This first week of December’s videogame release schedule brings us the ‘Lord of the Rings’ license, a sequel to one of my favorite games, ‘Skyrim’ dragon action and the voice work of Ray Liotta.
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Quick note: New platform versions of several titles hit store shelves this week, including the ‘Mass Effect Trilogy<\/a>‘ for the PS3, and ‘Marvel Avengers: Battle For Earth<\/a>‘ for the Wii U.<\/p>\n The three proper ‘FarCry’ titles share little in terms of plot continuity. What does get shared are the first-person view, the exotic settings and an openness in the world that enables and encourages players to get creative when approaching a target or mission objective. ‘FarCry 2’ took a somber approach as its protagonist attempted to navigate through a fictional, destabilized African nation while beset by malaria. ‘FarCry 3<\/a>‘ dials some aspects of ‘FarCry 2’ back while dialing others up. Gone are the frequent weapon malfunctions, but the formerly scenic animals are now a big gameplay element. The first two games were visually stunning. The first was a Crytek benchmark, and the second helped to illustrate that extra level of detail found in the first-person view. In addition to the single player story and the competitive multiplayer mode, ‘FarCry 3’ also features a four player cooperative campaign separate from the main one.<\/p>\n Even with its warts, I love ‘FarCry 2’, and I don’t appreciate some of the changes made to appease that game’s many critics. Nevertheless, Ubisoft looks to have another winner with ‘FarCry 3’. I just need to look past some tacit similarities to ‘Dead Island’.<\/p>\nFarCry 3 (360, PS3, PC)<\/h5>\n