Things I Hope Not to See in Far Cry 4

Be Warned: Spoilers for Far Cry 3. 

The moment of truth is almost here: Far Cry 4 arrives tomorrow, and I can't wait to go and pick up my preorder. In preparation, I've been finishing up Far Cry 3. Although I enjoyed the game immensely, I stopped playing it for a while. When I look back on it, I did so for some very specific reasons—and I hope I don't run into the same issues while playing the next installment in the series. Here, then, is my list of things I hope not to see in Far Cry 4:

1) A ridiculous "romance" with an "exotic" woman.

I was enjoying FC3 so much until things with Citra got weird. Not only was Jason being a huge asshole to his girlfriend, but I lost a ton of respect for Citra. I mean, I guess I should have known we would end up with a boob shot and some dry humping when I first saw her in her slinky loincloth outfit. But I was holding out hope that she'd be a strong leader instead of a fetish object. Please don't let me have to sit through this again in FC4.

NO. 

2) Mission bottlenecks.

About halfway through FC3, you go through a string of missions that never seem to end. You are sent on a series of repeated encounters with Vaas, with no opportunity to go back to the sandbox that makes the game so enjoyable. It's just one task after another that you have to move through with workmanlike determination. I quit playing the game for a while at this point because I just didn't feel motivated to keep going. Here's hoping I get to spend more time trampling people while riding an elephant, and less time slogging through "content."

3) Annoying platforming puzzles.

While I appreciate the developers' desire to make radio towers varied and interesting, I absolutely hated several of the platforming sequences, especially on Hoyt's island. Not only does this game not have precise platforming controls, but it is unclear which beams you can walk on and which you can't. When I needed to jump longer distances, it wasn't a guarantee that Jason would grab hold of the next surface like he was supposed to, which made the task of getting to the top unreasonably frustrating. If we're going to see radio tower platforming in Far Cry 4, I also want to see more precise controls and more intuitive pathways.

I loved Far Cry 3, warts and all. And I have no doubt that I have many hours of pure fun ahead of me when I pick up Far Cry 4. But I'll have a lot more fun without the T&A.