It took days before I even started going through the story missions because, after I'd done the first, I simply wandered Kyrat like a shotgun-toting magpie, snaffling out shiny things and lapping up the XP. 'Clearing' the map of icons is such a vital part of this structure's appeal that, when you don't enjoy going after them, the whole thing becomes irritating.įar Cry 4's manifold icons, on the contrary, are a joy. The same principle doesn't work nearly as well in the Assassin's Creed games, where all the icons become a drag and most rewards are so pointless that you come to resent going after their icons. This is interesting because it can go wrong or right.

The treasure chests etcetera are a key part of the Ubisoft formula: constant rewards that give the player a minor hit of happy juice and make them feel like they've achieved something. So I nod sympathetically to those making the purist argument, then go back to gleefully skipping after treasure chest icons with a grappling hook and grenade launcher. The truth is that I have more great games and less free time than at any other point in my life. The thing is, I like to think of myself as a hardy explorer type figuring everything out and making this world of Kyrat mine. You can take down outposts just by chucking a few scraps of meat around and waiting, but it's so much more fun to follow things up with a flamethrower. Far Cry 4's 'ecosystem' is enabled even further by the addition of 'bait' to bring soldiers and wildlife together. Which is entirely fair enough, except for me these discordant elements blend - like salted chocolate - into something absolutely irresistible. For some people the latter elements ruin the former, always offering up a distraction and a candied trinket when all you want to do is explore the wilderness. A gorgeous Himalayan skyline, endless mountains and roads, amazing fog effects, sheer natural bliss - with a map pockmarked by visual icons, a giant yellow arrow pointing somewhere, silly NPCs doing silly things and lunatic wildlife. Part of enjoying Far Cry 4 is abandoning yourself to the sheer weirdness of how Kyrat is made to look on your screen. But when it works, and when it fits, you get a game like Far Cry 4. I don't like every game made with it, of course, and Assassin's Creed shows what happens when the recipe is used too often. Items everywhere, side-quests out the wazoo, big mission arrows, the steadily-expanding skill-set - bliss. I have a confession, and it is this: I really like the Ubisoft formula.

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