If there’s one thing that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon wants from its players it is to play an over the top unapologetically 80s tribute that is a standalone experience from its 2012 predecessor Far Cry 3. From the cheesy story, cheesy dialogue, predictable clichés and an aesthetic so bold into the 80’s it just can’t stop screaming its style towards that era with dripping neon lights all over it. If you longed to play an over-the-top action game that plays like “an 80s VHS vision of the future”, then you’re going to love Blood Dragon.

Now let’s get this out of the way first before starting the review: Blood Dragon has no connection whatsoever to Far Cry 3 other than the title! You don’t even need to play Far Cry 3 in order to get Blood Dragon! It’s a separate standalone title that you can buy off PlayStation Network, Xbox Live and Steam in a affordable price of $15. Now that’s said if you have played Far Cry 3 you’ll feel right at home since Blood Dragon basically uses the same engine and same map layout albeit different with a few tweaks in it. And now, without further ado, our review! 😀

Story

In the year 2007 throughout an aftermath of a nuclear war, American Cyber commando Rex “Power” Colt (Voiced by 80’s action star Michael Biehn who played Kyle Resse in the Terminator movies and Corporal Dwayne Hicks in the Alien franchise) is sent into an island full of cyborgs, mutants and VHS tapes to investigate an elite agent gone rogue named Colonel Sloan. Now if the plot to Blood Dragon sounds so contrived and stupid over its 80’s clichés, you’ll be dead right cause the story of Blood Dragon is intentionally contrived and stupid that even Ubisoft advertise the game as such.

The whole plot in a nutshell is basically “get the girl, kill the bad guys, and save the world” kind of stick that you normally find in 80’s action films. Now while Blood Dragon is a stupid and contrived game on its plot, underneath it is brilliant writing in its flawless 80s backdrop. To the Villain always bent on world domination with little motivation to the heroes always finding success against incredible odds. Ubisoft Montreal cleverly arranged Blood Dragon‘s influences to create a dynamic tale of man and machine while also making a tale of a hero kicking ass and taking names.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDblMnl17ag?modestbranding=1

Presentation

Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a retro-futuristic open world FPS that pays extreme homage to 80’s action movies. From the moment you start the game, you are bombarded with neon lights, cliches, and techno music from the era that makes the journey on the unnamed island a memorable experience that you would never forget. It’s dripping presentation of “an 80s VHS vision of the future” with crude 8 to 16-bit cutscenes and gameplay in modern 3D goes over the place and somehow it works so well with how Ubisoft Montreal did with its hyperbolic neon world that they made in six months.

Graphics

The graphics in Blood Dragon are stunning! The neon beaming VHS scan line style towards it really make you believe that you were transported into an 80’s action film with all the one liners and cliches to boot. Powered by Far Cry 3‘s Dunia Engine 2, the environments in Blood Dragon struck out to you with its vivid color scheme that makes the world of Blood Dragon beautiful to look at like the Tron movies.

Sound

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[soundcloud params=”auto_play=false&show_comments=true&color=0ac4ff”]https://soundcloud.com/powerglove/powercore[/soundcloud]

[soundcloud params=”auto_play=false&show_comments=true&color=0ac4ff”]https://soundcloud.com/powerglove/sloans-assault[/soundcloud]

Sound Design for Blood Dragon is a fantastic musical experience that you won’t ever forget! Australian music duo Power Glove have out done themselves with tracks like Power Core that tells you what the game’s tone is and that tone is an adrenaline pumping ride! Top it all off with amazing sound effects of gun shots with even some having futuristic ones makes the experience of listening to Blood Dragon an atmospheric one from start to end.

Gameplay

Gameplay in Blood Dragon is that of a dumb down version of Far Cry 3. There is a new island to explore with twelve or so new garrisons to take over (each with their own hostage-rescue additional task), new animals to kill, dozens of new collectibles to get, and a smattering of side missions to play.

You start with four weapons: a shotgun, assault and sniper rifles, and handgun. You can run nonstop like a road runner, jump like a kangaroo, and you don’t take fall damage. You’re a badass Cyber Commando which is a combination of the T-1000 and Robocop, and you’re out to wreak some justice on your double-crossing Colonel, who strangely resembles Bennett in the 1985 film Commando. The island is thick with battles between your faction, the Scientists, and the bad guys as the action is pressed on like a Serious Sam game. Now with all I said sounds like a game with lots of hours to play and even lots of replay-ability well you’ll be dead wrong cause Blood Dragon is a short game.

In a full session, you’ll finish Blood Dragon in less than 5 hours on the story line and even if you didn’t finish with all the side quests and get all the collectibles, there really is no point in even doing them since you gain nothing for doing it except for trophies and achievements. Hunting which was a main component in Far Cry 3 is just an after thought in Blood Dragon with just killing the wild animals just for money.

The Blood Dragons, the gigantic dinosaurs that beams red lasers out of its eyes may look like a threat at first but once you learned that you can distract these T-Rex foes by throwing cyber-hearts out of your fallen enemies like doggie treats, the Blood Dragons become nothing more than a giant dog with nothing threatening about them just like the wild animals in the island. Heck once you get the killstar weapon at the final mission, the game is basically broken on top of the already powerful badass you are with you running fast, jumping high, and not taking any fall damage. But the strange thing about my complaints with Blood Dragon‘s gameplay is that it’s also a positive. I mean think about it. How was the team at Ubisoft Montreal going to do with making the player a badass in a game trying to be a parody of the 80’s? Simple answer by making them an overpower badass and they accomplish it well.

So in a strange way, the negative things about Blood Dragon are also it’s strengths in how it accomplish the theme of you being a badass action hero in “an 80s VHS vision of the future”.

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Lasting Appeal

Overall, Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is one of 2013’s most entertaining game you’ll ever experience. While it is a simplistic version of it’s big brother counterpart Far Cry 3 in the sense of it being scale down, in a way it’s dumb down approach scales into a badass 80’s inspired story of man and machine with Cyber commando Rex “Power” Colt getting revenge on his Colonel and saving the woman he loves and the world from an already apocalyptic dystopian. Blood Dragon if I can summarize it is a sugar rush of beaming neon lights out of your eyes kind of experience that you should not pass. Totally worth $15 dollars on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.