Some details of Far Cry 3’s multiplayer component has been revealed by xboxgamezone in their preview. If the game can improve on the Far Cry 2’s underrated multiplayer mode, it should be an absolute treat.
The main focus for Ubisoft Massive – the team responsible for the multiplayer component – is teamwork and emphasising “why friends matter.”
One of the new features added is the ‘Battle Cry’ which affects those team mates within your proximity. This rallying shout is designed to boost a variety of abilities, such as health, accuracy and sprint speed while in battle.
If you get shot and downed you will be able to cling to life by rapidly pressing the correct button, which in turns slows down your bleed out rate. This also sends out a communication to nearby team mates that you require assistance and need to be revived.
Tagging enemies has been added in much the same way it works in Battlefield, but is also context related. Tagging a control point lets your team mates know your intention to attack or defend the point.
All these actions count towards your team’s support bar, which once filled will grant a Team Support weapon. This can be simply revealing enemies to the whole team on the mini-map or the insanity inducing ‘Psyche Gas’. When affected by this all their indicators get removed which hampers their ability to distinguish friend from foe – friendly fire is also turned on and killing a team mate will then result in a Team Support penalty.
Two modes have been revealed so far – Domination (capture and control points on the map) and Firestorm. Firestorm sees each team defend their pair of supply depots which each house a flammable node. The mode’s objective is to successfully ignite the enemy’s nodes and bring about the Firestorm. Once again, teamwork, tactics and strategy will be key requirements in this mode.
While each node can be ignited individually, the best strategy seems to be setting them alight simultaneously. Each node explosion sets a part of the map on fire, hindering the other team’s progress and altering the gameplay dynamics. If your team successfully brings on the Firestorm, then the focus switches to a radio which you’ll need to control and capture. If the winning team capture the radio, they get rewarded with a plane loaded with gasoline, which when dumped on the blaze, ends the game. If the losing team get to the radio first however, they get a plane with water as a reward. This will douse the flames and reset the match.
The Ubisoft Massive team are aiming to build an Online Universe surrounding Far Cry 3 which will feature cross device gaming”.
We got to see a short, but funny presentation which explained how iOS device interactivity would work. Intel acquired from the game can be loaded up and decoded on a Smartphone device. The Intel could be anything from outfits or weapons to other beneficial items. Friends can help decode Intel faster by sending speed up tokens, or any of their unwanted gear. While these functions are expected to extend to social media via the way of Facebook and Twitter, there has been no confirmation of those as yet. Despite the inspiration drawn from popular social platforms, Massive’s aim is to increase the ways in which players can enjoy and interact with the multiplayer experience.
Finally, the Map Editor from Far Cry 2 will be returning – a feature which added tonnes of unique and beautifully crafted maps to an already decent set of standard maps.
Far Cry 3 is shaping up to be everything one can hope for from a sequel. Better.
