Far Cry Instincts

Ron Osborn puts sand down his pants and dreams of a tropical paradise.

Often a port of a popular game loses something in translation. Even if the levels, graphics and sounds are exactly the same, it often doesn’t feel quite right. With Far Cry Instincts, it’s as if Ubisoft took the feel of the original Far Cry and wrapped it up in an entirely new game, which is - dare I say, even more fun than the original.

The graphics in Far Cry Instincts are nothing short of breathtaking and will drop your jaw in much the same way as Far Cry did on the PC a little over a year and a half ago - lush vegetation, blinding sunlight and water that you just want to dive into.

Instincts plays much like a combination between Goldeneye and Half-Life 2. The scripted vehicle chase sequences in particular have a very HL2 feel about them. Though the levels are slightly more linear than the original PC game, this is compensated by a more involving story.

Let’s be honest, the mutated monkeys from the PC game were quite lame. In Instincts, you’re the test subject for the mad science experiments. As you progress you gain access to some rather impressive ‘feral’ abilities that will let you track enemies, break down doors, cross mighty rivers in a single bound and generally go all X-men on the arses of anyone that gets in your way.
And there will be a lot in your way. The mercenary business is booming and it seems there are always a handful of enemies waiting to pounce on you around the next corner. Guerilla tactics are your friend - crawl underneath a hut and shoot at the occupants from between the gaps in the floor; or turn a tree into a mantrap and thin out the enemy numbers MacGyver style.

Though the environment does have destructible components, these can be a hit and miss affair. The game is quite picky about how these elements are destroyed. Your super-human strength can tear open solid steel doors, however a wire-mesh fence will only succumb to the gentle caress of your four-wheeler pushbike.

Despite this slight blemish, Instincts will have you enthralled and you’ll always want to find out what’s around the next corner of the game’s expansive levels. Combined with some brutally difficult sections, this is one game that you’re not going to finish in a hurry. Even if you do there are still the map editor and multiplayer modes to play with.

It’s not so much that Far Cry has been ported to the Xbox; rather the Far Cry experience has been ported to the Xbox. Instincts is a fantastic game in its own right and should be at the top of every Xbox owner’s Xmas list. And for the PC diehards, this could be the game to persuade a bit of console lovin’ into your life.