The Far Cry series was originally the poster child for the CryEngine, a technical showcase by developer Crytek of what its proprietary workhorse could manage in open, vibrant environments. It was set upon a lush island populated by salty, violent terrorists and pirates, giving you the capacity to handle these miscreants as you saw fit. Whether by charging in guns blazing or sneaking through in the shadows of jungle forests, Far Cry was a game about options.

Far Cry 2, developed instead by Ubisoft Montreal, expanded that, providing players with a 19 square mile expanse of African wilderness and a single goal to accomplish as they saw fit. They were to hunt The Jackal, an arms dealer who was helping to perpetuate a war in a recently deprecated central African country. The game struck for realism in its many auspices, including map-based navigation using a GPS device, dynamic fire-propagation mechanics, a day/night cycle and weather system, and weapon degradation. All of this was powered by the new Dunia engine. In the end, the game was somewhat unfocused, with nine different playable characters all with different backgrounds and big, empty tracts of land to explore, dragging the game's pace to a halt.

Far Cry 3 looks to alleviate those issues with a sharper focus, meeting its two disparate forebears halfway. Set again on a tropical island, Far Cry 3 follows Jason Brody. Brody is having a terrible week: his boat has been sunk, his girlfriend has been kidnapped, and he's trapped on an island so far out of contact with the civilized world that violence and terror are the norm. The people Brody will meet over his journey are crazy. Nuts. Insane. And each in unique ways.

Thus far, we have only been shown Vaas, who waxes frenetic about what it means to be insane, paraphrasing Albert Einstein's famous sentiment that to repeat the same action with the expectation of a different result is the very definition thereof. He repeats his innocent question multiple times, sometimes within the same encounter, to the point where it goes from perplexing to unsettling and, finally, frightening, "Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is?" It makes one question where Vaas is crazy or, in fact, entirely too sane.

This is the developer's intention. The game's narrative director, Jason VandenBerghe, has gone on record as stating that the major players in Far Cry 3 are supposed to be engaging characters, charismatic in a way that makes it uncertain whether or not something is truly broken in their minds. Enhancing this sense of character is the technology and method behind the acting, which involves the voice actors for characters who have scenes together acting them out in the same room, feeding off one another and enabling them to react more realistically. It's a more traditional method of acting, akin to what one would expect for a screen production, rather than the disparate sound booth/motion capture dichotomy so common in the gaming industry. It shows in the little touches, in where the eyes look, in how the bodies orient themselves toward or away from one another.

But the storytelling isn't the only part of Far Cry 3 that's been enhanced. So, too, is the gameplay, which still intends to offer an incredible sense of place (aided by new water effects) and varied options for tackling any given situation, but the world has been more tightly packed with things to do, and the game itself has taken on new, positive, cinematic qualities. Two major gameplay enhancements stick out, here: stealth kills and the cover mechanic.

Stealth kills aren't something new to action games in general, or even the first-person shooter genre in particular. Here, though, they possess a certain fluidity, as Brody uses the weight of his fall from an overhang to help drive his knife into an enemy's chest, or grabs one from behind and silences him with one hand while impaling him on the blade with the other before throwing the knife at a second foe who has yet to notice his presence. Is it purely a contextual event or a dynamic system that one can manipulate at will? Either way, it's inarguably cool to watch.

The cover system, on the other hand, isn't flashy, but it's certainly useful. Much like Red Orchestra 2 or Killzone 2, the cover system is first-person, which makes it intentionally difficult to abuse blindfire or track one's surroundings. It demands a greater level of player vigilance than the omniscient third-person of the Deus Ex: Human Revolution cover system.

Additionally, certain quality of life features have popped up, including onscreen indicators of where nearby enemies are relative to the player and a HUD-based radar/map visible at all times. Realistic? No. More convenient than Far Cry 2's map and GPS combo? Most definitely.

With stunning graphics courtesy of an upgraded version of the Dunia engine and a tremendous focus on building a unique and interesting narrative, Far Cry 3 looks to be one of the most unique shooters hitting the market in 2012. Now the hard part: the waiting game.

By Shelby Reiches
CCC Contributing Writer