Far Cry 4 Reaching for Record Heights

Ubisoft is ready to build on the success of their previous Far Cry series games with a new installment that promises players smarter enemies, more choices and an extremely expansive world.

Far Cry 4 is set to release Tuesday as the 4th edition of a series that currently has sold over 20 million copies since the original was released in 2004.

Nearly half of those sales are credited to its previous release, Far Cry 3, which won a cult following of fans when it hit the market at the end of 2012.

"Far Cry is a sleeper in some ways, but it is building momentum," analyst Scott Steinberg of the high-tech consulting firm TechSavvy told AFP.

"It has become a popular franchise, but it still has plenty of room to grow."

Far Cry 4, due out Tuesday, was billed as the most expansive and most immersive version to date of the open-world, first person shooter.

While the previous played out on a tropical island, the 4th version is played out in a fictional setting
in the Himalayas.

"The first idea for Far Cry was not to put it in the mountains; it was that someone on the team wanted to ride an elephant," game executive director Dan Hay told AFP while providing an early look at the new game.

"...we asked what we wanted to do as gameplayers."

The Montreal Ubisoft studio behind the game set out to load Far Cry 4 with features that people have come to love in previous versions, but with unexpected new twists.

Players can ride elephants while going into attack mode. A.I built in the game has resulted in the virtual enemies responding in a way that has shocked even developers with their reaction and response to situations.

Along the way, Far Cry 4 calls on gamers to choose between traditional, and seizing new opportunities in the Himalayan realm.

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