Far Cry 3 is perhaps one of the most fondly remembered first-person shooters of the past decade. Originally releasing in 2012, the game marked a revolution in the franchise that all of the many subsequent titles would aim to replicate.

With three more mainline Far Cry titles and numerous spin-off games that have released since Far Cry 3, the franchise has had ample opportunity to refine its formula and build upon itself as the franchise grew in stature and reputation. However, Far Cry 3 is still widely regarded to many as an all-time favorite game within the franchise, and it is clear why.

RELATED: A Live-Service Future Seems Inevitable for Far Cry 7

The Fundamentals of Far Cry 3

Knife artwork in Far Cry 3

While the formula it uses may seem relatively overdone, Far Cry 3 and its game mechanics were nothing short of revolutionary when they first released. Far Cry 3 sees players take control of Jason Brody, a naive young holiday-goer who gets captured by pirates alongside his friends in the fictional Pacific Rook Islands.

Upon escaping captivity, the player must then traverse the treacherous island, forging alliances and learning the basics of combat to free Jason's friends and escape. However, as the story progresses, this one-dimensional goal becomes significantly more nuanced, with Jason turning to a more antihero type of role, as he starts to enjoy his growing reputation on the island and forms personal grievances with the leaders of the islands privateering operations.

The vast open-world of Far Cry 3 has a wide range of side-content for the player to enjoy in the form of side quests, hunting, combat trials, assassination missions, and timed vehicle-based supply runs. In addition to this, the transportation options available in Far Cry 3 were unlike anything the franchise had seen before, and truly helped elevate the series, as well as the first-person genre in terms of expectations and variety.

Within Far Cry 3, players are of course able to use a variety of vehicles such as cars, trucks, and jet skis to explore the Rook Islands. However, the introduction of air-travel via the use of paragliders, wingsuits, and parachutes completely revolutionized travel possibilities within Far Cry 3. Considering how wingsuit travel would go on to become an ever-present staple of the mainline Far Cry titles, the influence that Far Cry 3 had on the franchise speaks for itself.

The Villains of Far Cry 3

Vaas

Undoubtedly, one of the most defining legacies that Far Cry 3 instilled on the wider franchise was the presence of fascinating and intimidating antagonists. The first major villain that players will encounter for a large portion of Far Cry 3 is that of Vaas Montenegro: A deranged and deeply disturbed mohawk-sporting native of the islands, it is no wonder why Vaas featured so prominently on the box art and promotional material for the game, despite only being a secondary antagonist in the larger plot.

Vaas was a character inspired completely by the improvised audition performance of Canadian actor Michael Mando, with Ubisoft then creating and modeling the character entirely from Mando and his performance. Vaas' unpredictably violent tendencies are complemented well by more comical and playful elements of his personality, with the explosive shifts between emotions often providing a seriously tense nature to many of Vaas' monologues. With elements of Vaas' dialogue, such as his "definition of insanity" monologue, becoming iconic within pop culture, it is no wonder that Far Cry 3 is seen by many as the best the franchise has to offer.

Hoyt Volker then serves as the primary antagonist following Vaas, a comparatively less personality-laden (yet equally dangerous) leader of the island's illicit operations. While it is fair to say Hoyt is less memorable than Vaas, the former is still a compelling character, who provides further complexity to the character of Vaas via his revealed manipulation and control over him. While the primary antagonists of future Far Cry titles, such as Pagan Min in Far Cry 4 and Anton Castillo in Far Cry 6, have attempted to recreate the on-screen presence of the likes of Vaas, no other Far Cry villain comes close in terms of legacy and pop-culture influence.

RELATED: Child of Light, Far Cry 3 Creative Director Leaves Ubisoft After 20 Years

Far Cry 3's Interactive Storytelling

Healing in Far Cry 3

One of the best aspects of Far Cry 3 is the way in which it tells its story, and how key game mechanics are intrinsically linked to the plot. The aforementioned protagonist of Far Cry 3, Jason Brody, is forced to undergo rapid and dramatic shifts to his personality in the name of freeing his friends from captivity. Starting the game as a meek and scared character who is out of his depth, Jason works alongside the native Rakyat people to fight against the pirate threat that dominates the islands.

The Rakyat teach Jason the basics of weapon operation and combat, skills that he would rapidly develop and utilize to help liberate the islands. This skill development is tangibly showcased within Far Cry 3's skill tree system, another first for the franchise. As the player levels up and unlocks new skills, Jason adds to his "tatau," a traditional tribal sleeve tattoo given to him by the Rakyat. As the game progresses, the player physically sees the skill development via Jason's arms from the first-person perspective, and it also lends itself to another pertinent plot point.

Despite originally getting involved within the island's conflict to save his friends, Jason becomes further engrossed for purely egotistical reasons, as he begins to enjoy the conflict and lethal reputation that he has amassed. The tattoos serve as a permanent change to Jason, and a mark of the conflict that has been absorbed into his persona. As protagonists in later Far Cry games would go on to become voiceless and without personality, the deeply complex anti-hero nature of Brody, told partly via core game mechanics, is just another reason as to why Far Cry 3 was the peak of the franchise.

MORE: Why a New Far Cry Game is Unlikely for 2022