This game is pure crazy fun. Kind of a mix between GTA 5 and Mafia 3 meets Far Cry in game play and storytelling style.
You play as a Deputy, you have some customization over your character, your Deputy can be male or female and you get lots of skin, hair and clothing options. Your Sheriff has partnered up with a U.S. Marshal looking to take down and evil cult leader. This cult leader has 3 family members as generals posted around the Montana county called Hope.
Hope County has so many things to do. There are cars, trucks, ATVs, boats, ski-doos, helicopters and planes. You can hunt lots of different game, enter Hope County fishing competitions, grapple and climb several high mountains, base jump from said mountains, help or hurt Hope County citizens, search for trash and treasure (depending on your outlook), fight the cult…and then, there’s the arcade, where users can create “levels” that are pretty much endless in their possibilities.
So when you’re not enjoying some of the recreational activities of Hope County, there is that whole evil cult thing to defeat. Joseph Seed is the Father of the Prophets of Eden’s Gate and along with his adopted daughter Faith, his brother Jacob, and his son John, he leads the “PEGgies” in their evil deeds. They kidnap, torture, drug, indoctrinate and kill their way to controlling Hope County.
As you help and free Hope County citizens, you gain allies in your fight against the PEGgies. You can level your way up with perks so that you can have two allies with you that can be sent to attack or cover an area, two of your 9 potential allies even come in aerial vehicles. You can take a gunner seat in a vehicle and allow a companion to drive to a waypoint on your map, but unless you have a lot of free time to zig-zag your way across thousands of meters at a time, you should just drive yourself or fast travel.
The driving mechanics are really nice, I’ve loved the auto-drive feature in Far Cry for quite some time, you can concentrate on shooting your target instead of driving while your vehicles travels to your waypoint. Shooting mechanics are fairly simple and straightforward and the bosses are difficult without being too hard.
But one of my favorite features of Far Cry 5 is the soundtrack, unlocking music is mission related, and it is so worth it. CCR, Elle King, Heart, The Pack a.d., The Black Keys, Shovels & Rope, The Reverend Horton Heat, Marvin Gaye, Cage the Elephant, Dan Auerbach, Foghat, Kaleo, The Lumineers, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Car Seat Headrest, Switchfoot, The Clash, Shakey Graves and many many more. My only complaint about the soundtrack, by the time I’ve collected the whole thing, I’m rarely in cars and trucks, and when I am, it’s not usually long enough to enjoy more than a song, but as far as complaints go, it could be much worse.
The end of the game could have a whole article to itself, but that would be spoilers, so no.
Far Cry 5 is fun, if you enjoyed other Far Cry games, you should give this one a try. If you enjoy the game style of the games I mentioned earlier, you should pick FC5 up. If you’re not into the Far Cry series or the games I mentioned earlier, keep listening to 106.3RL for lots of music from the soundtrack or on Spotify and give the game a pass.
TL;DR: Fun virtual sportsman and adventurer’s paradise plus an endless meta-virtual arcade with a side of evil cult fighting.