G2A Pick of the Week | Farcry 3: Blood Dragon

Every week, Team Liquid will supply you with their pick for the G2A Game of the Week, which you can buy at an extremely discounted rate thanks to the G2A Weekly Sale. This week, we’ve chosen the absolute blast from the past, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon You can get it right now at [url=www.g2a.com/weeklysale ]G2A's Weekly Sale[url] for $1.65, a whopping 90% off its usual price!

Review: Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon

Developed by Ubisoft Montreal, Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon lets players get the girl, kill the bad guys and save the world in a VHS-era vision of the future. But if you’re a fan of the series, don't go in expecting a traditional Far Cry game. Blood Dragon is philosophically, tonally, and mechanically the fundamental opposite of its straight-faced predecessors. It's like entering the imagination of a nine-year-old boy.

The hero, cyborg commando Rex Power Colt, has no limits. He doesn’t get tired from running at inhuman speeds, he doesn’t need air to breathe, and he can survive any fall. Knowingly awful writing, rich with eye-rolling puns and delightfully inappropriate profanity, is a reminder that the dopey dialogue of ‘80s action movies is still a special sort of hilarious. These silly mission objectives, which reference everything from Die Hard and D20s to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Aliens, are a rare delight in first-person shooters.
Of course, things get back on track the moment the action begins again, because this overpowered badass is so entertaining to play. Rex starts out so strong, in fact, that his upgrade tree (a linear, simplified version of Far Cry 3's) isn't terribly rewarding. Earned XP unlocks different melee takedowns, but you're very well equipped from the start. Instead of meaningful progression, Rex’s guns and their upgrades define his style.

It’s the blood dragons themselves, however, that create the most memorable and comical moments. The laser-breathing reptiles are easily baited into attacking enemy outposts. On the default difficulty, letting a dragon do your dirty work for you makes combat far too easy for experienced players. When the difficulty gets cranked up to hard, it's an essential and rewarding tool.

That exaggerated absurdity of the action is what Blood Dragon is all about, though, and is more than entertaining enough to make it a great experience. Players without an established love for Arnold Schwarzenegger, John Carpenter, arcades, CRTs, and VHS tapes might miss the point of what Blood Dragon’s going for, but even they can appreciate the wacky sandbox world just waiting for mayhem. Although there’s less room for freeform play styles in the linear missions, the open world has plenty to discover, and presents plenty of exciting enemy encounters.

Blood Dragon’s playful focus on humor, nostalgia, and self-aware absurdity allows it to delve into a subject far more important than African arms races or tropical sociopaths: Video games are really, really fun. This comical, explosive shooter takes everything that makes Far Cry 3's gunplay great and dresses it in the kind of wit and over-the-top fun that Duke Nukem Forever is so desperately missing. Blood Dragon is a different beast – and it’s something you shouldn’t miss