Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon review

What is Blood Dragon and what has it got to do with Far Cry 3? Those were the questions that buzzed around once news of this game "accidentally" leaked, and it's a question that remains even once you've downloaded, played and completed the thing. This isn't an expansion or DLC pack. It's a standalone game that borrows the title and code of Ubisoft's 2012 hit, but doesn't require the original game to play. Nor is it a spin-off. There's no tangible connection between the clumsy warrior's yarn of the original and the gaudy '80s action movie being sold here. This isn't Jason Brody's fever dream, a tatty VHS tape being watched in Vaas' hideout or any similar metatextual narrative twist. Blood Dragon is what it is: gloriously, deliberately stupid and outrageously cathartic. Where Far Cry 3 was a gradual hero's journey, as Brody went from soft tourist to hardened killer, Blood Dragon starts you at a pretty badass level and escalates relentlessly from there. Brody had to earn the ability to sprint and slide to safety. As "cyber commando" Rex Colt, superpowers come as standard.