Jungle Fever

After the disappointing Far Cry 2, Ubisoft manages to create a sequel that excels in quality, value and fun.

Jason Brody and his friends just wanted to have some fun on a tropical island chain. What none of them knew was that those islands were in control of pirates. They imprisoned Jason and his friends, but Jason managed to escape and from now on it's your personal mission to rescue them. You're not alone however, since the local tribe and US spies help you along the way.

Far Cry 3 is a sandbox FPS and while this genre mixture is rarely seen in the gaming industry, it certainly works well. But make no mistake, it's not a run a gun shooter. Stealth certainly plays a role in the game and is executed well.
As many recent sandbox games, you're able to level up and choose from various skills.

Your first mission is to climb a radio tower and remove an emitter that was previously placed there by the pirates. After doing that you'll find out that much more of these towers are scattered around the two main islands and climbing them reveal detailed areas in your map. On top of that you're also awarded with free guns.
The next important part are the pirate outposts which you can liberate. As a result, you are free to quick travel between any liberated outposts at any time and each of them serves as a shop to either ramp up or sell items in your inventory.

Hunting is an important gameplay element. Without making use of it, you're going to have a hard time with the game. It is recommended to start hunting as soon as you can. You can upgrade various bags that will increase your carrying limit of money, ammo, grenades, guns, syringes and more.
Syringes ? Yes, collecting herbs and creating syringes is another important aspect of the game. Green herbs mostly serve as medi kits, while other herbs or their combination can increase your survival, hunting or fighting skills for a limited time.

The story is brilliantly told with amazing performances of the actors and you're guaranteed to fall in love with some characters, even if they are the cause why "your" life is so miserable right now (Vaas).
On a technical level, the game delivers top notch graphics that don't aim for 100% realism, but enough to make the world and the characters feel alive instead of purely fictional. Even with multiple enemies on screen, the game never seems to have problems with the framerate which is an impressive feat to say the least.
The music is thrilling and kicks in everytime you've been spotted by a predator or pirate. This is useful when you're going through the wilderness and you haven't seen anyone, but other times it feels way over the top when you're only fighting with a single giant bird.

The game delivers a huge amount of content. Completionists can look forward to spend 25+ hours, while not even touching the co-op and multiplayer modes.
The optional content includes several side missions, repeating tasks (such as hunting rare animals, killing pirate commanders with a knife and island racing), liberating outposts, climbing towers and collecting relics, letters and memory cards.