Far Cry 3: 14 things we didn't expect to be doing in the first three hours

10. Getting into a massive, needless firefight in the road

Far Cry 2 saw you fighting a lot of random enemies while driving, but it became fairly standard fairly quickly. In Far Cry 3 we experienced something similar, but it quickly escalated into something much more impressive. After watching some allies get into a shootout with another jeep we ran into the road to help, and soon found ourselves pinned under gunfire.

A few screeching noises let us know that the battle had grown, and we moved to a safer position to assess the situation. What once was a two-car battle had now grown to be five vehicles large, with each group hiding behind their car and trading bullets. Nothing a few grenades couldnt unravel, though.

11. Fighting a tiger (and losing)

After creating a wallet we felt like we were the kings of the jungle, and went back on our path to hunt and kill other animals for the skins. At one point we heard a roar and thought nothing of it--there was a good chance, we figured, that it was simply an ambient noise--but we were wrong. Moments later we were on our backs, staring up at a vicious tiger.

We sprung to our feet and fired a few shots but the beast was too fast, and we were dead. Looks like Jason doesnt have the biggest bite of them all. Worse yet, we didnt save after making the wallet, meaning we had to go back and kill more pigs. Lesson learned, we suppose.

12. Assassinating a guy with a big knife

Soon after being allowed to explore the world we noticed some wanted posters on a wall. Going up to the assassination one was instinctual, since open-world assassination missions are usually fun, but we noticed something unique. Apparently we had to assassinate this poacher in the traditional way: With a knife.

And thats just what we did. We snuck up to the area where he was, silently took out his cohorts with silent knife strikes, and then sprinted towards him full speed. He spun around just in time to see us lunging forward, piecing his chest with our big, shiny knife.

13. Playing Resident Evil Mercenaries in the jungle

Another rather cool side mission (Far Cry 3 seems to be jam-packed with them, and early signs point to a shedload of creative variety this time around), this one was triggered by interacting with a stone monument atop a hillside jungle clearing. Seemingly part of Far Cry 3s asynchronous online offering (there was talk of leaderboards), it directly copies the central mechanics of Resident Evil 4 and 5s Mercenaries mode, only using autonomous sociopaths instead of the parasite-afflicted mutants as targets.

An enclosed area, a countdown timer, points scored for kills and kill combos, extra time to collect by hitting special icons Its pure Resi Mercs, only the addition of Far Crys cat-and-mouse stealth mechanics bringing a slightly different pace and flow to proceedings.

14. Playing a structured, linear level in an open-world game

The problem with open world games is that all too often the immense freedom and emergent, gameplay they impart comes at the price of level design. The scope might be immense, but by nature of open-world gamings freeform structure the kind of detailed, paced level design found in linear games is rare. But theres a cool subversion of that trope early in Far Cry 3.

Tasked with finding some rare cave mushrooms to cure an unconscious friend, we found ourselves exploring a large, winding, multi-leveled subterranean complex. After swimming, crawling and climbing our way to the top, we thought we were nearing our goal, when we suddenly realised that wed been infected with some other mushrooms along the way. The mystic fungus kicked in and everything went a bit Arkham Asylum by way of a rather brilliantly directed trip sequence. No spoilers, but the whole level was a damnably well-paced diversion, and made us rather hopeful for some more standout structured shenanigans in amongst Far Cry 3s wilderness wandering.

Mad for it?

So, any of Far Cry 3's freeform lunacies taking your fancy in particular? Think it looks like a big enough imprvement over FC2 to secure your purchase? Let us know.

And don't forget to check out out current Far Cry 3 giveaway. You can get a giant knife and a cloth just for being funny. Cloth for comedy. You can't say fairer than that.