Watch Far Cry 3’s Vaas Tear Up Liberty City On A Snowcross Bike

Sure, Jason Brody is also featured here—he's the protagonist of Far Cry 3—but who cares? He's riding in the back anyway.

This bizarre video by insanegaz proves that the main characters from Far Cry 3 can be just as cool outside an island paradise as they are inside of it. Well, not Jason. He just kind of falls over at some point and them mysteriously, another one appears to take his place. Creepy.

Go away, Jason. I want to play a game as Vaas. Open world game like Grand Theft Auto or, yes, Far Cry 3 would do. Blissful soundtrack optional.

• GRAND THEFT AUTO IV VAAS & JASON ON SNOWCROSS BIKE HD [insanegaz]

This Is What Far Cry 3’s Vaas Was Originally Going To Look Like

  The Vaas above? He didn't always exist.

 

Months ago, we learned that Far Cry 3's Vaas wasn't originally in the game. Vaas, with his memorable 'did I ever tell you the definition of insanity' came as an inspiration from the actor Michael Mando. When Mando came in for an audition, he did almost the exact opposite of what Ubisoft asked for. He didn't get the part, which was described as a 'sociopathic, stoic and unemotional' character. They told him they'd make a small character for him instead. That's not exactly what happened, of course.

Now, months later, we get a glimpse of what the original character was supposed to look like thanks to IGN. Check it out:

 After Mando's audition, Ubisoft started redrafting Far Cry 3's villain. The big, brutish villain then became a burn victim with a "volatile, explosive, rage-filled" personality. And then, eventually, Ubisoft landed on Vaas as we currently know him, and they hired Mando as well. Thankfully, that is. The original villain looked boring and cliche.

• Check out the other designs at IGN.

• Far Cry 3: The Vaas That Never Was [IGN]

Far Cry 3 free PS3-exclusive 'High Tides' DLC lands January 15

Free 'High Tides' co-op content for Far Cry 3 is washing up on PlayStation Network shores on Tuesday, January 15. The PS3-exclusive DLC includes two chapters, Jailbreak and Redemption, that tell the epilogue of the game's co-op campaign.

Multiplayer-focused developer Massive Entertainment says High Tides features the "final moments" of the co-op campaign's quartet and their adventure on the island. Going by the description of "tougher fights," "bigger competitions," and "explosive moments unlike anything you've seen before," we suspect it won't chronicle a long day of struggling to nap on a rock-solid airport couch, which is how our island adventures usually end.

Maybe What Far Cry 3’s Story Needs Is Something Crazy Like Mass Effect’s Indoctrination Theory

Oh, how we try to fix Far Cry 3. Despite noble intentions, everything about the actual story and writing is terrible and shallow.

Kirk had an idea about how to fix it: make it so that Jason Brody turns out to be Vaas! But maybe that idea ain't crazy enough. We need even more insanity. Think like Mass Effect 3 ending type insanity.

Remember the indoctrination theory? To simplify, the theory postulated that the ending didn't actually happen—it was a hallucination. Shepard has actually been indoctrinated by the reapers. You can read the specifics of why some people believe this here. It's a doozy.

Rowan Kaiser from Gameranx thinks we might do well to approach Far Cry 3 in the same way. Because, when you think about it? Some stuff in the game doesn't really make sense. He poses the following:

The easiest example of this comes in the boss fights, which are quick-time events that take the form of knife fights. When your character gets into these fights, the game's world falls away, and you instead see a nightclub that Jason and his friends had been in before the game proper started. This could be understood as a metaphor for the "dance of death" that is the knifefight, but it's more than that. In one of the fights, Jason is stabbed, through the chest, with a large knife, but he proceeds to fight and win, with no apparent side effects. The final confrontation is even more nonsensical: you argue with the villain in his lair filled with his guards, he starts stabbing, the room changes to the dance club, you fight back, stab him, kill him...and all of the guards are also dead.

What's up with that? There are a lot of unbelievable things that happen in the game. Kaiser has an answer: maybe game isn't real. I mean, you periodically have hallucinations in the story, right? If you eat the pills in the cave, that is. Who is to say the entire thing isn't some giant hallucination?

It would explain why you suddenly turn into a fierce warrior who can command the fear and admiration of an entire island. Sound unbelievable? Perhaps you should read the full write-up here. I'm compelled. But I may also just be desparate to try to meet Jeffrey Yoholem, Far Cry 3's lead writer, halfway with his aspirations.

What do you think though? Are you convinced, is it plausible that the entire game isn't exactly 'real'?

Want To Make Far Cry 3 More Realistic? Check Out This Mod.

Sometimes what you need is a little realism in your power fantasy. If you feel that Far Cry 3 is missing some crucial realistic bits, maybe this mod is for you.

Here is the "extremely in-depth Realism Mod" by Ubisoft forum user Panzerjager1943. According to the creator, this mod includes:

-Damage is based on actual weapon terminal ballistics tests
-Sway in sights and aiming are factors of the weapon's weight
-Recoil is a factor related to actual weapon recoil, incorporating bullet weight, powder, velocity, and weight of weapon
-Accuracy is based on actual Minute of Arc extreme spreads for the most realism
-Reload time is 25% slower on Assault Rifles, LMG's, and SMG's
-All weapons have realistic magazine capacities, including with Extended Magazines
-All weapons have vastly more maximum range
-Weapons have proper rates of fire (most especially that PKM.)
-Weapons have a new attachment setup that is a modified version of Leechmonger's attachments mod.

You can find it here.

Not sure how to mod Far Cry 3, need a little guidance? The initial post in this thread has some tips and resources you can check out.

And remember: this realism mod will probably pair well with HUD-less Far Cry 3.

 

Everyone In Far Cry 3 Looks Absolutely Crazy Everyone !

The images you're about to see are the work of Bruno Gauthier Leblanc, an Ubisoft artist who we've previously featured for his contributions on Splinter Cell: Conviction.

Today, though, we're looking at things a little more tropical in nature. Namely, his work on Far Cry 3.

As you can see, many of these designs made it through to the final game with nary an alteration. And in case you missed it during the game, you can also get a good look at Jason Brody's face. Just in case you didn't think he was smarmy enough already.
You can see more of Bruno's work at his personal site (thanks CAW!)

Far Cry 3 Performance Test: Graphics & CPU (PAGE 2)

Ultra Quality Preset

Running Far Cry 3 at 1680x1050 with the highest possible in-game quality settings activated alongside 4xMSAA, the GTX 680 managed only 59fps while the HD 7970 GHz Edition offered just 54fps and the standard HD 7970 averaged 52fps. The HD 7950 Boost came out 2fps ahead of the GTX 660 Ti with 49fps, while the standard 7950 averaged 43fps, a notch ahead of the GTX 660, which is the slowest card we'd bother using to play with these settings.

At 1920x1200, the GTX 680 drops 10fps to an average of 49fps, while the HD 7970 GHz Edition managed even less and the GTX 660 Ti and HD 7950 dipped below 40fps.

If you plan to play Far Cry 3 with its highest quality settings at a resolution such as 2560x1600, you'll definitely want an upper-end multi-GPU configuration, as a single GTX 680 only rendered 31fps while the HD 7970GHz Edition offered a meager 29fps.

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Far Cry 3 Performance Test: Graphics & CPU (PAGE 3)

CPU Performance

When equipped with the HD 7970 GHz Edition, raising the Core i7-3770K's clock rate 80% from 2.5GHz to 4.5GHz only produced a 10fps (15%) performance increase, suggesting that Core i7 and likely Core i5 owners needn't worry about overclocking to get the most out of their graphics card in Far Cry 3, as the rewards are minimal.

When testing with the AMD FX-8350, we saw nearly a 60% performance increase when jumping from 2.5GHz to 4.5GHz, so folks with AMD CPUs will likely want to overclock as much as they can for max performance. It's interesting to note that the FX-8350 at 4.5GHz was only able to match the Core i7-3770K at 3.5GHz.

Like most of today's games, Far Cry 3 can use four cores or threads, so it's no surprise that dual-core chips suffer, as evidenced by the Phenom II X2 and Athlon II X2. However, core/thread efficiency is also extremely important and this is where the Intel has an edge, with the i7-3770K and i7-3960X topping our chart.

Below those two juggernauts was the Core i5-3470 with 65fps, followed by the FX-8350 at 64fps. The old Core i7-920 showed that it still has plenty of fight left with 60fps, outdoing most of the AMD parts, while the dual-core (quad-thread) Core i3-3220 averaged 55fps, allowing it to match the much higher clocked FX-4170.

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Far Cry 3 Performance Test: Graphics & CPU (PAGE 4)

Final Thoughts

Both AMD and Nvidia have been working hard to show their graphics cards in the best possible light when playing Far Cry 3, with both camps releasing many performance-related driver updates in recent weeks. Naturally, we used the most recent versions -- Catalyst 12.11 Beta 11 and GeForce 310.70 -- in our benchmarks.

Right now, with the latest drivers, it seems that Nvidia has a slight edge over AMD, and this was particularly evident when looking at the ultra quality results with 4xMSAA enabled. This is surprising given that Far Cry 3 is part of AMD's Gaming Evolved program and is featured in their latest Never Settle gaming bundle.

Considering that, it seems reasonable to assume AMD's drivers would already be quite mature, and the company has previously boasted that Far Cry 3 is optimized for Radeon graphics cards. With that being the case, it's embarrassing that Nvidia's second-best card managed to outpace AMD's flagship when playing on max.

Therefore, if you plan to play Far Cry 3 using the highest possible in-game quality settings, you'll likely want a GeForce card. We found this to be true across all three resolutions tested (1680x1050, 1920x1200 and 2560x1600 if you skipped ahead), as the GTX 680 and 670 consistently beat both versions of the HD 7970 and 7950.

You'll find similar results as you move down the food chain. On ultra, the $230 GTX 660 matched the $250 HD 7870. Similarly, on very high quality, the GTX 660 Ti was much faster than the HD 7950 and 7870, while the GTX 660 beat the 7850. AMD clearly has work to do if it wants to claim the performance crown in Far Cry 3.

Unlike Hitman: Absolution, Far Cry 3 didn't prove to be overly CPU dependent, though the performance trends were similar: for the best results, you'll definitely want Intel inside. That said, AMD's processors actually held their own in terms of price vs. performance, as the FX-8350 trailed the Core i5-3470 by only a single frame.

With these performance reviews, I usually play the first few missions, but with Far Cry 3 I found myself playing for several hours before getting to work. Although it doesn't use many DirectX 11 features, it still looks stunning and its open world is a blast to explore.

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Far Cry 3 Performance Test: Graphics & CPU (PAGE 1)

Designed exclusively for PC, the original Far Cry sold 730,000 copies in the first four months following its March 2004 release and was hailed as one of the best shooters, combining an adventurous plot that followed ex-Army operative Jack Carver's heroic exploits on a mysterious Micronesian archipelago with engaging sandbox combat and some of the period's most advanced graphics courtesy of CryEngine.

Despite Far Cry's success, Crytek shifted gears to a fresh IP, Crysis, instead of focusing on a follow up to its previous hit -- a decision that came at least partly because the studio felt Far Cry's fiction was too restrictive. Nonetheless, Ubisoft (Far Cry's publisher) had no intentions of letting the property fizzle out, and its Montreal outfit released a multi-platform sequel in October 2008.

Having been developed by a different studio, Far Cry 2 was considerably different from its predecessor. Among the most notable changes was the use of a heavily modified version of CryEngine called Dunia. The title also featured new characters, a fresh setting, a more open world and new gameplay mechanics. Some gamers heavily criticized those changes, but Far Cry 2 was still positively received and sold well.

Having passed four years since Far Cry 2's arrival, Ubisoft has revisited the franchise this holiday season with a third entry that more closely resembles the franchise's 2004 debut. Far Cry 3 89 is set on a tropical island, this time found somewhere at the intersection of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and the story involves rescuing your kidnapped friends from the island's unhinged inhabitants.

The latest release is built using an advanced version of the Dunia engine called Dunia 2, which is said to feature new water rendering technology, a realistic weather system, advanced AI technology, a new animation system, realistic facial expressions, motion capture technology and global illumination -- many of which are made possible by the game's adoption of DirectX 11 and can only be experienced on the PC version.

Based on the screenshots we saw leading up to the game's release, we were expecting it to be highly demanding and at least we hope that it can take advantage of the latest and greatest graphics cards and processors. If so, it would join a few other recent releases (namely Hitman: Absolution and Medal of Honor: Warfighter) that also managed to tax our high-end gear. Let's toast some silicon...

Testing Methodology

We'll be testing 29 DirectX 11 graphics card configurations from AMD and Nvidia. The latest drivers will be used, and every card will be paired with an Intel Core i7-3960X to remove CPU bottlenecks that could influence high-end GPU scores.

We're using Fraps to measure frame rates during 90 seconds of gameplay footage from Far Cry 3's third chapter, Dr. Earnhardt's Mansion. Our test begins on one of the nearby islands under a radio tower. At the start of the test, a nearby patrol vehicle approaches and is taken out using a sniper rifle, then on foot we run through some dense vegetation to a nearby enemy camp where some hostiles are engaged briefly before the test ends.

We'll test Far Cry 3 at three common desktop display resolutions: 1680x1050, 1920x1200 and 2560x1600, using the DX11 mode. For the ultra-quality test, we'll set the 'overall quality' in the video quality menu to ultra while also setting the MSAA level to 4. The high-quality test will be conducted with MSAA disabled with the overall quality setting on high.

• Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 GHz Edition (3072MB)
• Gigabyte Radeon HD 7970 (3072MB)
• Gigabyte Radeon HD 7950 (3072MB)
• AMD Radeon HD 7870 (2048MB)
• AMD Radeon HD 7850 (2048MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 7770 (1024MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 7750 (1024MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 6970 (2048MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 6950 (2048MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 6870 (1024MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 6850 (1024MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 6790 (1024MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 6770 (1024MB)
• HIS Radeon HD 6750 (1024MB)
• AMD Radeon HD 5870 (2048MB)
• AMD Radeon HD 5830 (1024MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 (4096MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 680 (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 670 (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 Ti (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 660 (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 650 Ti (2048MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 580 (1536MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 570 (1280MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 Ti (1024MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 560 (1024MB)
• Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 (1536MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 460 (1024MB)
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 550 Ti (1024MB)
• Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition (3.30GHz)
• x4 4GB G.Skill DDR3-1600 (CAS 8-8-8-20)
• Gigabyte G1.Assassin2 (Intel X79)
• OCZ ZX Series 1250w
• Crucial m4 512GB (SATA 6Gb/s)
• Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 64-bit
• Nvidia Forceware 310.70
• AMD Catalyst 12.11 (Beta 11 CAP 2)

1680x1050 - High Quality

 

 

Testing at 1680x1050 with the very high quality preset and no anti-aliasing revealed that Far Cry 3 is still very demanding. For an average of 60fps or higher, you'll need at least a Radeon HD 7870/7950 (62fps). If you can get by with less than 60fps, the GTX 660 would be a fine pick with 55fps, a fraction slower than the GTX 580. 

Speaking of previous generation flagship cards, the HD 6970 averaged 51fps, slightly faster than the 7850, which matched the 5870 and GTX 480 with 46fps. For around 40fps, you'll need either a GTX 560 Ti, GTX 650 Ti or HD 6870. Going below 40fps results in choppy gameplay, and this was certainly the case with the HD 7770's 32fps.

1920x1200 - High Quality

At 1920x1200, Far Cry 3 demands quite a bit of horsepower, requiring the HD 7950 Boost to reach an average of 60fps. We're impressed with the GTX 660 Ti, which averaged 61fps, while the GTX 680 matched the HD 7970 GHz Edition at 70fps and the standard 7970 stood at 67fps, just 2fps faster than the GTX 670. Below 60fps are the HD 7950 with 54fps and the 7870 with 53fps, after which there is a large drop in performance with the GTX 580 rendering 46fps and the GTX 660 offering 45fps.

2560x1600 - High Quality

Incredibly, when running at 2560x1600 using the second highest quality preset and no anti-aliasing, Far Cry 3 almost managed to cripple the current-gen flagships, with the HD 7970GHz Edition and GTX 680 both averaging 46fps -- enough for playable performance, but below the more desirable 60fps. Anything below the HD 7870 couldn't deliver playable results at 2560x1600, including the GTX 580 and HD 6970.

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Far Cry 3 Co-Op Campaign and Map Editor Trailers

Farcry 3 has been getting great reviews so far, and looks like it could be a really fun game. The map editor and co-op both open up a whole new way to play Farcry and i personally can’t wait to check this game out.

Quadruple the insanity in the whole new co-op campaign in Far Cry 3. With local and online split-screen on consoles, up to four players can reign havoc in paradise, all in the name of revenge. Watch the new trailer now featuring the Scottish thug, Callum.

Create your own tropical oasis, or a jungle death trap, or anything else you can imagine, with the in-game map editor for Far Cry 3. A deep and varied library of set pieces allow for endless possibilities. Plan every last detail from the flora and fauna to the derelict tanker crashed up on a rocky beach. Build your own adventure or download top rated maps from the community, free of charge. Watch the trailer now to see how.

Farcry 3 will be available on Dec. 4!

Far Cry 3

FarCry 3 is another installment of the venerable FarCry series. On an island ruled by violence, the player is caught in the middle of a bloody conflict between warlords and aboriginal freedom fighters. Your goal is to escape. Alive.

Release Date Sep 7, 2012 

Platform(s) PlayStation 3

Developer UbiSoft Montreal

Publisher UbiSoft

Official Site http://far-cry.ubi.com

E3 2012 Far Cry 3 4-Player Demo 

DEMO WALKTHROUGH

TRAILER

SCREENSHOTS