  What's up with that palm tree? |
If anyone thinks that PC games can’t be made into decent – or even really good – console versions, they should take a look at FarCry Instincts for Xbox. It’s one of the best-looking Xbox games to date, it has four simple-yet-effective multiplayer modes, and the by far the best map editor yet to appear on a console.
The one and only true problem that plagues the game is that the campaign lasts too long and becomes, like oh-so-many first person shooters, downright boring and repetitive. There’s only so much shoot-run-punch-run-shoot-run-punch-run you can do before things become bland.
FarCry originally came out on PC at the beginning of 2004 and was developed by German developer Crytek. It was published by Ubisoft so you can guess who decided to develop the game once it came to the Xbox … that’s right - the talented people at Ubisoft in Montreal.
The game follows Jack Carver, a man who innocently enough drives a friend by boat to the Jacutan islands as a favour. When he’s suddenly ambushed near an island by several helicopters, he barely makes it out alive and his lady friend is nowhere to be found. Thus begins his journey to find out what the hell happened to him and why he’s being attacked everywhere he goes.
The game itself can’t really compare to the PC version in terms of graphics. The original FarCry is one of the nicest-looking games to come out in the last year and a half – but Ubisoft nonetheless did a superb job on the console version. The big environments are amazingly detailed and the lighting is extremely realistic. You’ll travel in broad daylight across huge mountains in a hang glider, to going on foot deep underground in old mineshafts. No matter where you are though, the graphics help make you really feel like you’re inside the game.
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The gameplay for the most part is standard first-person shooter stuff – handguns, machine guns, sniper rifles, rocket launchers, etc., etc. – though you also have the ability to set traps in trees. Unfortunately it’s extremely difficult to use stealth and lure bad guys into your traps, so it becomes much easier and in fact much safer to just use your heavy artillery. The other new gameplay element for Instincts is the ability to gain feral strengths as you progress through the game. Your character is injected with something and as time goes on, he finds himself becoming more animal-like. By hitting the Y-button, you can activate your feral strengths. The screen goes blurry around the edges and you’re able to run faster, see better in the dark, and even follow the scent of people who are scared. It’s also a blast to run up to people and punch them, as they fly about 100 feet because of your newfound strength.
There are other FPS staples found here, such as vehicles placed here and there throughout the game. Unlike most other games though, you’ll have the chance to drive a boat and a hang glider, and the whole time you’re given the chance to shoot while driving. The only problem with the vehicles is that whenever you’re on one, the game feels very scripted. Everytime I saw a vehicle, I knew I was about to drive down a nice, clear path and in about five seconds I’d be shot at with rockets by several bad guys, and conveniently enough, a roadblock would appear soon after that.
So though Instincts has a few new features for an FPS, it still follows the same basic formula as everything else before it so the single player, though pretty and fun for a time, doesn’t stand out too much.
There are four multiplayer modes for fans of Xbox Live – Chaos and Team Chaos (otherwise known as deathmatch and team deathmatch), Steal the Sample (CTF) and the most exciting mode, Predator. In this mode, the Predators are trying to stop mercenaries from activating a sonic alarm that will kill the Predators if it’s set off. Predators have full feral strengths and automatically respawn whenever they’re killed. Mercenaries only respawn if the Predator that killed them is killed by a teammate. Predators win if the time limit runs out and the sonic alarm isn’t activated; mercenaries win if they set off the alarm. There really isn’t too much fuss and muss in these modes and that’s a good thing. Instincts is an excellent online game to play if you’re just interested in a few ‘quickies’ as opposed to a full four hour gaming marathon.
Last, Ubisoft also included a superb map editor for those looking to express their feral creativity, so to speak. You’re given a small area of land and as with all editors, you can add things like vehicles, bases, towers, guns and plenty more. What makes this editor so much better is, first and foremost, the ability to jump in and out of your map (for testing purposes) by simply hitting the ‘back’ button. There’s no lag or loading when you do this, and it makes things a thousand times easier because you’re able to quickly tweak little things without endlessly waiting for your map to load and reload.
The controls in the map are very intuitive and the display is set up to make things extremely easy. Believe me – if you’re a fan of map editors, you’ll love this one. If you’ve never tried one out, this is where you’ll want to start.
In closing, FarCry Instincts may not bring a whole lot new to the table, but it does make good or improves on what it copied from so many other first-person shooters before it. If you’re looking for some mindless shoot-em-‘up action, just follow Ubisoft’s Instinct.
WHAM! Rating: |
8 out of 10 |
ESRB Rating: |
M (Mature 17+) |
Official Web Site: |
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