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Games To Beat In A Day - Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon
Extended holiday weekends are my favorite time to revisit my favorite movies. I celebrate Thanksgiving break with a marathon of James Bond films, and always rewatch the best Christmas films ever, Die Hard and Home Alone, during the winter holidays. This Labor Day is a great opportunity for you to do the same with the best '80s action film that ever released as a video game. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon's ludicrous story about a cybernetic commando named Rex "Power" Colt is short and sweet enough to finish in a day, but packed with enough laughs and carnage to have a long-lasting impact.
Far Cry 3's lush, tropical open world is a blast to explore in first-person, but Blood Dragon delivers out of the gate in a totally different way. It begins with an NES-style story slideshow depicting Rex Colt being powered up with cyborg enhancements and heading out in a chopper to assault a neon-drenched enemy compound. Within minutes you're using a minigun to mow down enemy robots that explode in bursts of blue goo while "Long Tall Sally" by Little Richard blasts (a la Predator).
The '80s film references don't stop there. Colt packs weapons straight out of Robocop and The Terminator while quipping cheesy one-liners like "I call shotgun" while blasting an enemy. While these corny one-liners are enough to make Schwarzenegger blush, they drive home Blood Dragon's homage to the action/sci-fi films of yesteryear.
Blood Dragon is more than its aesthetic and humor, though. Far Cry 3's engine is a solid foundation for the chaos, with precise gunplay, reliable stealth mechanics, and fun first-person traversal across the glowing island. The inclusion of giant, komodo-like blood dragons adds a unique fold to the action as well. Tearing out enemy hearts and chucking them towards a garrison filled with evil cyborgs causes one of the laser-vomiting monsters to do your dirty work.
From its badass helicopter assault intro to the surprising, over-the-top finale, you can enjoy Blood Dragon's big story beats in a single sitting (including a fun nod for Hobo With A Shotgun fans). Even better, it has a lot to enjoy after the credits roll and the corny anthem from the lost '80s b-film Miami Connection plays. Rex still has enemy cyborg compounds to destroy, side missions to complete, and killer weaponry to upgrade. Blood Dragon is a wild, irreverent ride best experienced in one sitting.
To read more about games you can beat in a day, check back at our hub over the course of the day. If you want to know even more about Blood Dragon, read this in-depth article all about the making of the game.
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