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Despite the convoluted name, this is a keeper. Far Cry, released about two years ago, was one of the most impressive games available at the time. Realizing that it had a good thing, Ubisoft ported the game to Xbox last year and named it Far Cry Instincts. Because that game isn’t backward compatible with the Xbox 360, Ubisoft has released Predator, which is essentially a higher-resolution port of Instincts with a new campaign added. Keeping in mind how great Far Cry was, the addition of a new campaign makes this easily recommendable unless you have already played one of the game’s previous iterations.
Far Cry Instincts Predator includes two campaigns: the original Far Cry campaign (which was ported to Instincts on Xbox) and a new Predator campaign. In the original campaign, you’ll learn about former Navy guy Jack Carter, who now runs a charter boat operation. He somehow gets stranded on an island, and is eventually injected with a serum that makes him especially skilled with weapons. Far Cry was praised for its mix of action, stealth and open-ended nature since there are many ways to get something done thanks to the large island. Playing the original campaign lets new users experience it.
Then, there is the Predator campaign. At five or so hours, it may appear short but that seems to be the typical game length nowadays. The beginning of the campaign is similar to the original in that Carver still gets stranded on the island. While there, he meets Kade, who hires Kade as her bodyguard. Of course, this wouldn’t work out for too long and eventually you’ll be fighting for your life. The campaign introduced new animal-like humans that jump around like rabid beasts. The campaign works well since it allows for a greater range of open-endedness in some environments because you can complete objectives in any order you want. The AI is also more responsive and you have a larger number of weapons available. The new campaign also introduces new vehicles.
Aside from the two campaigns, the game includes multiplayer over Xbox Live. The game includes a number of maps from both campaigns. The multiplayer modes include deathmatch, team deathmatch, steal the sample (the game’s variant on capture the flag), and predator, where only one characters gets animal powers. The game also includes a built-in map editor, and you’re able to download new levels over Xbox Live.
The visuals in Far Cry Instincts Predator look great. The lush, detailed jungle is lush compliments the fluid, realistic water very well. The character models are quite detailed. Add to this excellent particle effects (like the flair), great physics and some neat ragdoll animations and you got yourself a great looking game. The style is also noteworthy because you’re in the middle of a pretty little island, unlike the dark corridors that dominate the first person genre. That said, the game doesn’t look as good as it could. Far Cry was somewhat watered down when it was ported to the Xbox (in last year’s Far Cry Instincts), and this version is based on the Xbox version of the game so you’ll see stuff like somewhat blocky guns.
The soundtrack is pretty good and fits the game well. The sound effects are immersive, as well. The voice acting, however, is a little on the funny side and it isn’t because of the jokes.
Far Cry Instincts Predator has a whole lot of value since the game includes two games and a full-fledged multiplayer mode. If you haven’t played Instincts, this is definitely worth of your time. If you have, it’s probably not since you can get the additional campaign in the Xbox version of Predator for a much cheaper price. -- Jose Liz, PGNx Media
---- Apr 18, 2006
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