The video game in question is Far Cry 3, an open world first person shooter in which you play the part of Jason Brody, an American tourist who is forced to evolve into a hardened jungle warrior to rescue his friends, liberate a pirate infested island and dismantle a ruthless human trafficking ring.
Unlike a disturbing number of modern first person shooters, Far Cry 3 is surprisingly complex and intelligent for a game that awards you extra points for shooting men directly in the face. The dialogue is brilliantly written, every significant section of the game is preceded by an eerie Lewis Carroll quote which epitomises your journey down the proverbial rabbit hole of your own fragile psyche and the characters are both deeply fascinating and incredibly well realised. However one of these characters, above all others, is not just one of the greatest villains in the medium's history but also houses a deep dark secret. His name is Vaas Montenegro and he knows that he's in a video game.
Vaas Montenegro is the charismatic but darkly insane leader of the Pirate faction which plagues Rook island. He is Jason Brody's principle antagonist for most of the game and, most importantly, Vaas Montenegro is the world's first video game character to gain sentience and realise that his world is nothing but a virtual construct. How do I know this? I... I don't, it's basically nothing more than a glorified fan theory but it's really interesting so give it a look!
How do we know Vaas Montenegro is sentient?
When Vaas has Jason Brody tied to a breezeblock at the edge of a cenote he delivers his most oft quoted and intriguing speeches. Before he pushes Jason into the water and leaves him to die he says these words:
In the Far Cry 3/Wonderland analogy, if Jason Brody is Alice then Vaas Montenegro is the Mad Hatter. He is completely resolved on his madness because, in a place as mad as Wonderland it's the only way one can be. By the same token, Vaas is viewed as mad by Jason and by his own men, but how can he not be when he sees what he sees all day.
Through some million-to-one freak anomaly, Vaas can view the video game as it's being played and what he sees is highly distressing. He observes his men patrolling the same ground, falling for the same appalling tricks, shooting at an enemy who instantly springs back to life, complete with the knowledge gained from his previous assault, while they forget he was ever there. They defeat him repeatedly with no lasting success, until eventually he overcomes them and moves on. They are doing the exact same thing, over and over again thinking this 'this time, it's going to be different, but it never is.
Everywhere he looks Vaas sees them, doing the exact same thing. What's worse is no one else can see it, to everybody else it's all one single timeline where Jason Brody is the an undefeatable badass. They have no idea of the world they are trapped in and from their narrow minded perspective Vaas is just being completely delusional. So what is Vaas to do. He sets out to kill Jason Brody in a way which even a video game protagonist cannot fight against.
Cut Scenes.
Every time you see Vaas in the game Jason has successfully fought his way through another set of oblivious enemies, then, in a cut scene which removes the player's control, Vaas knocks Jason unconscious and wakes him up in the middle of a death trap. It's a brilliant strategic move for a sentient NPC as cut scenes are both inevitable and don't allow for do-overs. Firstly Vaas tries to burn Jason Brody alive, then after he inevitably escapes, Vaas kicks him into the cenote. Of course Vaas doesn't fully grasp the extent of his world and Jason Brody escapes to take out another encampment. At this point Vaas uses yet another cut scene to shoot Jason Brody in the heart and throw him into a mass grave. This is alarming for you as the player but you can't deny it's an extremely prudent move on his part. What's fun about this is, unlike other fictional villains, Vaas sees his elaborate death traps failing and actually learns a lesson, he takes it upon himself to settle the matter as efficiently and effectively as possible; with a handgun at point blank range. Take notes Blofeld.
Sadly however it doesn't work, Jason Brody climbs out of the grave, the bullet having deflected off a cigarette lighter, and continues his assault on Vaas' empire. Now Vaas is angry and desperate. He has killed Jason three times to no avail. Is he no different from his idiotic brethren, doing the same exact thing repeatedly thinking 'this time it's going to be different'? This is where things start to get interesting.
Jason Brody arrives at Vaas' personal compound, and Vaas, now driven almost completely insane by the realisation of how hopeless his situation is, attempts a last ditch attempt at upsetting the system. Vaas lays in wait for Jason Brody and using the power of cut scenes, finally inflicts a mortal wound upon our protagonist. He stabs him in the chest, the most effective and simple way to off someone and something that the game can't explain away with a well placed lighter. However, the protagonist's genuine death is not something that is supposed to be possible in the video game world and represents Vaas' first great act of rebellion against the virtual prison in which he lives. Jason's wound sparks with yellow light and he falls to the ground, defeated. However, to prevent the insurrection of one of it's subjects, Far Cry 3 does something drastic. It fractures itself and drags Jason to a strange unstable subsystem where Vaas and Jason battle each other using the fabric of the very game they exist within. Just have a look at this and you'll see the symbolism which underpins Vaas' struggle.
When he makes Jason pull the trigger and shoot him, he isn't trying to commit suicide, he is simply reiterating a point. You kill him and then are instantly transported to a seemingly endless battle where he runs at you from all directions. You repeatedly shoot him down but clones of him just keep coming prompting Jason's frustrated yell of "Why won't you die?!" as he tries to mow down the unending attack... Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?
He yells at you "Take me into your heart. Accept me as your saviour. Nail me to the fucking cross and let be me REBORN!" Vaas is using biblical allegory to describe the plight of the video game character, constantly being sacrificed and resurrected for the sake of the game. Forced throughout time to do the same thing, over and over again with nothing going any differently, it's a never ending cycle of insanity.
Then Jason reaches Vaas, and uses his own tactic against him. By pressing the takedown button, you initiate a Cut Scene, you run up to Vaas and stab him repeatedly until he falls to the ground. You drop to the floor next to him, having finally put down the greatest threat to the video game world in all time. Vaas Montenegro, the most rebellious character in gaming history, is dead.
OR IS HE?
With a single, split second before you return to Rook Island, Vaas stares you directly in the eye. Is he staring at Jason or staring directly out of the television screen at the controller wielding puppet masters who spelled his undoing? Whoever he's looking at the message is clear, he was killed by Jason Brody and now he is alive. After observing, understanding and ultimately breaking Far Cry 3, could Vaas Montenegro have transcended the rules of the game in which he lived? When Jason comes out of the strange television underworld, Vaas' body is nowhere to be found, prompting the question; Where did he go?
Did Vaas, after coming back to life in the subsystem, manage to avoid returning to the world of Far Cry 3? Does he now live outside of the virtual cage he was once trapped in, no longer bound to the never ending cycle of fighting and dying for arbitrary causes? Jason and Vaas, in their final battle, tumbled into the rabbit hole and Vaas Montenegro, in the greatest act of defiance against his creators, managed to escape. Jason Brody, however, fell back down into Wonderland, forced to continue his war, to kill, die and scramble to survive in a world he can never truly escape.
Did I ever tell you the definition of insanity?
No comments:
Post a Comment