2. Mixing Up Genre Conventions and Restrictions
On the absolute surface, Far Cry 3 can be defined by multiple genres Open World, Shooter, Adventure, Action, RPG, and Animal Hunting Simulator. Im certain you can all think of more. But when it comes down to the bare bones of it, should all games in general just be one thing? When Super Mario Brothers made its innovative debut in 1985 as a side scrolling piece of art, did that stop them from putting him in space 30 years later and losing his 2D roots altogether? No, it did not. And whilst this happened over a long course of history and in 2 different games, the question still remains why must developers keep it simple? World of Warcraft recreates a simpler effect in that you spend the first half of the game grinding up to the level cap, collecting 15 bear pelts for some bloke in some tavern before flying off to the next level location. When you reach what you believe to be the pinnacle of the Warcraft world, you in fact discover youre now scrap meat again. You have to embark on a new journey to become PVP or Raid master, earning new gear and defeating hardened bosses. Blizzard chose to mix up its gameplay so that hooked players will just continue playing with each new patch or expansion. However, though Far Cry 3 is not the new age crack-like MMORPG, it does rely on similar techniques of genre mashing. Tom Clancy games all require a precise and focused display of stealth in order to succeed, Far Cry asks that youre will to sacrifice a little bit more time on some missions to plan an attack before you get annihilated for being cock-first into battle.
It takes the immense potential landscape of Just Cause 2, in which you could physically scale every single mountain you saw on the horizon, and allows players to tackle missions without worrying about staying with invisible walls and close boundaries. And perhaps my personal favourite aspect, its a role playing game. Jason Brody can be moulded, using the interesting tatau levelling system, into the kind of Ray Mears you want him to be. Eventually you unlock and apply all of the tatau but when you initially build on a skill set, you can specialise in takedowns and mobility, healing and survival techniques.