I saw this 15 min. singleplayer gameplay video from pax last week, and I must say it got me excited much more then the multiplayer demo's I've seen so far. Looks like singleplay will be feature rich and extensive judging from this video.
You can clearly see some influences from assassins creed and red dead redemption have made it into the game. The island(s) have radio towers scattered around, which need to be climbed so you can 'de-scramble' the scrambled radio transmitter on top. Once done it will reveal part of your map, and the cam will show some points of interest nearby. Once progressing through the main story line the towers will become increasingly harder to climb. It's clear some of the assassins creed developers are incorporated in the Far Cry 3 development team of 250 people.
There's dozens of different kinds of wildlife around, varying from goats to tigers, comodo varans and sharks. Once killed, animals can be skinned (very much like red dead), and the meat can be traded for weapons, ammo etc. Next to that the enemy forces tend to trade in life animals too, so it's possible to stealthily approach an enemy camp, snipe the lock off a bear cage and watch the havoc unfold. Downside is you might end up having to kill the bear yourself in the end of course.
Gameplay has also clearly taken a turn towards RPG elements. E.g. when you clear out an enemy outpost, friendly forces will move in (the original inhabitants of the islands who got driven out of the town/outpost by the pirate bad guys.). It will also unlock 'sidequests' like assassination of specific persons (being posted as a wanted poster), hunting quests and even races. It also can unlock shopping possibilities, ranging from staffed shops to weapon lockers. You'll also be able to fast travel to outposts after they have been conquered.
It's also possible to gather plants, which can be used for crafting. One example of what you can craft is Hunter’s Instinct potion which gives you enhanced animal perception. Each plant will grow in its suitable biome. There are several biomes with sub-biomes both on land and underwater, ranging from cannabis fields to coral reefs. Animals will also be roaming in their specific biomes.
Downed enemies will also have inventories that can be looted, and there also will be loot to be found around the island and even under water, which all can be traded or used accordingly. There also will be safe towns where you can safely trade without having a gun being pushed into your face.
Add to this the excellent level editor, and this game is bound to have me entertained for a long while.
Playing the main story line will take around 20 hours, doing all side missions, finding all secrets and eradicating the islands of all pirates will take you hundreds of hours. Anyway, lots of the things I just described can be seen in the gameplay vid, judge for yourself:
[video=youtube;vgA_j8wSQGY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgA_j8wSQGY[/video]
And a last bit of info, specs for pc have just been released:
Minimum System Requirements
- Processor: 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E6700 or 3.00 GHz AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ or better
- RAM: 4 GB
- Video Card: 512 MB DirectX 9.0-compliant card with Shader Model 4.0 or higher (see supported list)
Recommended System Requirements
- Processor: Intel Core i3-530 or AMD Phenom II X2 565 or better
- RAM: 6 GB
- Video Card: 1024 MB DirectX 11-compliant card with Shader Model 4.0 or higher (see supported list)
Hi-perfomance System Requirements
- Processor: Intel Core i7-2600K or AMD FX-4150 or better
- RAM: 8 GB
- Video Card: 1024 MB DirectX 11-compliant card with Shader Model 4.0 or higher (see supported list)
Supported Video Cards at Time of Release:
- ATI Radeon HD 2900 / 3000 / 4000 / 5000 / 6000 / 7000 series
- Nvidia GeForce GTX 8800 / GTX 9000 / GT 200 / GT 400 / GT 500 / GT 600 series
Or just play it on console like I do
Releasedate is set for the end of november (29th here in the Netherlands).