Far Cry Primal review – great gaming joy with story that fizzles out

Set in the Stone Age, this game is nothing like the previous instalments of the franchise, lacking modern weaponry and an arch-villain

Finding a game disappointing because of its similarity to last year's instalment is one of the great complaints levelled at the modern industry and its love of annual franchises. Far Cry 4, for example, was certainly accused of being too much like Far Cry 3, and the more you play Primal, the more it feels like an elaborate attempt to challenge all the assumptions around sequels and spin-offs.

This time around, Ubisoft Montreal has certainly created a startlingly different Far Cry game, simply by setting it in the Stone Age - 10,000BC, to be precise. Unlike its forebears then, you can't describe it as an open-world first-person shooter - it's still first-person and open-world, but all guns, vehicles, explosives and gadgets have been summarily ripped out.