"Far Cry 5" was almost a perfect Open World game, were it not for its occasional tone-deaf moments and endgame issues. Here, we have the beautifully designed Hope County of Montana -- its insular and turbulent politics whipping up a storm for its inhabitants. The contrast of natural beauty with explosive human conflict, on American soil no less, is likely what caught the imagination of those who deemed "Far Cry 4" an unworthy investment. It is those same players, like you and I, that ruin Ubisoft’s perfect landscape simply by being there. To be clear, when I say "Ubisoft's perfect landscape," I absolutely include the madness of Eden’s Gate and all that comes with it.

These crazy chaps see to it that the beautiful vistas of Hope County are punctuated by the echoing screams of their victims or the distant rattling of gunfire. In short, "Far Cry 5" has delivered a delicious cocktail of game design with a fiendishly addictive gameplay loop. Even if, on occasion, that loop is interrupted as we follow those distant screams to go and save the day.

In among the endless hubbub of spontaneous gunfights and the formulaic Ubi-grind through side quests, we lose focus on the brilliant world design of "Far Cry 5." Just how fun the game is makes Ubisoft's latest a victim of its own success in this regard. From the moment we first step out of that bunker and kill off our first two Peggies, right up until the point we’re instructing Hurk desperately to take down another chopper and beyond -- we miss a lot.

That’s not the player’s fault for "not paying attention." There’s just so much going on at any given time that we rarely notice there's anything in particular to be paying attention to in "Far Cry 5." We spend all our time going from A-Z that we never notice the 24 letters in between.

The world of 'Far Cry 5' has loads of depth if you go looking for it

It took me a while to clock onto the ability to inspect phones and listen to voicemails. After I did, I learned a lot and they were fun to listen to, too. One moment I hear Hurk Senior giving a horrifically racist speech in an attempt to win over equally xenophobic voters in his election campaign.

The next, I hear words of reassurance from Joseph Seed to his brother, John, warning of the sinful allure of wrath. Having just taken one of John’s fortresses, it seemed like a wonderfully apt time to be hearing it and this added a lot to the quiet moments in a recently found victory. It gives yet another churned out Ubisoft-style open world all the more character.

As we drive around Hope County, we’ll likely hear the brainwashing songs of Eden’s Gate blaring through the radio.

Through this radio "Far Cry 5" constantly reminds us of the sinister "we love you, really" attitude of the cult. We’ll hear cheerful and uplifting songs that go something like "Shield me Faith, Shield me Faith. Shield from sorrow," and so on.

Although, if you’re able to drive somewhere quiet and just listen, you’ll hear what sounds like a cheerful jingle with the sole purpose of encouraging its listeners to "keep your rifle close," in case there be any sinners about. Yet, players will likely miss a lot of this kind of stuff. They’ll miss this brilliant world building by Ubisoft as they get shot at, smash into suicidal wildlife on the road or rush to avoid yet another strafing run from the persistent cult aircraft.

What’s more -- by the player’s hand -- fun in "Far Cry 5" has a shelf life. Don’t get me wrong, that fun is of a really high caliber while it lasts. The very premise of the game has the player working their way through Joseph Seed’s siblings; his lieutenants.

The free form nature of storytelling in "Far Cry 5" works because we’re taking down forts and weakening the Eden’s Gate influence enough to anger one of these siblings into getting you captured, until eventually it’s region boss killing time. "Far Cry" is known for its infamous antagonists. Vaas for "Far Cry 3" (the best yet in my humble opinion) and Pagan Min for 4. What’s great about "Far Cry 5" is that we get four of these charismatic villains in one game. It was only after they were all removed from the story that I realized that everything I had been doing to build Resistance Points was just to see them again.

Without the next fantastic motion capture performance to look forward to, the endgame world just felt… pointless.

All through my playthrough, I felt confident in the knowledge that I’d be back for more, to mop up Hope County properly. Yet, despite its fantastic world design, the super fun gunplay and the amazing graphics, the incentive to go on is just gone. How is it I’ve done this to myself? Well, by playing the game of course. It’s a harsh irony for "Far Cry 5." A sour bite to end a delicious meal, which is indeed a shame.

Look at it like this. Ubisoft created this perfect world, filled with A.I inhabitants, eternally sustaining an economy of violence. Nicely and neatly, vehicles run their course down long and winding roads. Forced baptisms go on unchecked and Eden’s Gate dominates Hope County, as it was apparently meant to happen.

Aircraft whizz about in the sky and fish meander along the riverbed. It is a technical wonder. A perfect marriage of hundreds of A.I units existing together for eternity in this construct, made by their God, Ubisoft. This beautiful landscape, fraught with violence and wonder is a modern artwork comparable to some massive Da Vinci piece in Venice.

Along comes the player

This unpredictable and selfish outside entity arrives, setting livestock on fire for the fun of it. It helps itself to vehicles and destroys them with wanton abandon. It discards aircraft, dooming them to a plummeting fiery explosion not just because skydiving is fun, but so is dropping in on a Peggie fort from the sky. The neatly driven vehicles of Hope County's open world roads now panic and swerve in a confused anticipation of what this outside entity may do.

The A.I.'s don’t know what to do. Their perfect equilibrium of rhythm has been severed; cut short. Accidents happen and people needlessly die a lot in "Far Cry 5." If you have finished the game, the sentiment of this paragraph will have a double meaning. The perfect piece of artwork in motion is perfect no more, as a result of this selfish outside god of destruction having a little fun.

That last paragraph may have been a little melodramatic, but the point I’m making, I’d like to think, has been made clear. There’s a heck of a lot of subtle beauties in "Far Cry 5" (and admittedly other open world games) that we just miss because well, we’re playing the game. We’re having fun. We selfishly ignore side quest for the moment because we want to know what happens next in the main story, thanks to Ubisoft's excellent work with motion capture.

Smacking into the 'Far Cry' wall

A friend of mine explained to me there is this thing called the "Far Cry wall." I instantly knew what he meant, having played every title except "Primal." It’s basically like writer’s block for "Far Cry" games. During my forty-odd hours in Hope County, I absolutely had a blast. It’s a fantastic game. At the end of my forty-odd hour experience I had arrived at the wall. Tall, un-climbable and heaven forbid -- boring as hell to look at. I look back and see a fantastic story of beautiful destruction and cultism in my wake like a slow-mo exploding collage. Yet, for the first time in a "Far Cry" game, the world design was just so darn good, I didn’t feel like the wall was an inevitable destination.

It was worse than that. It was a wall of my own making for having greedily spent entire weekend-long sessions blowing Eden’s Gate to bits -- but I got the season pass. So I guess the "Far Cry 5 wall" will get pushed back soon and a few times over again before I consider trading it in.
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