Far Cry 5 Missed Out on a Tribute to Far Cry 3's Best Mission

Far Cry 3 has one mission that stands out as one of the most memorable scenes in the whole game, and Far Cry 5 totally squandered an opportunity to reference it.

If you've played Far Cry 3, you've probably already got an idea of the mission in question. The mission's called "Kick the Hornet's Nest," and it involves burning down massive marijuana fields and getting high while doing so.

Tasked by CIA agent Willis Huntley with destroying the drugs and a boat that's owned by antagonist Hoyt Volker, you have to enter the area, flamethrower in hand, and proceed to set the fields ablaze. As you approach the fields, Skrillex and Damian "Jr. Gong" Marley's dubstep-infused "Make It Bun Dem" fades in. While the flames grow and the song blares, your accuracy drops due while you get high from the burning crops. If you never played Far Cry 3 and didn't get to experience it, watching the video below from the YouTube account PUBG People is worth the time.

Enter Far Cry 5 where players are given a similar mission in a very different setting. Eden's Gate might not be growing marijuana in Montana, but they farming the mind-warping drug Bliss at an alarming rate. In the "Sins of the Father" mission, you have to burn down Bliss fields to draw out an enemy.

For anyone who played Far Cry 3, Marley's song and the "Kick the Hornet's Nest" mission probably popped into your head soon after being instructed to burn down the Bliss fields. Knowing how Bliss causes your vision to blur when you walk through a field, it's not a stretch of the imagination to expect some kind of Far Cry 3 reference – anything at all – once the Bliss flames grew, right?

Nothing. Nada. Much like the sprinklers that put out the flames that threatened the Bliss fields, my enthusiasm for the mission was extinguished when I realized that there were no references to be found.

Far Cry 5 is an excellent game that treated me well, but I couldn't help feeling bummed out about the Far Cry 3 no-show. I figured I couldn't be the only one that felt like something was missing, and judging from the video below from European Gamer that adds the same song into the quest, it looks like others couldn't help but think of "Kick the Hornet's Nest," too.

To be fair, I don't think that the scene should've played out like this – that would've been a pretty heavy-handed nod to Far Cry 3. Instead, a decent compromise would've been to stick the song somewhere nearby, perhaps in one of the outpost's buildings. Walk into one of the buildings, find a radio tucked away in the back corner that's quietly playing the dubstep song, and that would've been plenty.

It's a small thing to be bummed out in an otherwise enjoyable game, but it would've been a welcome nod to those who played the older games. Far Cry 3 is releasing soon as a standalone game and part of the Far Cry 5 season pass deal, so those missing the reference can at least get their fill of the real deal in the coming months.