Blood Dragon begins with a shockingly linear sequence which made me immediately fear that Far Cry's iconic expansive environments were going to be replaced with claustrophobic corridors. The opening is a limited and confining series of tutorials and dry encounters. Admittedly the self-reference in the tutorial points to Ubisoft's willingness to make fun of themselves, but the opening 30 minutes left me fearing the worst. Thankfully this prologue is merely an entryway into a much more compelling world. Once you get past the disappointing opening, Blood Dragon bares its teeth and reveals just why it deserves to be called a Far Cry game.
With your hero stranded in a neon-tinted prehistoric wasteland, the experience becomes a familiar open world affair with one major addition: the titular beasts that roam the environment are simultaneously a grave threat and your most useful weapon. If you don't tread carefully near the laser-firing lizards, you'll quickly find yourself torn to shreds. But using the various cybernetic hearts that you cultivate (read: rip out) from the bodies of your enemies, you can take control of the beasts and use them in a variety of tactical ways.
There's a ton of potential to be had in using the Blood Dragons to your advantage while raiding a garrison. In the brief time I spent in the world, I managed to lure a pack of the critters to the walls of an encampment, where they proceeded to wreak havoc eye-laser-style on my enemies. This gave me the perfect opportunity to slink in through the back, take out some distracted guards with stealth kills, and eventually gain control over the entire compound. This skirmish could've played out in dozens of ways, and I can't wait to dig in and start playing around in Ubisoft's sandbox.