Far Cry 3

The Far Cry 3 single-player demo shown on the E3 floor was the exact same one shown during Ubisoft’s press conference, so the narrative of the demo is nothing new. It begins with a mostly naked woman telling you that you are the one to kill Vaas, Far Cry 3’s insane antagonist. As you turn to your right, you see a group of your followers who presumably have just been watching you and your lady friend.

From there, the demo moves to the jungle giving you the opportunity to swim through the water and stealth kill everyone who gets in your way. As I was sneaking up behind enemies stabbing them in the chest and neck, I noticed experience points tallying in the corner. Ubisoft told me that you can exchange your experience points to expand your character’s attributes. As you pick and choose what you want to level up, the tattoos on your character’s arms will change. Every player’s arm tattoos will differ depending on what skills they choose to focus on. Presumably by the end of the game, your arm will be covered in distinct tattoos.

By the time you make your way to Vaas’ camp, things change from stealth tactics to frantic first-person shooter action. In addition to the guns I had picked up along the way, I also had a bow and arrow with different arrow tips. A few soldiers were taking cover behind a car, so I equipped my explosive arrow tips and made short work of them by blowing up the vehicle. I made a mad rush towards the building where Vaas was supposedly hanging out, making it inside just as the doors were closing.

I had a bizarre revelation once I stepped inside the building about Far Cry 3’s memorable villain, Vaas. He was angrily shouting at me over the loudspeaker and there were TVs everywhere displaying images of him among other pieces of strange propaganda. I realized that one of the reasons I have been interested in Vaas ever since they gave him the spotlight at last year’s E3 showing for Far Cry 3, is that he reminds me of The Joker from Batman’s universe. The man is an insane murderer, but you can’t help but be absorbed into his psyche. Hearing him talk to me over loudspeakers and seeing the TVs everywhere recalled memories of Arkham Asylum in a surprising way.

After making my way through the building, Vaas appeared from a corner and stabbed me in the chest with some kind of hallucinogenic that had me suddenly walking on the TVs and seeing weird flashes of Vaas, myself, the woman from the beginning of the demo who appears to be Vaas’ sister. The demo ended with Vaas waiting for me at the end of the TV trail pulling my gun to his head and chest tempting me to go ahead and shoot him.

The more I see about Far Cry 3, the more interested I become. Stealth combat is rewarding and violent and the shooting has the smoothness and ease of control of a Call of Duty. The main reason I want to play the game in its entirety, however, is to find out more about Vaas, because that dude is crazy.