Review for Far Cry New Dawn. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 15/02/2019
There is always a first time. And even for those who, like Ubisoft, have always been there and have lived through many “firsts”, weaving a new successful route involves painstaking analysis and verification. This time the occasion was for the French team to develop what it is formally the first stand alone sequel to the award-winning Far Cry saga. The open ending of Far Cry 5, which saw archenemy Joseph Seed and the followers of his cult of Eden's Gate witnessing the apocalyptic end of the world prophesied during the course of the title, paved the way for a myriad of paths.
This is how 17 years after the atomic catastrophe that condemned the game world to a nuclear winter, in a virgin America where nature (not exempt from radioactive mutations) has taken over, the sun returns to shine and the survivors are preparing to rebuild that Hope County in Montana which will likely never be the same again. Easier said that done.
Once we have chosen the sex of our protagonist (which we will be able to customize this time at an anatomical level albeit with limited choices and polygons that are not always excellent), we will find ourselves from the very first bars of the game at Prosperity, headquarters of those survivors who intend rebuild a peaceful society, with a collaborative spirit and in the spirit of Old World human values. The game map is the same as we explored in Far Cry 5, however altered by the nuclear blast and overwhelmed by nature. Ubisoft Montreal made use of a team of scholars to propose a post-apocalyptic scenario as justifiable as possible, confirming the good habit of working alongside experts outside the gaming world to attribute that added value, as has already been successfully proposed in other titles. of the manufacturer, on all those of the Assassin's Creed saga.
Our hero's task will be to watch over Prosperity and actively contribute to its development by averting a new, looming and concrete threat which this time does not bear the name of Joseph Seed. The Father has in fact renamed the survivors of his cult in the New Eden, converting them into a real municipality that now rejects any contact and use of technology in all its forms and repudiates the preconceptions on which the very culture of the Old World is founded. So what threatens the peaceful Edenites as much as the survivors of Prosperity?
Far Cry has always successfully focused on a prestigious characterization of the game's antagonists: the best "bad guys" are those who are convinced that they are right, that they have the tools in their hands to fulfill their enlightened vision of the world, that they are acting for a greater good. They are no exception Mary and Lou, twins and daughters from the New World, at the head of a band of outlaws and ruthless raiders who call themselves the Road Warriors. Young, unscrupulous, wild, the twins are the perfect exponent of a generation that has no memory of what life could have been like before the nuclear disaster that condemned the world. The new deformed world saturated with colors that nevertheless hides restless shadows, where the law of the strongest prevails, is the only one they have ever known: there is no value, moral heritage, empathy in their vision of things.
They represent the first piece of the dichotomy that contrasts the unscrupulousness of living for the day, of the "all and now" of the Road Warriors, the philosophy of survival of those who survived the disaster, and once emerged in the light after countless years of imprisonment antinuclear bunkers tried to start from scratch, guided by an innate survival instinct but laying the foundations for a pacifist and collaborative reconstruction aware that only the community can guarantee the success of the survival of the species. Once again, therefore, Ubisoft hits the target and gives us a couple of heroines, the mind Mickey and the arm Lou, which are well placed in the continuum of the antagonists of the Far Cry saga: the world of the Twins is black and white, populated by people "who create problems" and people who "solve problems". Whoever creates problems must be extinguished, be it ally or enemy, unknown or kin.
If setting and setting are absolutely relevant, let's see how in terms of gameplay Ubisoft has been able to modernize the solid, albeit not very innovative, game system, with the introduction of some appreciable novelties. Prosperity is an ever-expanding hub with multiple potentialities: since the currency of the new world is no longer represented by the dollar, but by precious material and biological resources useful for development, upgrading and re-creating those structures we have come to know in Far Cry, crafting plays a key role in the game.
Right from the start, the player will be involved in resource recovery activities aimed at expanding the horizons and structures of Prosperity: workbenches for weapons and ammunition, curative garden, infirmary, cartography, vehicle workshop will constitute the elements that will allow the our hero to obtain benefits, arsenal, better means of transport and consequently more chances of survival in the battles against the Road Warriors.
There are many ways to obtain new resources and materials for the creation and enhancement of Prosperity. We already know the Outposts, which in New Dawn, once conquered, will level up and consequently difficulty and can be faced again (up to a maximum of three times in total) to obtain greater rewards and quantities of Ethanol, a new resource introduced and key material for the enhancement and continuation of the game chapters. Alongside the Outposts we find the introduction of Shipping, also replayable and with incremental difficulty: real external maps dislocated for the United States that can be reached by helicopter directly from Prosperity, they will expand the play areas and allow to obtain new and precious resources, Ethanol included. Once in the Expedition area it will be necessary to identify and retrieve a package located in a precise coordinate: once the recovery has taken place, the integrated GPS will warn the Road Warriors of our movements and it will be up to us to flee in good time, thus reaching the helicopter ready to rescue us. . If you manage to defeat the Road Warriors who have been able to take advantage of the nuclear ruins tactically, imposing their own law far beyond the borders of Montana.
Scattered throughout the main game map we will find associated side missions to hilarious new characters known as Specialists: by solving the respective plots it will be possible to find them in Prosperity where they will lend their knowledge and skills by increasing the maximum level reachable from the facilities of our headquarters.
The Mercenaries return to support our hero, a total of eight allies (including two animals) between old acquaintances, welcome returns and bizarre new characters, which we can recruit during our raids in the open world, each with their own characteristics and abilities. The variation given by the development team to the gameplay is interesting, introducing elements of RPG character in a historically FPS game system. Although in this case the hand was not as heavy as in more recent Ubisoft chapters such as Assassin's Creed Origins and Assassin's Creed Odyssey, the introduction of a level system both for the enemies and for the game arsenal represents a first timid step towards a more role-playing approach to gameplay.
Enemies will now be divided into four levels, and will feature a bar to indicate their health status. Even our weapons, which we will take care to level during the game, will see the amount of damage inflicted projected on the screen. These mild role-playing dynamics blend well with the game world and contribute to partially rejuvenate a time-tested combat system, which however is undoubtedly mature and ready to evolve: the hope for the future is that Ubisoft knows how to dare even more, guaranteeing a more than deserving longevity to the saga both to new fans when to the loyal historians of the brand.
Retrace the streets of the new Montana will be a dive into memories for Far Cry 5 players, which will find around every corner references, easter eggs and winks with continuous references to the lore and characters, survivors or deceased, protagonists of the previous chapter. The open world experience, accompanied by the vivid colors of an uncontaminated world, is as always pleasant and fluid, although no particular graphic improvements have been made to the game polygons compared to what was seen in Far Cry 5. Even the soundtrack is confirmed to be of good workmanship: while not remaining etched in the memory it accompanies the ever-increasing and fast paced gameplay without tripping.
After the positive feedback in Far Cry 5, co-op mode is back in New Dawn: the whole game world and the main and secondary missions (except the tutorial) are playable in co-op. The enemies will not have alternative AI, consequently behaving in the same way that you play alone or supported by friends: in this way the co-op mode will allow you to facilitate the critical points and the greater difficulty curve of the title, allowing both players to keep their accumulated resources, equipment and experience in their inventory.
Far Cry New Dawn is a fun, complete, self-sufficient title. Whether you are "survivors" of the old world, witnesses to the atomic disaster of Far Cry 5 or children of the New World who saw you look at Montana for the first time only after the nuclear winter, you will appreciate deep and fun gameplay in a game world characterized by strong colors, bizarre characters and a treacherous nature like never before in the canonical titles of the saga. The shy RPG dynamics introduced, together with some tricks aimed at expanding the game world will allow you to follow the fate of the ideological and generational clash between the survivors of Prosperity, the New Edenites and the Warriors of the Road from top to bottom without falling into that excessive repetitiveness always around the corner to undermine the overall gaming experience. A stand alone in all respects and well-made, which however does not yet want to represent that springboard towards a rewriting of the Far Cry formula: if you have not been able to appreciate the excellent artistic direction and the system of the previous chapters, it will not be New Dawn to prove you wrong or surprised.
► Far Cry New Dawn is a Shooter type game developed and published by Ubisoft for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 15/02/2019
