The Features

The PC version of FarCry is now hitting 3/4 years of age, in saying that it is still a great looking game even now, its paradise environments, the jungle, the sunsets, everything that most First Person Shooters ignored was here in abundance. Last year the Xbox got a version of FarCry, it was called Instincts and was surprisingly a better overall game than the PC version, it also managed to keep some of the fantastic graphics that the PC version had and the viewing distances. Well this time round we get FarCry on the Xbox 360, surely UBI Soft have taken full advantage of the 360 system and are taking the graphics to the next level...

Based on the award winning Far Cry franchise*, Far Cry Instincts Predator includes two games in one – all new Far Cry Instincts Predator content, as well as the original Far Cry Instincts. You're Jack Carver, stranded on a remote tropical island. A legion of elite mercenaries, blood-thirsty pirates and native warriors are rapidly closing in. Whether they kill for money or for revenge, they're all heavily armored and they all want your head. Outmanned and outgunned, your survival won't come easy. You must draw on Jack's most savage instincts and abilities to make his predators his prey.

• Includes two games in one – all new Far Cry Instincts Predator content, as well as the original Far Cry Instincts.
• Unleash your primal instincts as the ultimate predator: Become stronger, faster and more powerful with Jack’s special Feral Abilities.
• Expansive arsenal: Hunt and kill with everything from shotguns, rocket launchers and machine guns to Molotov cocktails and explosive pipe bombs.
• Attack from land, sea and air: Includes vehicles like rugged ATV’s, armored pickup-trucks, hovercrafts and high flying gliders.
• Build the perfect online paradise: Create your own custom multiplayer maps that you can share and play online. Choose from tons of easy to use tools and custom brushes, edit terrain, add buildings, handpick weapons and items, select multiplayer modes and more.
• Customizable Online Multiplayer: Includes unique Predator mode, as well as classic multiplayer modes like Chaos, Team Chaos, Steal the Sample and Seek and Secure.

Gameplay

FarCry is very slightly different from your basic first person shooter. The whole game takes place on a paradise island, surrounded by gorgeous sun and water and a few strange genetically engineered creatures, a bit like the United States. You play Jack, a man in the wrong place at the wrong time, his boat gets destroyed, he gets stuck on the island and has to find out what the heck is going on. During the game you make use of weapons, sneak up on people and stab them, setup traps to kill enemies and later in the game, make use of special Feral Abilities to jump further and detect enemies in the dark.

The game also makes use of vehicles, its one of the few games (Halo being the other) that does this quite well. You can take control of gun turrets too. Onto the weapons now, these range from basic pistols to rocket launchers and sniper rifles. Each weapon feels different and also feels like it has a weight to it that slows you down. The sneaking parts of the game work ok, but it would have been great to be able to peer around corners and take people out instead of sneaking up behind them all the time or taking them out with the sniper rifle. Talking about taking people out, the AI in the game isn't that great, the PC version wasn't bad (especially at harder difficulties, but the enemies in the 360 version just seem plain dumb, I've even experienced them walking right past me when I'm standing up and then just standing there doing nothing!

The game itself is quite varied early on, there was sneaking and getting used to the weapons and vehicles, then it was onwards with the feral abilities, this all blended into a pretty good game, but then it seemed that the game went on too long. Why was this? Well the Xbox 360 version of Farcry is basically two games, on being Farcry Instincts, the other being Farcry Evolution - these are released separately on the Xbox, but on the 360, they are both as one, the problem is that you have to complete one before you can start the other. So if you have already completed one of the games on the Xbox, you'll have to play through it again anyway, and the game is quite long too.

The main appeal of FarCry has been the lush environments and it is no different in the Xbox 360 version, not many other titles can show off the sun on the beach and through the jungle as well as FarCry does and although the game looks like it has massive environments to explore, a number of areas during the levels are just off limits which shows up more linear maps than the PC version did.

As I just stated, the game is long, this is a good thing really as there is a lot to see and do although it does get quite repetitive however. The multiplayer side of the game is quite good too, it has a number of different game modes and there are usually quite a lot of players online to take on. There have been a number of instances when the game suffers from lag online, although this hasn't happened for too long and once again it is something that can get fixed with the release of a patch over live!

Graphics & Sound

FarCry Instincts Predator had the chance to really show off what the Xbox 360 could do, it could have been a hi-def masterpiece, instead what we have is really an upscaled version of the Xbox game with some poor textures, awful looking characters and some of the best looking, but non interactive water I have seen in a game. It is credit to the original Xbox version that the game still looks pretty good even now despite the lack of hi-res textures and the re-creation of the in-game character models. As mentioned everywhere, the water looks great on almost every level, the problem is that if you go into it or jump into it or see anyone in it, it doesn't move, kind of breaks the realism. I still love the blurring effects used throughout the game though, especially when you come out of water.

Sound is where some problems really show up, while the dialogue and music is great when separate from each other, when they come together it seems that the developers haven't lowered the music and increased the dialogue volume and unfortunately that means you can't hear some of what gets said during loud scenes.

Final Comments

Overall if you didn't ever play Farcry Instincts on the Xbox when it was released last year I can certainly recommend Predator, it will last a long time and you get a good set of multiplayer options out of it. There are a lot of achievements for gamers to pick up on the 360 version too and most of them were in the multiplayer side of the game which is a very good idea as it keeps gamers playing online. My main disappointment is with the graphics, it doesn't quite do the 360 justice, but it doesn't look too bad either, it is just a shame a bit more work didn't go into the character models in the game. So if you haven't bought it at all on the Xbox, wait a few months till this gets reduced in price and pick it up, its a long game and fun in short bursts.

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