Far Cry 6 Offers Explosive Experience | Video Games

“Far Cry 6” takes place on a fictional Caribbean island known as Yara, which is run with an iron fist by Anton Castillo, played with expected menace by the “Breaking Bad” star. You play Dani Rojas (who can be male or female), an ordinary resident who quickly becomes a hero of the Libertad revolution. What this means is traveling across a massive map, dismantling the regime piece by piece. You take down checkpoints, destroy propaganda, blow up anti-aircraft weapons, steal supply drops, and so on. Ostensibly, the game allows for different approaches, but almost every encounter ends with explosions.

Like past games in this series, crafting is an essential part of the experience, but it’s more of a chore here than in the past. Yes, you can hunt for supplies, but you’ll find most of what you need just about everywhere on Yara, picking up metal, medicine, scraps, money, gasoline, and more around the island. I’m not sure I’ve ever played a game so built on collecting items scattered around the landscape. And then you use those items to fashion mods and accessories for some pretty impressive weaponry. The weapon modifications make for some nifty firepower, but I felt almost unstoppable early on in the game, especially with the addition of intense weapons called Supremos. Yes, you can stealthily use your machete, but when you have guns that can dispatch most enemies with a shot or two, why bother?

If the bulk of “Far Cry 6” consists of repetitious destruction, it’s a more interesting game at its extremes. The bigger story missions are darker and more nuanced, even if they often flirt with a political statement that the writing feels unqualified to deliver, while the small details can sometimes be the most satisfying, including just sitting in a guerilla hideout and playing dominoes or fashioning outfits for your “amigos,” allies that can be brought into fights, including the aforementioned killer croc, a dog named Chorizo, and a killer rooster. (Note to animal lovers: There’s a cockfighting mini-game and you will regularly have to shoot enemy dogs. Never mind the number of times I accidentally shot or ran into a horse.)