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Notes -
Of the three Far Crys I've played (the first three), 3 was the best and it wasn't even close. Far Cry is a completely different beast to the franchise it spawned, being a relatively straightforward shooter with no pretensions to philosophical themes or complex characterisation. Far Cry 2 was trying to do the edgy confrontational you're-no-better-than-the-people-you're-fighting deconstructed power fantasy thing, and had one legitimately compelling character in the Jackal – but didn't quite pull it off, and the gameplay design is awfully lazy in ways that disrupt the immersion. Far Cry 3 is where everything came together, with satisfying gameplay and an engaging, thought-provoking story with fleshed-out and believeable characters.
Like I said the first was a glorified tech demo, the second had strong ludic elements but weak narrative, and the third is where everything "clicked". 3, 4, and 5 are all excellent IMO and kind of form a trilogy in their own right, exploring the themes of choice, consequence, and how "He who fights monsters must be careful lest he become one...", but the latter two are really just alternative takes on 3 which is why I hold up 3 as the one to play.
As for 6, as fun as it is to watch Gus Fring chew the scenery, Hocking and a bunch of the other developers who'd been involved in 2 - 5 had either retired or moved on to other projects and I feel like it shows in the quality of both the writing and the gameplay.
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