Far Cry 4

With open worlds teeming with animals to hunt and outposts to overtake, the Far Cry campaigns have always seemed like natural candidates for cooperative play. For Far Cry 4, Ubisoft Montreal is finally making that leap.   

Ubisoft had a small co-op demo that gave teams of players a few different options for taking down a fortress, one of the new regional buildings that will give players more of a run for their money than the traditional outposts littered throughout Kyrat. Ubisoft says these will be nearly impenetrable when you first venture into a region, but as you knock off outposts and further the rebel cause its defenses will start to decay. 

I chose to test drive the new Buzzard, a small helicopter that offers minimal defense against incoming gunfire but gives you the advantage of air superiority against the soldiers positioned in the fortress. Using a grenade launcher, I lobbed explosives into clustered groups of enemies while my partner painted targets for me with his binoculars from the back seat. The soldiers responded by firing mortars in our direction, their new tactic when dealing with players who prefer to pick them off from afar.

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When reinforcements arrived we decided to try another tactic. Landing on the other side of the fortress, I hopped on the back of an elephant and charged through the doors. The elephant handles much like a vehicle, allowing me to navigate it while shooting at the same time. I rambled the hulking beast into a nearby vehicle, and while I survived the ensuing explosion my faithful pachyderm wasn't as fortunate. A helicopter appeared for the enemy's last stand, which we eventually took down with a well-placed rocket. 

You don't need to have a friend online to get help for these larger-scale fights. You can call in an A.I. companion or enlist the help of a stranger as well. 

Be sure to keep tabs on our exclusive Far Cry 4 features throughout the month at our cover story hub: