That being said, I’m unsure of that people even needed to see that much more of Vass Montenegro. So much of Insanity is designed round the premise of higher fleshing the characters of Far Cry 3, having a focus on Citra and Vaas. However it always felt like we knew just enough about Vaas to understand him as a villain because the credits of Long way away 3 rolled. The extra backstory and context provided here will appeal with a people, believe it or not. Still, it felt slightly unnecessary within the big general scheme of things.
We’ve all heard that age-old adage that Insanity does the same thing repeatedly, expecting a general change in result. That seems befitting for how Vaas: Insanity plays like a game. The experience is a smaller, more contained map that sees Vaas start in the center. He or she must travel to the 3 ends of the island to put together the bits of the dragon blade and escape his mind. As a player, it’s technically easy to visit each of these areas and finished up everything quickly, but without completing side missions and building up Vaas and his abilities, it’s likely to be incredibly difficult.
Vaas: Insanity is a rogue-like in mind. You should use gathered cash to purchase permanent abilities for Vaas to create him more resilient and dangerous in combat. Weapons could be earned in trials scattered through the map (while you only start with a pistol on each escape attempt), but dying loses your guns too. Thankfully, any trials you complete adds those weapons to the armoury, which can be bought with cash without completing the trials again. Weapons in the armoury can similarly be upgraded with cash.
The permanent traits are what you’d expect from a standard Far Cry skill tree. Better takedowns, more health, more healing items, and more equipment to assist in traversing the map. Certain traits could be unlocked that allow Vaas to help keep larger levels of cash when he dies, which alleviates the frustration of repetition that naturally comes with the rogue-like design.
Besides the three primary missions, which are the hardest, there are more things to do inside Vaas’ mind. Mindfuck missions are virtually what they seem like – impossible spaces and trippy visuals – but they offer a deeper understanding of Vaas’ character and the relationships. Armoury challenges allow you to take on several enemies to permanently unlock weapons for the armoury. The most challenging optional content – the Citra Trials – are almost as tricky because the main missions and offer better powers to Vaas not found elsewhere.
There are other (silver) powers to be found throughout each escape attempt for random intervals. Powers go ahead and take form of human hearts hanging around world and can be equipped on Vaas for his current escape attempt. These provide a few less traditional buffs to Vaas – like refilling ammo with every headshot and the like – but could simply be equipped to slots that may be unlocked with cash. Additionally they disappear whenever Vaas dies, so obtaining a good run filled with powers that complement each other is helpful, and experimentation is inspired.
There’s a running theme here, and that’s the truth that cash really rules everything you do in Insanity. Technology-not only to prioritise weapon upgrades or utilize it to bring a bigger number of weapons into battle. You can even utilize it to unlock more power slots, potentially removing the need for arming yourself track of firearms to begin with. There’s enough flexibility here to construct your Vaas how you wish to that we can appreciate.
These elements come together to offer a surprisingly enjoyable rogue-like experience that does things a bit differently. It feels like what downloadable content must always make an effort to be – something in a similar vein towards the main game while tinkering with concepts that might’ve been a little too different to fit there. Vaas: Insanity does a great job at making repetition engaging, though I struggle to understand why people might return to it after finishing it the very first time. You are able to boost the “mind level” to up the difficulty and your dividends of rewards. Still, beyond that, I find it difficult to see much reason to replay it after uncovering all of the secrets it has to offer. That said, there are a challenging six or so hours here if you do the minimum, perhaps even more if you go for more or make an effort to finish all of the mind levels.
Of course, I can’t get through referring to this experience without talking about Michael Mando. He’s the voice and likeness of Vaas, and that he slips straight back into the character like no time has transpired whatsoever. A lot of Insanity is spent inside Vaas’ mind, both literally and figuratively, so hearing Mando talk to himself so frequently gives great understanding of Vaas’ character along with a solid reminder of why fans loved him a lot.
Similarly, given that the game takes place within the mind someone so unhinged, it’s visually a feast to truly sit and consume. A lot of the planet is bright and colourful – recalling the very best items of Long way away 3. But it’s so abstract and out there that it does a great job of really selling the idea that we’re inside the mind of somebody whose thoughts aren’t as collected as ours. The map may be among the smaller ones in Ubisoft’s repertoire, but Insanity’s world is definitely certainly one of their most fascinating.
