More than anything else, Ubisoft's Far Cry has always been a frustrating series to follow. Since the second game, the developer's open-world titles have been full of great ideas, yet their execution was never quite there. When they finally nailed the formula in the third (and completely ran away with it in expansion, Blood Dragon), Ubisoft sadly decided to play it safe with the fourth entry, thereby stalling on some considerable momentum. However, February's Far Cry Primal is set to shake off the stagnation of that repetitive (if technically accomplished) previous release, by quite literally going back to the franchise's roots. Thrown into the world of an ancient civilisation, this spin-off sees you taking down Woolly Mammoths with sticks and stones rather than shooting the same balaclava-clad goons for 30 hours. The wackier side of these hunter-gatherer games have always been the most enjoyable sections anyway, so with the promise that this latest spin-off will cut away all the humdrum overly-serious nonsense that dragged down the previous titles, you better believe that even the most disillusioned of fans are quietly optimistic about Primal. Fortunately for me, I've had a chance to spend a short amount of time with Ubisoft's latest flagship release to see whether it really lives up to this promise. And even with just a little taste of what the new game has to offer, it's clear that this new Far Cry experience is a completely different beast than its predecessors.