Far Cry was a massive hit on the PC and it was always going to be hard for Ubisoft to capture the feel of the game on Xbox and also provide a different experience to what players had already encountered. Well although the Xbox might not be able to handle the full open nature of the PC original it is clear from jumping in the boots of Jack Carver (the main protagonist) that from the offset things are equally as exciting. Welcome to Far Cry: Instincts.

Gameplay

Well if you didn’t know, Far Cry Instincts is yet another first person shooter to grace the Xbox console. In this game you assume the role of Jack Carver as he escorts a female passenger on a routine excursion to photograph some ship wrecks in the fictitious locale of the Jacutan Archipelago or in other words, a beautiful tropical island. During the routine trip on Jack’s boat the female passenger decides to take a closer look at the island’s ship wrecks and so the pair decide to meet up later; however no sooner has she departed (Jack decides on taking a nap) he is greeted by the sound of helicopters. Fair enough you might say, helicopters being a typical way of getting around the island quickly. Well not these guys because after a positive ID they begin shooting Jack’s boat to pieces and eventually blow the thing up with Jack narrowly escaping the explosion; and this is how Jack’s story begins.

Playing Far Cry begin pretty easily as you are thrust into the depths of the jungle and have nothing but your wits to survive. The first part of the game is very much a tutorial and will familiarise the player with the basic workings of the game. Things like stealth kills from behind, going prone, shooting, setting traps with branches, luring enemies by chucking stones and sneaking under buildings and rolling over to get a better shooting angle. It’s all pretty usual stuff and something that most players will get to grips with in next to no time. Some of you might want to fiddle with the look sensitivity in the options first to get the aiming more suited to your play style.

Far Cry starts off like a more modern version of Turok dinosaur hunter minus the dinosaurs and jumping sections. The environments whilst not as open as the PC version do offer some degree of freedom such as do you take the open path or sneak through the undergrowth instead? Also during the jungle moments you can opt to skip many confrontations depending on which route you take. There are some hidden routes which can be used but it will take a little exploration to find these. In general there are a number of areas that you could quite easily miss if you rush through the game as a Rambo type figure.

Much has been touted regarding the enemy AI in the game and to some degree they can act intelligently, but more often than not are pretty stupid and easily killed. I think the AI is more in tune with the stealthy player at times where as in other moments stealth simply is not an option as the enemy will spot you regardless. This mix and match approach is pretty disappointing especially for those looking for the stealth approach which the game clearly hints at in the beginning levels. Setting traps, remaining unseen and then luring guards to their demise is all good fun until these options are taken away from you in favour of some more in your face tactics when the feral instincts are introduced. Well to be fair you can mess around with the AI but with no actual threat meter that was in the PC version and is replaced by coloured dots on the radar, at times it is hard to know if you are in cover or not. When you do successfully remain undetected then the feeling of accomplishment is even greater.

The Instincts part of the game’s title refers to a new addition to the game over its PC counterpart. These are in the form of feral abilities which the player unlocks as they progress through the meandering story. One moment Jack is the hunted and very much human relying on human skills to survive and then the next Jack becomes the predator and transforms into a beast of sorts. What I must point out here and to the game’s credit is the fact that players who do not feel for these abilities and would rather remain human can actually do so by simply having some self control and not using them at all. There are some moments where you are forced to use them but overall you can ignore them. For those that do choose to use them then the feral lunge is probably going to be the most used move as this allows you to charge towards and melee attack a single opponent causing the victim to be thrown through the air. This will no doubt remind players of the plasma sword in Halo 2 as the action is almost identical. The feral abilities are actually quite cool and there for the using if you must, as I said before if you are a purist player, then simply don’t use them even if that means wandering around a dark mine with no feral vision to see in the dark!

Far Cry isn’t short of a few action sequences as well and it’s during these moments that players will most likely take to a vehicle to escape shooting enemies and attack choppers on your tail. There are small boats, jetskis, humvees and even a glider to take control of during the latter portions of the game. The vehicle handling is reasonable although some players might need a few moments to get to grips with keeping your weapon straight so that you can see where you are driving to. Again the use of the vehicles is optional at times although it is certainly a lot quicker for getting around when you do use them despite making stealth go completely out of the window.

Graphics

The graphics are very nice looking in the game and during the outdoor sections are very well presented apart from some blocky ness close up. The lighting is superb, especially indoors and is as good looking as Doom3 in places. Ubisoft have generally done a great job in creating multiple atmospheres in the game. The water effects are great as is the blurred vision you get as you emerge from the water. The character models aren’t so good at times and the rag doll effects a little exaggerated especially when using the feral lunge move. Overall you can’t really complain here as Far Cry is up there with the best looking games on Xbox.

Sound

Far Cry is full of sound although at times I felt the music to be a little too intrusive. There are a lot of ambient sound effects, such as birds singing and the like and these do a great job of creating atmosphere. The sound effects for weapons is reasonable and the explosions visually and aurally impressive. The voice of Jack is extremely good despite being a little flat at times. I think Stephen Dorph has done a good job overall and brings his own style of voicing to the character which works. The enemies are all very vocal but you do tend to hear the same voices and phrases over and over which can become tiring. Overall the sound is pretty good, although I would perhaps recommend muting the music except there is no option to do so!

Longevity

Far Cry offers an extensive single player that begs to be played more than once despite not having a difficulty select from the offset. The game is as tough or as easy as you make it depending on how you decide to play. For those of you looking for something more then you can indulge in a spot of multiplayer action online or via system link or split screen. Here you can partake in the usual death match type game and a capture the flag type mode but also the awesome predator mode which clearly nods at the movie of the same name. The predator mode is most fun, played out over some fairly large maps and pits humans verses players with all feral abilities. The aim for the humans is to get to a point on the map and activate a sound beacon which takes time to charge up. During this time the predators can attack and due to being totally powerful can kill very easily. Good solid multiplayer fun can be had here and to a certain degree the team of humans with the best tactics will win.

Players can also design their own multiplayer maps with the much touted map maker which in my opinion is the best and most easy to use yet on a console. Within moments of messing around, players can construct fairly decent maps. Being able to jump in to the map to test at any time is a good feature and one that takes the headache out of map making. Again Ubisoft have done a fine job with this. My only negative is the lack of bots and game types available in the multiplayer modes.

Overall

Far Cry Instincts is a great game to appear on Xbox and also a very ambitious title for Ubisoft. However I think the team have done a great job of making the Xbox version its own game albeit something similar to the PC version but not the same. When you add up all of the game’s good points you are left with a must have title. However if you have played the PC version to death and feel that feral abilities may ruin the experience then perhaps you should rent the game first and take my advice by using some self control. I like Far Cry Instincts very much and think it’s a welcome addition to my game collection which I will play for quite a long time. Don’t hesitate and get this game now.