Yes, this was the week when Ubisoft released their next title in the Farcry series, long awaited by fans of the franchise. The result is a launch many have to come to expect from Ubisoft, of late. Within hours of launch the steam store page had filled with negative reviews reporting bugs preventing the game from even loading, meaning many people couldn’t even play the game they’d paid £40 for. For those who remember the launch of Assassin’s Creed Unity, this fiasco won’t come as a surprise, as Ubisoft’s releases have become increasingly dogged by game breaking bugs over the last few years and it’s reached a point where any release that allows you to immediately play the game feels like a good one, where Ubisoft are involved. It seems, unfortunately, that in terms of Farcry: Primal this isn’t the case for many PC gamers.
It should also be noted, however, that many who have managed to play it have more positive views, commenting on the beautiful graphics, the crafting system, village development and the better implementation of game mechanics. However, there are also reports of recycled terrain from Farcry 4 (see the IGN article here) and a near carbon clone of the game mechanics and a weak story line. Reports of games becoming near copies across their franchises seems to be plaguing Ubisoft games at the moment, with similar complaints on the release of Assassin’s Creed Syndicate, back when that launched last year, which leaves the feeling that Ubisoft might have fallen into a creative rut.
So what is the advice for anyone thinking of picking up this game? Well the general consensus is that like other Ubisoft titles, it is a good game but that, if you’ve played any of the previous entries in the franchise, then you might not be able to find much in the way of innovation or new mechanics to separate it from the ones before; but most do agree that this is the best Farycry to date. So if you’re new to the franchise then there has never been a better time to wet your toes. It should be advised, with the issues experienced by PC gamers, that if you have the choice, then picking the game up on console might increase the chances of actually getting past the title screen.
Has what I’ve seen tempted me into a launch copy? Unfortunately not. I’ll wait a few months for the bugs to be fixed and the price to drop a bit before I invest in it, which seems to be the accepted method these days where Ubisoft titles are involved. It seems they must have fired their testing team a few years ago and found the paying public a cheaper option. Let’s face it, playing most of Ubisoft’s recent releases has felt more like a beta testing than the playing of a full release product and this is a real shame, as all their games do still show glimpses of brilliance and are, on the whole, well designed.
To all those who are ready and willing to battle the bugs and indigenous wildlife of Farcry: Primal then I salute you, as you are braver adventurer than I.
