Far Cry 3 cinematic trailer - Dissected

By Andy Kelly for computerandvideogames.com

Ubisoft have just dropped their latest Far Cry 3 trailer, and it's a looker. There's no gameplay footage, just lots of impressive CG showing off the setting, characters, and a little bit of action. The trailer also reveals the release date, which is September 7. Here's our breakdown of the trailer's key moments.

Jason Brody is a tourist who stumbles on a chain of islands in the middle of the Pacific. "Where are we?" he asks his girlfriend, who tells him that it's not on the map. Ominous! The opening scenes of the trailer show Jason, the girl and another guy horsing around on the island, as viewed through the grubby lens of a handheld video camera. It's eerily realistic in places.

Jason finds an assault rifle lying unattended on the counter of a wooden shack and immediately starts posing with it, pulling faces for the camera. Because it's always a good idea to play around with high-powered weapons that don't belong to you on uncharted islands, right?

An angry local emerges from the shadows and Jason drops the gun apologetically. "What a dick!" says the guy behind the camera, evidently forgetting that they're the ones trespassing, making a racket and playing around with some dude's personal property.

Later that night, the group are in a dingy bar downing shots. Despite their run-in with the shady dude with the gun earlier, they're in high spirits. "That's what I'm talking about!" shouts Jason after necking another shot, like some idiotic frat boy. Are we supposed to like this guy?

Uh oh. We're no longer viewing the action through a wobbly DV cam; we're now in full-on cinematic mode. Jason's mate has been captured by a hyperactive villain you may recognise from Far Cry 3's E3 reveal last year. He's Vaas, and he's a nutbar. He's screaming at his blindfolded captive to shoot him with a gun he has pressed against his head. "I've never seen such a bunch of pussies in my life!" snorts Vaas when he refuses.

There's a scuffle, and Jason's mate slumps to the floor, dead. In a rage, he breaks loose of his bonds, kicks a bunch of pirates' asses, then escapes into the jungle. We're not sure what our hero's background is, but he seems to be some kind of ex-military badass.