Jack Carver is having a bit of a rubbish day. One minute, he’s on a boat with photographer Val Cortez on a journalistic trip to the reef just off the remote Jacutan Islands, the next, Cortez has done a runner with his jet ski, and a fully decked out military chopper is igniting fuel (with the help of a couple of hundred bullets) on his boat, and he’s forced to jump ship.
And so it begins. You take control of Carver in a typical FPS setup, where its you against the world. Unlike other FPS titles though, we aren’t talking about an onslaught of dumb enemies appearing in front of you as you move between checkpoints. Instead, you have a large game world with relatively few opponents to take care of. That doesn’t make them any less deadly, and you’ll soon find that just running straight through each section will soon find you dying over and over. Stealth is what’s required, and thankfully, Far Cry Instincts does the whole stealth thing rather well.
Not only do the mechanics of the stealth system actually work, but the atmosphere provided when you’re crawling through the thick brush and pushing shrubs out of the way is second to none. And I mean none. You’ll be in the prone position for a good portion of the early parts of the game, simply because you know that the AI will punish you fairly quickly if you get spotted. The ability to sneak up behind an enemy and backstab them, and being able to set traps using trees before setting them off by throwing a rock are both well done, and provide welcome respite from the gunplay that’s on offer. Other innovations such as being able to crawl underneath stilted structures, spin over onto your back and start taking potshots through the floorboards at unsuspecting henchmen are also welcome, as they provide yet another extension to the stealth dynamic. Can you get under the floorboards without being noticed’ When you’re there, can you kill quickly ‘ since you’ll be a sitting duck if you don’t’
Of course, if you do want to just go in with your guns blazing, then be our guest. The firepower on offer certainly justifies the approach, as do the selection of boats, jeeps, ATVs and other vehicles that will aid you in your quest to get to the other side. The much-hyped feral abilities will only come into play once you’ve gotten a decent way into the game. Carver begins to tap into his animal instincts as you play, and new attacks and moves are gained as a result. Never has hammering your opponent thirty feet up into the air with your ani-human claw felt so good ‘ and it never gets old. Jack can also sniff out his enemy, sprint with super-speed and gain night-vision (without the ridiculous goggles) ‘ and all of these are controlled through one button.
Xbox Live play is also brought into play with Far Cry Instincts, and some are saying that this will be the last must-have Live title of the current generation. From just a few hours online, I can see why. Choas (all against all), Team Chaos (all against all in teams), Capture The Sample (Sample = Flag) and Predator (all against one) modes are available, all with stat tracking and with a title this popular, you know that whenever you connect, there’s going to be a stack of players all ready to shoot it out with you. A few lag issues persist however, and can ruin the scoreboard at times ‘ especially when you kill someone, the game announces the kill, and the ‘dead’ opponent still manages to find enough energy to toss a grenade at your head ‘ simply because his Xbox hasn’t told him that he’s dead yet. If this were a feature of the game and people just died slowly, then we’d be happy to suffer the consequences. It blatantly isn’t. The built-in map editor will provide some much-needed longevity to the online experience, especially when it is so easy to use. The automatic download of other user’s maps when required means that everything is as hassle-free as it can be.
The original Far Cry needed a beast of a PC to run with any smoothness, but once you had spent your four figures to get your old machine up to speed, it was worth it. Thankfully, Far Cry Instincts looks awesome at times, and runs without slowing down or providing any noticeable pop-up. When it comes to sound, the game is no slouch either, with Stephen Dorff (Blade, FearDotcom, Cold Creek Manor) providing the voice of Jack Carver once again, and the AI drones chatting humorously and naturally. Added to the authentic jungle effects, Far Cry Instincts is one of the most pleasing aesthetic experiences available for the Xbox.
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