Review: Far Cry 4 is one of the year's best games

This is a series that never ceases to make us feel spoiled. Across the course of the first three games we've already been served a South Pacific island, a Central African state and a Southeast Asian tropical paradise within which to roam, hunt and go wild. Not to mention the neon-infused, 80s action flick inspired cyberpunk spinoff, Blood Dragon, so exaggerated that it makes Escape From New York look like a documentary. Evidently, not much value is assigned to holding back and dialling things down. Playing it safe is, clearly, not an option.

Now, we've got the Himalayas. Of everything offered so far this is the most beautiful, dangerous and inspiring place this series has given us - not an imposing mountain or wandering yak feels out of place. While previous settings have brought with them an inherent hint of danger, Far Cry 4's fictional state of Kyrat often feels overtly serene and gentle as peaceful religious devotees go about their chores, animals meander around soft canopied trees and clouds flow and fall down and around the peaks at the ceiling of the world.

Then, just as you're starting to relax and holster your weapon, the crazy arrives and your calm, meditative state of mind is replaced by something altogether more alert and desperate. You're reminded that within this territory of gentle splendour there sits a villain hungry for power, one not afraid to destroy everything before him in an attempt to secure and keep it. This is Pagan Min, your new dictator and wannabe living deity.

It's Min's soldiers who present the greatest danger, groups of them spread far and wide over the enormous map. Some are melee specialists, running straight at you with machete in hand and death scream at full volume. Others pack machine guns and formidable suits of body armour, while a masked and hooded type prefers stealth; sticking to the shadows with bow and arrow in hand. Then, of course, you've got your AK47-wielding grunts. No respectable dictator can be seen without at least a few divisions of those.

Capturing radio towers and outposts from them reduces their influence in that specific area and makes it safe for you and your Golden Path resistance movement allies to move in. How and in what order you attempt to spread your holdings is up to you, although much of the available environment is not unlocked until you reach a certain point in the main narrative - preventing you, up until that point, from treating this as a dedicated sandbox in which everything is open from the start.

The story missions themselves are decidedly and unsurprisingly more linear than the optional extras and side quests, your goal often only achievable by acting in a certain way or treading a pre-determined path. For the most part this is not a problem and can actually result in a welcome change of pace as the pressure of decision making is lifted from your own shoulders.

Where this linearity can become irritating is in the existence of total failure and enforced restarts during missions requiring stealth. Being spotted can result in a restart, whether you resultantly die or not. It's one thing to ask you to perform certain tasks or follow a certain route, but to remove the ability to react and fix a situation gone wrong stands at odds with the freedom promoted elsewhere.

Not being caught infiltrating a base or kidnapping an important enemy might work for the narrative, but it doesn't work for a game centered around the player having to smartly react to unpredictable and dangerous events. However, those same story missions represent a mere sliver of what's available here. An exhaustive myriad of extracurricular randomness combines to create tens of hours worth of action that changes and morphs with every passing minute.

"This is the most beautiful, dangerous and inspiring place this series has given us."

At roughly ten hours into our Himalayan adventure we came across a small outpost guarded by seven or eight of Min's troops. This was the first time we'd seen the place, so a quick tour of the adjoining area seemed like a smart move.

Making sure to stick to the high ground of the surrounding cliffs and hills in case we're spotted and need to make a quick getaway, we see an alarm box that can be used to call in reinforcements, various vehicles and snipers lining a couple of rooftops. Loitering at the edge of the base, behind a locked gate, is an elephant happily minding its own business.

Going in stealthily is one option, disabling the alarm to prevent reinforcements and using our high-tech bow and arrow to put the snipers out of commission. When there's this much potential for mayhem, however, being overly sneaky feels wasteful.

Instead, an arrow arcs from our bow to the elephant's rump. In a rage, it smashes through the gates and starts wildly chasing the panicked troops; throwing them into the air with its trunk and crushing them underfoot.

We use this distraction to take out the alarm from afar before moving carefully towards the base itself. Some troops have taken cover behind a pickup truck that happens to be conveniently sitting next to a couple of explosive barrels. Kaboom.

Just as we're about to pick off the final soldier, our scope trained between his eyes, another vehicle comes flying through the air and crushes him. In fictional Himalayan kingdoms, elephants treat cars like tennis balls. Enemies dispatched, base conquered, Min weakened.

The way each of Far Cry 4's separate systems click in seemingly haphazard and arbitrary ways is central to its appeal, this elephant moment one of just many ways this outpost can be captured. As proof of this, such assaults can be replayed as often as you like - allowing you to test new tactics and perfect your silent and loud approaches.

Such complexity shows a studio at the height of its powers, one clearly comfortable and eager to pull off the difficult trick of interlinking isolated points of design in such a way that they strengthen and reinforce one another. In and of itself, the elephant is not all that impressive. When it's let loose and given the freedom to interact with other elements, however, it's glorious to watch.

"Such complexity shows a studio at the height of its powers"

Everything aside from the main missions can be experienced in co-op, further raising the unpredictable destruction stakes. It's here that the 'fortresses' are best tackled as they embody Far Cry 4's most difficult challenges, throwing elite troops and uncompromising environmental design at you. One wrong step and you'll die, making for significant satisfaction when you do manage to conquer them.

Less impressive is competitive play, unfortunately. While variations on capture the flag, king of the hill and search and destroy are functional, they do little to communicate the open ended joy that is so regularly and smartly delivered when playing alone or in co-op. They're a fun distraction, but don't expect to find yourself choosing to hop online over trying to halt Min's campaign of violence and suppression.

Don't let a lacklustre multiplayer deter you, though. The strength of the world and its systems alone makes this one of the year's best games and one whose enormous potential for experimentation means you'll playing it well into 2015. By taking things to the Himalayas, Ubisoft Montreal has managed to skilfully weave an attractive partnership of awe-inspiring landscape and exhilarating, surprising action.