Far Cry 3

Jason Brody is a man in trouble. Not only does he find himself marooned upon a tropical island where a really quite appreciable articles of the Geneva convention are being contravened, but his girlfriend is missing presumed lost at sea and, well, he’s probably received one or two nasty rope burns. Gained, incidentally, at the hands on an interrogator genuinely full of menace, part of that armed band of rebels presumably enraged at how darn warm it has been. If only an ice cream or two was about, so many lives could have been spared. Not to mention the success of Dead Island.

So, we’re to swap the African wastelands for an entirely unspecific tropical environment, one presumably as genuinely open-ended as its predecessor, only blessed with an XP system that looks somewhat mid-nineties arcade among the foliage. Alliances and grudges – we are assured – will be formed, backed up by an ability to enter combat via a range of approaches from red barrel explosion to blade-based death from above.

Savageness is the unsatisfactorily named centrepiece, underlined as Brody is tossed into the depths - concrete block first - by antagonist Voss, and left to perish among the depths. After a swift but inevitable escape, players will swiftly become familiar with a routine of scavenging vital equipment, first taking out the guards formerly to have previously possessed them. Takedowns of this nature appear limited to analogue stick depressions and simple standard jumps – some entertaining flourishes as a second knife flies directly into a nearby head, offered no player encouragement.

After a brief firefight, integrated perfectly with a second short swim, our hero manages to reach the helicopter that has been left running in open ground, for involvement with future evil deeds. Shoving a handgun into its pilot’s temple, the pair take off, only for – oh no – the vehicle to be shot down, tumbling to earth and assuring that, well, a game can happen.