Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon was a DLC game for the Xbox 360 and PS3 but is it any good. To be fair, it's not really a full blown game which you may like if you enjoyed FC3. So let me explain.
FC3 Blood Dragon is a weird mix of retro gaming on a current console. Though designed entirely to fit HD TV screens, the first thing you realise is that the cut scenes are all done in 1990s style PS2 sequences. Not a bad thing but the retro story telling is kinda weird. It just doesn't feel right and with that, to hell with the story. I came to conquer and satisfy my blood lust. Should I even care about the furry animals that run amok on the island? Afraid not....
Gameplay
Now here is the problem. The game is tiny by comparison to FC3. The map is small and the challenges are even smaller. You get to hunt animals and destroy terrorist who hold hostages. The game lets you slaughter cyborgs, which sound like the Cylons you find in the 1980s version of Battlestar Galatica. This is as retro as it gets. But for any blood thirsty FPS connoisseur, it's the gun play that keeps everything in check.
The game lets you shoot, kill and send your enemies to meet their lost kin in a futuristic island where wild animals roam free. It just doesn't play like FC3. The shooting is a hit and miss affair as the guns now fire lasers and energy bolts. Weaponizing is relatively easy as you complete some of the side missions at each garrison to unlock weapon upgrades but it is the ammo that really stops you in the long term. You don't get to carry enough of them. What's more there are so many elements that you find in FC4 which was probably copied from Blood Dragon. One of the most noticeable is the Cyborgs constant attack on those outpost (garrison in Blood Dragon Speak) you have conquered. You have geeknerds on your side, scientist who wear white overalls, but you role isn't to talk tech with them but to fight their battles.
The next thing is something I found very annoying, the landscape is in an awful color. I hated it. It's constantly dark and putrid. The only consolation to come out of it is that you can now see the arrows you fire and know their trajectory. In FC3 and FC4, the coloful landscape makes it difficult for you to judge your arrow trajectory as the arrow sort of disappears from view as it goes into the horizon. The arrows's Blood Dragon come in day-glo colors makes it real easy to judge where your trajectory went wrong and lets you correct your aim by compensation.
Besides, the landscape just don't cut it. Remember the time when you played FC3 and do a double take and say 'Wow' when running up that hill just to admire the landscape. Well, fat chance here. By the way, there are no Telco Towers...well there are Towers but they are not for you to take over to get a larger map. I almost threw up each time I was at a high point of the island. Yes, it's that bad.
Each outpost is now known as a "Garrison". Each garrison is designed differently, with side entrances but there is always an open entrance which you can drive into. Each drive-thru entrance has a force shield to keep the Blood Dragons out. The layout of the Garrison makes it very easy for you to hide within buildings to ambush your prey compared to FC3 where the open layout means you won't know exactly where they are coming from. The other thing with the garrisons is that they don't call back reinforcements once you are discovered shooting at them from a distance. Instead only 2 Garrisons in the whole game would call for some sort of back up in the form of Choppers. Thus your blood lust can't be rewarded even if you lay waiting for more. It is times like these you wish you had a cigarette to kill the boredom.
Blood Dragons are Super Boring
Yes. These super predators have poor eyesight so you can sneak around them. They can detect movement so it's never safe around them. However they don't seem to take to Cyborgs in the same way they take to humans. There must be a bug in the game where you notice Cyborgs being ignored by such dragons.The Blood Dragon is attracted to Cyborg hearts, which you rip out of them as a trophy but not all the time. You can then use them to lure the Blood Dragon to create havoc on the enemy (which was later adopted in FC4 to lure predators to attack your enemies)
Blood Dragon spit fire. So regardless of where you are, they can get you with their pyro-techniques. Killing a Dragon is a waste of ammo. You can sprint faster than they can run so head for the Fortress if you get chased down.
I found the Blood Dragons a total distraction. When you are out ambushing the Cyborgs, you have to watch your radar to see if one is nearby. They can upset vehicles and and turn an ambush into a huge mess. Then when you kill a Dragon, it turns into mush. There is nothing to harvest, no skin, no flesh...nada.
Weapons are Ho-Hum
Your choices are rather limited for this outing so don't hope on getting the full monty like in FC3. The guns don't fire in a satisfying way. I mean, you know what it is like to have an AK-47. How it fires and how it punches holes into your enemy is what makes you want to use one. The weapons in Blood Dragon doesn't have that sort of feel.
What's more your reloading skills can't be improved. You can't get better at it and there is no skill tree to ante up. No way to sell your loot either, so money can be problem if you use too much ammo taking down a Blood Dragon.
You can virtually take any garrison with just your basic weapons. Shotgun, assault rifle, pistol. The sniper rifle is optional since you can sneak up to them once you are in the garrison.
These limitations is what sets Blood Dragon apart from FC3 and FC4. The weapons are not fun to use. I found more joy using the bow than any other weapon because iyou can see how your arrows landed on your target.
Should I Buy This?
If you think you are going to have a repeat of that super awesome gameplay in FC3, well I got news for you, it won't deliver that same excitement.Blood Dragon uses much of the same code to develop this game but it lacks polish. I can live with the retro graphics, and humour which I found very witty but that alone isn't going to keep you glued to the console.
Blood Dragon should have been released as a mobile game since it was developed as a separate entity. The graphics isn't taxing on a GPU and the game itself is a washed down version of FC3. It is playable nonetheless only if you are looking for a cure for insomnia.
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