Far Cry 3: A Study in Insanity

Introduction: Cat-and-Mouse

One of the things I've always loved about a good story is character arcs. I love watching a character begin somewhere pathetic and small and slowly grow into something more impressive. In Ridley Scott's "Alien", we watched Ellen Ripley go from a frightened everywoman into a hardened survivalist. In John Carpenter's "Christine" we see Arnie Cunningham go from a reclusive geek into a terrifyingly confident and obsessive maniac.

In particular, I love watching heroes and villains. A good hero/villain dynamic can add so much depth, tension, and realism to a story. It's so much fun to watch Al Pacino wrap Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron around his finger in "The Devil's Advocate". I love a good cat-and-mouse game between two characters.

A lot of the time, this sort of dynamic involves pushing a protagonist to the edge. They're driven mad by the charismatic and manipulative villain, forced to extremes far outside their comfort zones in order to survive and succeed. The character is slowly broken apart and then rebuilt anew, from the ground up, stronger and more motivated than ever before.

But what about the villain? How does this intense game of psychology and violence affect them? Rarely do we get a glimpse into the mind and the true motivations of a villain. It does happen, of course - but not very often or very well. However, in the 2012 action/adventure video game Far Cry 3, we are painted an exquisite and detailed picture of a villain's fall from grace - at the hands of the hero and player. The usual protagonist arc is shown in this game - Jason Brody, the player-character, is turned from a spoiled rich kid into a hardened jungle warrior to stop the psychopathic slaver, Vaas Montenegro. Vaas, on the other hand, is turned from a hardened jungle warrior into a desperate and self-contradicting madman in order to try and kill Jason. The vilain whose most iconic speech involves the definition of insanity is actually driven insane by his own target.