Analysis

Far Cry 3

Far Cry 3 is an open world first person shooter developed by Ubisoft; the video game was released last year in early December. The game's protagonist, Jason Brody, is an American who is on vacation in Bangkok with his two brothers (Grant and Riley), girlfriend (Liza) and friends (Keith, Oliver, and Daisy) to celebrate his younger brother, Riley, obtaining his pilot license. However, one day, when they are skydiving over a fictional tropical paradise called the Rook islands, they are captured by a band of pirates. Jason is rescued by a man named Dennis, who is a member of a tribe of island natives, called the Rakyat, who are fighting to regain control of an island dominated by pirates; Dennis recruits Jason to fight for the Rakyat and in exchange promises to help Jason find his friends. The rest of the game consists of Jason going on various missions to rescue his friends and defeat the pirates. One of Far Cry 3’s main themes is Jason's descent from a white American from Hollywood into a vengeful killer, bent upon winning the heart of the tribe leader Citra and becoming the island savior; it also shows his gradual forgetting of who he is and where he comes from.

Jason’s transformation really begins at the camp where Jason is first captured by Vaas, the psychopathic leader of the pirates. He is bound in the same cage as his older brother, Grant. Grant, who we learn has military training, frees himself and then Jason. Jason then distracts the guard so Grant can obtain the key to the cage they are being held in. Much to Jason’s horror, Grant kills the guard, prompting Jason to whimper in disbelief. From there they sneak past guards through the camp. There is a sequence where Grant kills a guard with a throwing knife, prompting Jason to whimper “Oh God, I can’t do this Grant!” but is urged on by some motivational words from his brother. Jason is also audibly distraught throughout this section’s gameplay, and whispers various expletives intermittently. The brothers almost make it into the jungle but Vaas finds them and shoots Grant in the neck; Jason tries in vain to stop Grant from bleeding out, but is unsuccessful as Grant dies in his arms. Jason then bolts into the jungle, pursued by the pirates. It is in this sequence that Jason first kills a man; afterwards, animation is displayed showing his regret (Jason holds up his hands in a “what have I done” sort of manner). Jason then runs further into the jungle, coming across a bridge, which he is knocked off of. The sequence then ends with him being rescued by Dennis. This beginning gameplay really shows Jason in his true light: scared and distraught at being so far from his home, and horror at the death of brother and at his ability to take a life. He also shows a desire to save his friends, showing he has not yet forgotten his background and people from his past.

While in the care of Dennis in a place called Amanaki village, Jason is first introduced to the idea of him being a “warrior”; Dennis stresses this and reveals he has given Jason the tattoos of a Rakyat warrior. Jason, however, is hesitant when Dennis offers him money to buy weapons, claiming, “I’ve never shot anyone before”. Dennis replies with “What do they say in America? There is a first time for everything”, and Jason reluctantly accepts the cash. Soon after, Jason receives a call on a satellite phone he took from the pirate camp during his escape. The call is from an unknown pirate, claiming they are taking one of the prisoners to an outpost nearby. Dennis and Jason head there with some other Rakyat warriors. During the ride there, Dennis further tries to convince Jason he is a warrior and his path is to fight the pirate threat but Jason replies: “Look, I appreciate your help, but I just want to save Liza and find my friends. And my brother”. However, Jason agrees to clear out the outpost, which he does with relative ease. This is where Jason really begins his transformation into a killer, though at this point in the story, it is disguised as a desire to save his friends.

There are some story missions which his transformation is more clearly exemplified than in others. One of these missions is one in which he has to burn fields of marijuana crop to disrupt pirate operations. As one can see, Jason’s priorities on the island appear to be shifting from saving his friends to defeating the pirates to fulfill “his path” as the native warriors say, Citra especially. Jason even expresses glee at being able to use a flamethrower and can be heard screaming “this is awesome!” and other variants of this exclamation frequently as he burns through scores of enemies and crop. There is one point in the story, after all his friends (with the exception of his brother Riley, who is presumed to be dead) have been rescued, that Jason decides to stay on the island instead of attempting to escape. This is the point in the story in which one sees that Jason has completely forgotten who he is, and is completely fixated on eliminating the pirates and impressing the Rakyat. 

However in one particular mission towards the end of the game, after Jason has announced his intent to stay on the island to the others, Jason discovers his younger brother is still alive and in the hands of the pirates; this mission particularly exemplifies both how far Jason has descended into a killer. We are shown he still somewhat cares about the people in his past by the effort he makes to save his brother, previously assumed dead. Being undercover in this particular part of the story, he is forced to torture his own brother to prove his worth to one of the antagonists in the game, Hoyt Volker, so he will be able to save Riley later. However, the fact that he is able to torture his own brother shows Jason really has evolved into a killer. 

The final straw can be said to be the ending. Jason has the option of killing his friends (who have been captured by the Rakyat) and staying on the island to lead the tribe with Citra, or escape and save all his friends. Regardless of which ending the player chooses, Jason's descent into a killer who has forgotten his past has been completed; having wiped out the pirates, he comes to the point of having to choose between being a tribe warrior leader or saving his friends, we see that whichever Jason chooses results in an ending in which he is left scarred. This transformation of the protagonist, someone who the player is supposed to like, into a delusional killer is one of Far Cry 3's main themes; it asks the player questions about how far someone will actually go to attain something once their mind has been lost; after all, the player is the one controlling Jason.

WORKS CITED

Ubisoft Montreal. Far Cry 3. Ubisoft, 2012. Microsoft Windows.