FPS games are a classic PC gaming staple, and whether you've been playing them since the 90s or started your journey more recently with the boom in battle royales, there are plenty to choose from when it comes to the all-time greats. To help you narrow down what to play next, we've created this list of the best FPS games to play right now, from single-player epics to team-based shooters you can play with mates. Heck, some don't even necessarily have guns in them at all, and you may find the odd boomerang or bow in here too.
]]>Ahead of Ubisoft's June 12 'Forward' E3-adjacent live video game announcement stream, the company has discounted its popular Far Cry franchise games by up to 85%. This makes it a good time to play the earlier games in the series - and you still have time to beat one or two titles if Far Cry 6 releases in October as planned.
]]>From an early age, humans know that if they want to be taken seriously, they must learn how to deliver a convincing car noise. Vrrrrummm, they might say. Or perhaps: brrrrrr-bp-brrr. These are the nascent efforts of the budding speed freak, and they must be respected. But once again the realm of videogames encroaches upon the germinal life of the human with pitiless velocity. Car games put a stop to make-believe noise, and introduce fully realised cars on a screen, ready for the racing, shiny bonnets and vrrrrummm noises included. Thus, the imagination dies, and these, the 10 best cars in PC games, are born. Beep beep.
]]>Looks like Ubisoft will be announcing Far Cry 6 during this weekend's Ubisoft Forward event, because the game's existence and a few details have been revealed by a page on the PlayStation Store. It appears to have gone live by accident and has already been taken down, but it was there. Far Cry 6 will send us to the "tropical paradise" of Yara to fight against a brutal dictator and his son, and yes we will get animal friends again. The store page said it's coming on February 18, 2021.
]]>The last ten years have brought us many joys. We've already celebrated the best games of the past decade, but with such scattergun nomination comes neglect. Only three of the fifty games we picked had grappling hooks, so clearly the entire endeavour was pointless and you will need an alternative resource.
Here's my definitive guide to the swinging tenties. I haven't mentioned Worms, because they get everywhere and I don't want to spend my whole day talking about helminths.
]]>I have very much enjoyed the Far Cry series, most often despite itself. Far Cries 3, 4 and Primal (why is everyone forgetting poor old Primal?) have all occupied me for countless hours, provided enormous amounts of entertainment in their kleptomania-inducing maps, and always done so despite everything it thinks is so compelling about itself. Far Cry's self-belief in its own abysmal stories is always so grossly apparent, like a strutting buffoon bursting into the bar and looking around, confused, when every man, woman and animal doesn't immediately throw themselves at his feet. So then he starts loudly demanding people throw themselves at his feet. And when they don't, runs around putting his feet as near to people as he can and declares to the room that this counts. Oh Far Cry.
Unfortunately, this time out things have gotten a lot worse. Far Cry 5 - to run with the previous analogy - barges up to you, grabs you by the collar, and throws you down onto the ground by its shoes, screaming "MY FEET! WORSHIP MY BLOODY FEET!" Which is to say, engaging with its godawful cutscenes has become less optional. Far Cry 5 has the most egregiously bad imposition of its story.
]]>It's been a long time since Far Cry games were how you gave your PC its fiercest work-out, but hell, old habits. Ubi have just put out system requirements for March's Montana-set Far Cry 5 and they're pretty reasonable, in the main.
Basically, if you have at least a GTX 670 or R9 270 you're getting in the door, though if you want to crank it all the way to 4K and 60FPS and don't already have the high-end cards to do it, it's second mortgage time.
]]>Poor Ubisoft. They crafted this enormous open-world icon-riddled niche of their own, trod it into the ground while flogging it to death, and then other people came along, borrowed their ideas, and built superior games with them. In the last year, despite decent showings from Far Cry Primal, The Division, Watch Dogs 2, and Wildlands, players and critics were beginning to weary of yet another open map of odd jobs. None was particularly at fault, but we were experiencing perhaps the sense of diminishing returns, and certainly the weariness of fatigue. And then this year we got Zelda: Breath Of The Wild from Nintendo and Horizon Zero Dawn from Sony. Pow. Two platform-pushing monoliths that schooled Ubisoft at their own games.
In the wake of being so astoundingly outshone, what can Far Cry 5 [official site] do to reclaim the crown?
]]>Far Cry 5 and The Crew 2, Ubisoft announced today, as if you hadn't already guessed. That's it. They have nothing of substance to say about either game. Oh, and would you believe that more Assassin's Creed is coming too? Astonishing. Ladies and germs, we truly are in the runup to E3. Ooh I swear it starts earlier and shoutier every year! Back in my day, E3 was held in secret in dark stone chambers and the only way you could tell what happened was to watch for logos forming in your tea leaves.
]]>Aside from starting a new tradition of unusually-named Steam Awards, Valve have also pulled out their worn and adored bargain bucket and have begun to fill it with games you’ll enthusiastically buy and probably never play. Yes, it's their Autumn Sale. In the streets, the apocalyptic jockeying for TVs and blenders has started. The moon has turned blood red. And I looked and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Black Friday, and sales followed with him.
]]>My calendar tells me we're now over halfway through April. The Met Office tells me astronomical spring in the northern hemisphere started on March 20. Yet the weatherman told me yesterday that I can expect highs of a whopping nine degrees centigrade here in Glasgow this weekend. I'd swear it was still winter had the annual Uplay Spring Sale not kicked off this week, with big discounts on the likes of Assassin's Creed Syndicate, Rainbow Six Siege and Far Cry 4, among others. Which others, you say? Find out after the drop.
]]>There's a scene in the new Far Cry Primal [official site] trailer in which the player character instructs his pet owl to eat someone's face. It's amazing how inconsequential the lack of vehicles and rocket launchers seems now that the full extent of the animal-taming can be seen. Feed wild beasts and they can be tamed, which leads to big cat snuggling, guard bears and tiger ridin'. Given that sniping the locks off animal cages was my favourite way to take out a baseload of baddies in Far Cry 3, Primal suddenly looks very tasty indeed.
]]>Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every weekday of the year, perhaps for all time.
Far Cry 2 is the cool Far Cry game to like, and it's certainly the most interesting and coherent, but if we're measuring in pure silly joy then Far Cry 4 beats it every time.
]]>Ubisoft attempted to announce Far Cry Primal [official site] with a tantalising livestream, which was rather spoiled by a brief leak of the game's name and basic details. Now we know more, including proper trailers, screenshots, and a release date... which will see the game land on PC the month after it'll arrive on console.
]]>Update: There's now proper trailers and everything, embedded below, or hop to this post for Far Cry Primal's release date, screenshots, trailers and more.
Viral marketing isn't entirely going Ubisoft's way lately, but at least having their own promotional rug for the next Far Cry pulled from under them by a loose-lipped IGN Turkey means exciting news rather than quizzical looks. Yep, the next Far Cry is, it appears, to be named Far Cry Primal and is set during the Ice Age.
]]>Once a week most weeks, the RPS hivemind gathers to discuss An Issue. Sometimes it’s controversial news, sometimes it’s a particular game, sometimes it’s favourite things and least favourite things, sometimes a perennial talking point. This week, off the back of most of us being obsessed with Metal Gear Solid V, we're talking about open world, or sandbox games. Big map, go where you please, kill or don't kill - the GTA, Assassin's Creed and Far Cry formula. And it's very much a formula now. How do we feel about that? Has the promise of earlier open world games such as the first few Elder Scrolls been lost? And just why are we apparently giving MGSV a free pass given we often roll our eyes as Assassin's Creed?
]]>Haven't you always wanted to meet Sam Fisher and take home a photo of him pretending to snap your neck? Why not bungee from a Venetian rooftop into a haystack (don't worry, it's not real hay!)? Dare you ride a rollercoaster named Uplay? All these dreams and more may very well - let's say it: will almost definitely - come true, as Ubisoft have announced plans to open a "next-generation theme park" in Malaysia.
That "next-generation" bit has caused some confusion in the RPS treehouse, but we think we've cracked it. Read on for our ideas:
]]>Global illumination. Volumetric clouds. Sub-surface scattering.
These are words that make me hot.
But I know this feeling is forbidden. I should care about games, not the empty pursuit of photorealism. But oh my, it’s so exciting, and not empty. In fact, I think that right now photorealism is becoming crucial to games, and that we should celebrate it.
]]>What are the best Steam Summer Sale deals? Each day for the duration of the sale, we'll be offering our picks - based on price, what we like, and what we think more people should play. Read on for the five best deals from day 4 of the sale.
]]>Who'd win in a war: Pagan Min out Far Cry 4 or Gandhi? Sure, Min's great at murder and oppression and has a crack army and all that, but push Gandhi too far and nukes will fly. In Civilization V [official site], anyway.
Custom civilisations are one of the more common Civ mod types, but I do like the look of a new mod adding Pagan Min and the nation of Kyrat. They're mostly focused archeology and exploration, see, though can always deploy those horrible sneaky Hunter soldiers, the gits in the hoods who pelt you with arrows then vanish. Yeah, you can have them.
]]>The internet is awfully busy. And it's not just pictures of butterflies disguised as serial killers - an awful lot of it is made of "let's play" videos. These are what the young people call "content", in which you can see someone else playing a game because you're too busy to do so. But what this half of YouTube distinctly lacks is people not actually playing the games properly. That's why Rock, Paper, Shotgun is here. Here begins a series in which I don't get on with playing a game properly, but instead mucking about with all the fun they have to offer outside of their main straight lines. This starts with my obsessive need to remove every ? from Far Cry 4's map.
]]>It's a pleasant fantasy to think that holidays mean long weeks of playing games, but in reality there's trains and planes to be boarded, family to be visited, lives to be unavoidably lived. Gaming during holidays is therefore similar to gaming at any other time, about stealing moments to sneak away to a quiet corner and catch up on backlogs or curl up with comforts. Some of you told us what you played over the break yesterday, but here's what RPS played between the parsnips and presents.
]]>Psssst! You wanna hear some gossip? WELL! So, Eurogamer told me that some friends of theirs told THEM that a marketing research survey told them – the friends not Eurogamer – that they wanted to talk future Far Cry game settings. I *know*, right?
Apparently the talk came in the form of a survey which asked players to make their preferences regarding potential settings such as Alaska, zombies, dinosaurs and Vietnam known.
]]>If you're one of those whose bought Assassin's Creed: Unity's DLC Season Pass at launch, you're getting a big fat Sorry from Ubisoft whether you felt you needed it or not. They need your forgiveness. They burn for it. The publisher's apologies for Unity's many and various bugs and performance issues comprises a choice of one of the following: Far Cry 4, Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, The Crew, Rayman Legends, Watch_Dogs or Just Dance 2015. We already knew that! But now it's actually happening right now go go go go
]]>When Far Cry 3 came out in 2012, we were as surprised as anyone to see it top our advent calendar. It's less surprising to discover that Far Cry 4 offers many of the same joys, from the liberation of an exotic land's outposts and fortresses to the liberation of player movement as you zip about with a grappling hook and wingsuit. There's one big thing that's new - or, er, newly good - and that's co-op.
Graham: Far Cry 4 is the best co-op game not just in 2014, but maybe ever.
]]>I like comparisons between videogames and music. Especially - for some reason - when it comes to Ubisoft games. But while I remain convinced that Assassin's Creed is Michael Bolton, I'm beginning to think Ubisoft themselves are prog rock.
]]>This is the third and final part of my diary of playing Far Cry 4 as a bow-toting ranger. Here are parts one and two.
By rights I should sit back from my desk, blow the foam from the tops of my bubbling test tubes, and loudly declare, “MY EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN A SUCCESS!” But as is so often the case with science, it would have been failure that produced the most interesting results. Failure led to penicillin, the high five, and the satsuma. I have no satsuma.
]]>An odd phenomenon of the last month or so is the disappearance of Ubisoft's end-of-year gaming bonanza from the UK version of Steam. While Assassin's Creed: Unity, Far Cry 4, and The Crew are all available on the US and other international versions of Valve's blue-grey shop, in Her Majesty's The United Kingdom, they are conspicuously absent. The games can be bought, at surprisingly huge prices, through the convoluted bizarreness of Uplay, and through other portals like GamersGate or Greenman Gaming, but the most popular and widely used digital distro has an empty shelf. So what's up?
]]>I'm attempting to play Far Cry 4 without using any guns. Because maiming people with arrows is noble. It began here.
To live the ranger lifestyle, it's essential that I forage for my own food. And by "food" I mean "animal skins", and by "forage" I mean "slice off". My fashionable outer garments aren't going to make themselves. So as I continue trying to play Far Cry 4 with only a bow and arrow, it makes sense to focus on the wanton destruction of local wildlife populations. Except for elephants. Elephants are my steed. From which I can kill other animals.
]]>This seems like the sort of thing we need to be writing for every game of late. Where the narcissism of publishers sees them fail to allow the player to just skip past their opening vanity screens, and you frantically click and stab at every key, certain that they surely can't be this vain? Fortunately, the superb fun of Far Cry 4 can easily be more quickly reached, without having to dig out the individual obscurely-named video files from the depths of your hard drive.
]]>How to approach Far Cry 4? Having loved so much about the previous entry into the sprawling series, there’s the temptation to just dive in and play like a kid at a swimming pool, but that’s already nicely covered by Graham’s review. So I need an angle. But what angle?
There are a few that immediately spring to mind. Try to play as a pacifist – not particularly feasible in a game that requires death for progression. Play as an animal conservationist? Cute, but limited interest. Travel everywhere by foot? That’s for someone far more patient than I. Then it was suddenly obvious: play as a ranger. (The very opposite of an animal conservationist.)
]]>Far Cry 4 is a funhouse mirror. I love pointing it in in different directions and seeing the way its design reflects the videogames around it. Angle it one way and the first thing you'll see in its reflection is the only-slightly distorted visage of its predecessor, as Far Cry 3's every idea turns formula: there's an exotic setting; an extravagant and verbose villain; crafting by way of animal hunting; a mixture of linear campaign and dynamic missions. This sequel could be considered a lavishly made standalone expansion pack and, if you enjoyed the previous game as I did, its slavish devotion to existing structures is no bad thing.
]]>I'm only a couple of hours into Far Cry 4 - we didn't receive any pre-release review code - and it is very Far Cry so far. In just that little play time I've scaled radio towers, ziplined down from radio towers, hang-glided off mountains, driven jeeps off mountains, delivered packages under a time limit, stabbed people in the throat with knives, shot people in the throat with arrows, baited a bear into killing a guy, and hunted and skinned different kinds of animals in order to make a fetching bag.
Are you playing it? Hop below for some very brief thoughts, and to leave your own impressions in the comments.
]]>Perhaps you've missed Far Cry 4's hundreds of previous trailers, and want one single trailer which explains everything - the plot, the world, the characters, the weapons. Then I've got good news! Maybe you'd enjoy all of this information being delivered to you by an in-game radio host, for some reason. Then, oh wow, this eight-minute trailer was specifically made for you. That's weird.
]]>Update: "We are looking into it at the moment," an Ubisoft representative has told us about the later vanishings outside the UK. Meanwhile, two dear readers in Finland and Germany comment that the games have disappeared from Steam for them too.
When Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed Unity, The Crew, and Far Cry 4 all vanished from Steam in the UK earlier this week, the publisher made cryptic mention of being "in discussions with Valve". What's so weird or special about the UK that our Steam wouldn't get Ubisoft's big fancy Christmas lineup? Turns out, we're not so special any more. These games are vanishing from the US and Australian stores too, VG247 noted, suggesting something bigger than a regional quirk is afoot.
]]>U-boo-soft, more like. It looks like the developer of Far Cry 4, The Crew and Assassin's Creed Unity won't be releasing any of those games through Steam in the UK.
Speaking to PCGamesN, the publisher confirmed that they have been in discussions with Valve about Assassin's Creed Unity, "but for the time being the game is not available via Steam in the UK. In the meantime, UK customers wishing to purchase the game digitally can do so by visiting the Uplay store, our retail partners or other digital distributors." The Crew and Far Cry 4, meanwhile, are listed on Steam throughout the world but not in the UK, suggesting they might befall the same fate.
]]>The latest Far Cry 4 trailer explains the game's story, which is a good thing, because there's very little chance I'm going to pay attention to what's going on when I come round to actually playing it. "Do what you came here to do," one character implores. 'What, you mean you want me to wingsuit off of all these mountains and make rucksacks out of your endangered species?' "Your mother's dying wish will be fulfilled." I think my mum wanted me to silently dispatch hundreds of people with a bow and arrow?
Come, watch the trailer, become dimly aware that there are characters other than Pagan Min and purpose to your character other than ooh-what's-over-there.
]]>Far Cry 3 may not have been all things to all people, but it was many different things to many different people. For me, it was a game mostly about driving offroad and getting into various scrapes involving three-way battles between myself, a gathering of Komodo Dragons and a gang of gun-toting grunts. For some, it was a game in which they could hunt goats with a rocket launcher and maybe there were even some people who thought the story missions were the best bit as well. It's essentially a game about vehicles and animals falling over.
The sequel, which is out in three weeks, should allow you to relive all of your favourite Far Cry memories while killing your friends. With an elephant. The three PvP modes are explained in the video below.
]]>As a brochure for a(n imaginary) place, these Far Cry 4 trailers aren't doing a great job of selling me on Kyrat. Sure it's got the natural beauty of snowy mountains, lush plains and ancient ruins but literally everything there is trying to kill you. There's animal attacks, rebels with mortors, mad dictators, spirit people, arena fights - for a (pretend) small Himalayan state they've sure crammed in a lot of death. These two latest videos focus specifically on this place and what you'll find there.
]]>I'm trying to decide which of the murders displayed in the latest Far Cry 4 trailer is the most inglorious to be on the receiving end of. Not bear attack, or mortar fire from across a ravine, or the automatic weapons. I think it might be the crossbow. Ignorant to the sound of your friends slumping to the ground til the headache hits you.
This Far Cry 4 weapons trailer will help you select your own least desired demise.
]]>This new Far Cry 4 trailer is nominally designed to re-introduce Pagan Min, the game's antagonist, but there's a moment midway through in which the player drives a dirt bike off a cliff in pursuit of a plane, let's go and wingsuits through the air, and then blows up said plane with a tossed grenade. That's exactly the sort of action silliness I liked about Far Cry 3, so take a look below.
]]>In a much anticipated sequel to my kitten's world exclusive review of Shelter, comes my toy elephant Timothy commentating on the latest Far Cry 4 trailer. Ladies and gentleman, Timothy.
I dunno what a vid e o game is but I like elephants!
]]>Why did we never think of this before? Attack dogs are SO 2005, it's all about angry badgers [That's so 2011 -ed.] attempting to aggressively acquire your watch now. At least that's what I'm taking away from the latest Far Cry 4 trailer, which gives a quick tour of the fictional Himalayan region where the game's set. Don't worry, it's not all cute animals, there's plenty of knife-stabs, gun-shoots and elephant-tramples to go along with that little guy.
]]>Far Cry 3 was a lot of things, but a narrative tour de force wasn't exactly one of them. To hear Far Cry 3 writer Jeffrey Yohalem tell it, there were good intentions putting the wind beneath its hang gliders, the komodo (and/or blood) in its dragons, but the end result was rather... misguided. When Far Cry 4 was first announced, it seemed like it might be off to a similarly shaky start with box art that left some feeling uncomfortable, but the E3 game demo ended up telling a different tale.
That said, we still don't know much about this one is about, so I sat down with Far Cry 4 narrative director Mark Thompson to talk premise, plot, controversy, the inherent problems of videogame info hype cycles, and heaps more. Machete your way past the break for the full thing.
]]>So Far Cry 4 is a thing. It was pretty inevitable, given that Far Cry 3 sold like hotcakes stuffed with pornography. The next question, then, is obvious: will there be another Far Cry: Blood Dragon? Nothing's set in stone yet, but it sounds quite likely that Far Cry will take another turn for the weird. Just maybe don't expect another '80s spoof this time.
]]>I'm afraid this is going to be a long one, because the debate around Assassin's Creed Unity not inculding any female avatar options in its co-op mode didn't half snowball overnight. Ubisoft are now backtracking on their initial defence that this was a workload issue, and instead claim it's a deliberate narrative-based decision - however, this only opens up more questions.
In the meantime, a former Assassin's Creed animation lead has called foul on the original claims that animating a female character results in an unbearable workload increase, while elsewhere at E3, a Far Cry 4 dev claimed that excessive animation needs are why there are no playable women in that game. Who to believe, eh?
]]>Ubisoft's big fancy E3 stage show last night introduced the game's kooky villain (so zany!) but while technically in-game footage, this was only the opening cutscene. "Oh gosh bother and drat," I imagine someone in Ubi's marketing department said, "we've only gone and forgotten to show the game. Fix this!" So here comes a new trailer with seven minutes of gameplay, showing off enraged elephants smashing cars, eagles snatching goats, micro helicopters, another beautiful break-action grenade launcher, a spot of co-op, and yes yes yes, a grappling hook.
]]>Know what Far Cry needs? A villain so kerrazy that he takes a selfie right after he murders a bunch of people. Thankfully, that's precisely what the series now has in the shape of the mad despot who takes center stage on the box art and rants and raves his way through the debut trailer above. GTA V was the game to popularise the act of inappropriate post-carnage selfies, I believe, and dare we hope that Far Cry 4 will take the art to the next level? Brave new worlds opening up before us.
]]>I can no longer separate actual announcements from speculation, gossip and fever dreams, so while I *think* we've already heard a bunch of stuff about Far Cry 4 and how it'll have a snow-bound setting, for the sake of ease I'm going to pretend this is the first thing we've ever written about it.
Far Cry 4 is out this Winter, it is indeed set in the Himalayas and it's got a harpoon gun in it.
]]>I am a trusting person, which us why I often gather groups of stranger together and fall backwards into their arms. It's something to do while my pies cool on my windowsill. But I also live in London, so today I've lost three pies and broken two vertebrae. Send help! It hasn't damaged my trust, though, so I'm going to take Eurogamer at their word that they're sure that Far Cry 4 is soon to be announced. I don't think it's any stretch to assume that it would be coming, but the setting promises mountains and elephants.
And - this just in - there's a first, rather shiny trailer for the next Assassin's Creed game, subtitled 'Unity' and which appears to be set during the French Revolution.
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