far cry is with Assassin’s Creed, Tom Clancy and Rabbids, one of Ubisoft’s flagship franchises. In nearly 20 years of existence, six main games and several spin-offs, it has also been built in the shadow, even in opposition, to the GTA monument. To the urban universe and total immersion, far cry prefers islands, jungles and other remote areas, and immediate pleasure, even guilty. Without ever going as far as a Borderlands or one Saints row, the license often flirts with all-out war and whatever, especially when it comes to its (super) villains.
Available Thursday on PS4 / 5, Xbox Series S / X and PC, Far cry 6 thus offers himself the face of the villain of the moment, the actor Giancarlo Esposito, alias Gus Fring in breaking Bad and Moff Gideon in The Mandalorian.
“In an FPS game, the antagonist is just as important as the hero”
From the start, with Doctor Krieger then the Jackal, far cry put the emphasis on bad guys rather than playable heroes. Then came the mythical Vaas de Far cry 3. “He was a pure brute as we can often see in video games, told at the time Anne Gibeault, associate producer of the game. He was then given characteristics that evoke madness, such as arson. Without forgetting the work of actor Michael Mando, his collaboration with the screenwriter. In a first person game, the antagonist is just as important as the hero. “
The better the villain, the better the game? Ubisoft has learned the lesson well, and the bad guys have become the face – and the cover – of far cry, with the dictator Pagan Min in the 4 and the guru Joseph Seed in the 5, as so many attempts to repeat the Vaas miracle. It is impossible not to have a thought for him when the player arrives on the island of Yara, barely inspired by Cuba and held with an iron fist by the President Antón Castillo, to whom Giancarlo Esposito lent his body and his voice. He wants to restore Yara to its former glory and establish its position on the world stage.
When will the revolution?
Antón’s coldness responds to Vaas’s madness, with equality in charisma. “My character reigns over his country, his resources, and wants to convince his people that to regain his power, he needs a leader with an iron fist,” explained Giancarlo Esposito in a recent interview for his series. Godfather of Harlem. But Antón is all the richer because he has personal and human problems, including a son in great doubt, whom he must bring up and whom he wants to train as his successor. I like stories that are true, believable, organic, with complex characters, not all black, not all white, because we are not. A work must allow us to see the complexity behind the action, to show who we really are. “
This beautiful note of intention, and of actor, is only found halfway in the game, Antón Castillo being only an ersatz of Gus Fring and Moff Gideon, a villain without surprise in an FPS without surprise, with open world and RPG tones. A voucher far cry, no more no less. The only surprise comes from the hero or heroine Dani Rojas (the player has the choice of genre), a resident of Yara who has given up the military uniform and joined the revolutionary group Libertad. A character more inspired and embodied than in previous games. Maybe a legacy of the last Assassin’s Creed. far cry would also have to gain by copying the other franchise from Ubisoft and taking a step back to better do its revolution !