Okay, okay, this one is boring but it's important. Despite Far Cry 3 being a game with multiple drug trips, a hang-glider, underground ruins and an amazonian princess that owes Zoe Saldana a royalty check - it never winked at the camera. The characters took their situation and plight seriously, which made the wild stuff resonate in meaningful ways. If Far Cry 4 wants to maintain the magic the previous two games in the franchise held, it must demonstrate similar narrative authenticity. The Far Cry 3 DLC Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon actually went full-bore parody and it didn't wear the genre well. The methodical and tactical gameplay clashed with a macho 80s aesthetic and tired in-jokes about video game violence. It felt a bit like the jump from Saints Row 2 to Saints Row 3, where suddenly a relatively grounded-in-reality game-world turned into one with mutants, robot cars and other goofy asides. Thus Far Cry 4 must be careful to mind the line between a movie like Lethal Weapon and one like The Naked Gun. Far Cry 2 and 3 walked this line wonderfully. Many unbelievable things happen in those games, but they are not impossible or out the realm of what you're willing to accept in an action game. If Jason Brody produces a gun out of thin air, or Far Cry 4's antagonist is an over-the-top flamboyant stereotype with no depth, or they break the forth wall in any deliberate sort of way, the whole shebang becomes a little less special and genuinely cool and exciting events or gameplay moments become a touch hollow. If Far Cry 4 demonstrates restraint in a few specific areas to keep players invested in the characters as human beings and don't ask players to accept ridiculous leaps-of-faith, it's well on its way to being great.
