So Far Cry 5 is just a few days from being released and it looks like more of the same from a franchise that I’m starting to grow a little tired of. But there is one aspect of the game that I think looks great, Far Cry Arcade.
In case you are not aware what Far Cry Arcade is, its a game creation system that allows you to design your very own missions from the ground up. Its said to be the “Minecraft of action games”, you can check out the trailer right here…
Its much, much more than just a map editor and will include assets from numerous Ubisoft titles including (of course) Far Cry, Assassin’s Creed and Watch Dogs with more added later via DLC too. You will be able to create both single, co-op and multiplayer modes where your own imagination will be the only limit. In fact the developers are claiming that “the possibilities will be infinite”.
It all looks and sounds amazing and its free for all Far Cry 5 users too. But this whole idea has got me thinking if this is where the future of gaming lies. Of course Far Cry Arcade is not the first time something like this has existed in games – but it does look like it being one of the most impressive yet. We have had other games in the past where it has been up to us, the player to pretty much create our own content. There is the previously mentioned Minecraft as an example, a game often believed for annoying teens to make even more annoying You Tube videos for. You know what? I’m in my forties and I love playing Minecraft, I find it relaxing and the freedom the game gives you helps me unwind after a rough day at work and it takes me back to when I was a child playing with LEGO…I don’t make annoying You Tube videos though.
Minecraft is pretty much the template that a lot of these types of games are help up against and rightly so to. But there have been so many of these over the years all doing what they do very well indeed. The likes of the amazing Little Big Planet series for example with a community full of dedicated players creating endless content for others to play. There are some seriously stunning Little Big Planet creations out there. What about Super Mario Maker? Allowing you to create your very own Super Mario levels and share them around the world.
Map editors have come a long way over the years from the ‘good ole days’ of creating some Doom WADS to Far Cray Arcade. But hey, these game creation tools have been around a lot longer than that. I recall loving Shoot-‘Em-Up Construction Kit on the Commodore 64 from 1987. From the title you can most probably guess it was a game creation system that allowed you to create your very own shoot em’ ups. How about 1988’s Arcade Game Construction Kit which gave is the tools to create fast paced arcade style games. There was also Pinball Construction Set from even earlier in 1982. Quite honestly, there have been a tone of these things over the years and they were really popular in the 80s. It now seems that the idea if creating our own games it making a bit of a resurgence with developers giving us players the tools to just make our own games from simple map editing to more expansive and creative endeavours.
But with more and more games using these type of open tools, how long until that is all we get, how long until we are being sold game construction sets like back in the 80s? Flat-pack gaming as I like to call it, we buy a new game and we have to put it together ourselves from the tools provided by the developers. I’m surprised we haven’t already had an influx of games just like the old construction kit/set series I grew up with seeing as how much more advanced technology has become since the 80s. We have had some titles like the ones previously mentioned that give us a game, but then also include creation tools to do as we wish with them – is the next step to remove the completed game itself and just give us a piece of software we’ll have to build ourselves?
Personally, I love the idea of being given a blank canvas and the tools to create our own games, I can’t tell you the amount of hours I’ve lost messing around with Project Spark on my Xbox and how much I thoroughly enjoyed it too. I’m really not that fussed by Far Cry 5 as a game but I can’t wait to mess around with Far Cry Arcade.
Little Bits of Gaming & Movies 