3. The Sheer Scale of Available Gameplay
Collectibles walk a very thin line of being ridiculous in their sheer presence and essence, or a fun form of escapism to twiddle away your time before kick-starting the action packed rumpy-pumpy again. When Assassins Creed offers 300 tiny bloody feathers to collect, you must be a mad man or simply a major fanatic to get every last one. But when Far Cry 3 hides away secrets of the island to be found by the explorer who can traverse rickety mountain sides and the depths of caves, the collectibles become pretty damn rewarding. With 14 side missions and 4 different collectibles, all optional, the world of Rook Island just seems to be expanding. While helping out the locals will get you some not particularly needed extra cash and a karma boost, its these collectibles that really drive the adventurous types in the game. Most importantly you have your Path of the Hunter quests, in which youll be asked to kill the most fearsome beasts in the most terrifying manner a.k.a (and yes these are real) kill a leopard with a flamethrower or even stab an Albino Crocodile with a machete. They require that you sharpen your skills in hunting and stealth, all things that go very far in the actual missions. And as a bonus, you get to skin the poor defenceless carcass of a skewered boar so you make yourself a lovely new wallet. The rest of the collectibles come down to what it says on the tin collecting. Not a requirement at all, or even necessary as the hunting can be argued, but purely a fun little way to see just how rich in detail and scope the game can delve. Memory Cards, Relics and Letters of the Lost litter the landscape just waiting for some American Frat boy to stumble upon and take notice, so why the hell not go looking for them? It wont hurt and my god youll have fun finding them. After all, theres no point in making an open-WORLD game if youre stuck in a box.
Ubisoft, as explained previously, really took it upon themselves to create an island that had a past, a present and a future. So whilst the memory cards reveal encrypted data about the islands notorious drug trades of today, the Letters of the Lost are remnants of the Japanese occupation of the island in World War 2 a plot tangent mentioned by that crazy bastard Buck. (And yes there is a reference to him coming to the island to F#&@) This wealth of culture and rich history hiding in lost realms and caverns whets the appetite of anyone who needs a game with slightly more groundwork. Who wants a war game slapped on a plate expecting you to just kill? We should all crave the philosophy and attention of the natives and know just how much were helping or hindering them. After all, were the trust-fund kid who parachuted onto this island we must learn THEIR ways in order to become one of the Rakyat.