You never quite know what you might run across. Since these events are random in nature, they make exploration all the more exciting. Take a dip in a lake and you just might encounter some robot sharks. Just like in Far Cry 3, there's a dynamic element to the game's events - you can run through a herd of what appear to be robot ostriches, or stumble into a giant battle between a platoon of cybersoldiers and an angry blood dragon (think a T-Rex crossed with a glow stick). In a lot of ways it's more fun to simply wander the dark, neon-soaked island to clear buildings of bad guys and see what else you might run across. There's a core set of missions that take you through the story, but also a large number of side quests to keep you busy beyond that. Unsurprisingly, the game plays just like Far Cry 3, so fans of that game will feel right at home. Missions will have you infiltrating laboratories to set bombs before zip-lining away, using a flamethrower to destroy a lair filled with mutant dragon eggs, and hunting rare and dangerous animals with your rifle. There's a story that involves saving the world from a formerly good soldier gone rogue, but really it's all just an excuse to blow stuff up. During the opening tutorial, when you're initially unable to fire a weapon - or even move - he complains: "I just want to kill people, damn it!" Blood Dragon takes place in the future as it was imagined three decades ago - it's 2007 and the planet has been devastated by nuclear war. You'll be placed in the cybernetic boots of Sergeant Rex "Power" Colt (yes, that's his real name), a cybercommando with a love of explosions and really bad puns.
If you haven't played Far Cry 3 or any of its predecessors, there's nothing to worry about as Blood Dragon is a stand-alone experience, available today on PS3 and tomorrow on Steam and the Xbox 360. It's a modern game with a retro aesthetic, a big dumb shooter that isn't ashamed to be what it is. It's what would happen if you took the gameplay of open-world shooter Far Cry 3 and mixed it with your favorite sci-fi action flicks from the '80s and early '90s - there's a little Terminator, a little Alien, and a whole lot of neon. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is a ridiculous game.