As an 80s baby, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is my childhood fever dream come to life. Everything from the cheesy sci-fi, pixelated vignettes to the nonsensical use of ninja stars in a world with laser weapons are here. This tongue-in-cheek spin-off is a novel way to extend the Far Cry 3 experience. Even though I’ve yet to play the source material, I couldn’t pass on this $15 downloadable title. While the humor starts to wear thin, this short and punchy experience ends before it becomes a problem.
Based on what I’ve read and heard, Blood Dragon is basically a total conversion mod of Far Cry 3. Much of the game’s mechanics are the same, even if it looks very different. Mechanically, I think the game is solid. The gun feel is spot on, and I greatly enjoy the openness of the mission structures. Though there are only a handful of mission types, the game as a whole is short enough where that isn’t a problem.
Having mentioned length a few times now, I should get into that in more detail. If you want to power straight through the game’s 7 main quests, it’ll take you about 5 hours. If you want to complete everything the game has to offer, you’ll likely get 10-12 hours out of it. For a $15 first person shooter, I think that’s more than fair.
If I’m going to knock it for anything, it definitely has to be the game’s humor. It starts out really strong, though it feels overly forced throughout. I wish the jokes were more natural in their delivery, as the stuff in there is pretty funny. Also, the second-to-last mission is a cop-out series of trials that’s only there to pad out the main quest.
As a $15 standalone game, I think Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is well worth it, even if you haven’t played the original. The action is solid and it’s a nice diversion for a few hours. After playing this, Far Cry 3 is definitely a game I’ll get around to eventually.
In Third Person 