third a fighter and a fourth a "thinker" (who turns out to be comic relief, since he is a total idiot). However, the nearby Udam tribe – who are strong and particularly savage – must be beaten first. In Primal you play Takkar, a member of the Wenja tribe, who loses his hunting partners to a sabretooth tiger-attack, and stumbles upon a Wenja woman called Sayla, who introduces him to a nicely appointed cave which is in the perfect position at which to establish a village. The story does feel a bit disjointed, though, in comparison with past Far Cry games – and there's no epic villain to the level of Pagan Min from Far Cry 4 (one of the best badguys of recent video game times). Ubisoft invented an entire language for the game, which is augmented by the characters' body-language, so you have to pay attention to the subtitles in the cut-scenes. Since Primal is set in 10,000BC, in the Stone Age, there's no way that it could have been a shooter.
Far Cry Primal review: First-person fighterįar Cry games have always been open-world first-person shooters, right? Well, not any more. So the French publisher deserves enormous credit for rebooting the franchise with the brave curveball that is Far Cry Primal.
For that marks the point at which a new "franchise" is established, and we all know what those are like: annual cash-cows that would never dare to alienate any fans by trying anything controversial.īut discerning gamers get bored of unimaginative franchises, and a lukewarm reception for Far Cry 4 – fuelled by a sense that it was too similar to Far Cry 3, despite both being bloomin' brilliant games – must have triggered some serious thought at Ubisoft. (Pocket-lint) - In the modern games industry, once a publisher has a hit and follows it up with a successful sequel, all thoughts of risk and reward go out of the window.