| Far Cry Instincts review |
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Picture the scene. The warm sun hangs in the pale blue sky. Crystal-clear water laps at the sandy shores. Lush green tropical forests stretch as far as the eye can see. As aging veteran rocker David Lee Roth once sang “This must be just like livin' in paradise, and I don't want to go home”. For most people that would be the case.
For Jack Carver it simply couldn’t be further from the truth.
When his paying passenger disappears and his boat is blown to pieces by gunships, Jack’s understandably a bit miffed. Heading for the shore of Jacutan Island, he sets about trying to track down his missing female cargo and escape alive. No easy task given that the island is home to Dr Krieger (mad geneticist and Dr. Moreau-wannabe) and is crawling with his army of hard-core mercenaries who are armed to the teeth whilst operating under a shoot-to-kill policy.
For those who don’t know, Far Cry Instincts is the console version of the PC game released at the start of 2004. Except that it’s far from a straightforward, by-the-numbers port. While the PC game was a hit, it had a number of faults. So rather than simply translating the game over to the Xbox, Ubisoft decided to produce a re-imagining of the original title. The general settings and characters may be the same, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. If you’re still confused, just think of Far Cry Instincts as a distilled re-creation of the original, with all the best bits expanded on and some of the fatty bits trimmed off.
In essence the story is the same, but told in a wholly different way. Taking a jungle-plant-sized leaf from Half-Life’s book, cutscenes are all done in the first person with no third-person viewpoints. Unlike Mr. Freeman’s exploits, Jack Carver has a voice (aptly handled by actor Stephen Dorff) but shares one important thing with Valve’s crowbar-wielding hero – the game is a collection of engrossing set pieces.
Anyone who has played Far Cry on the PC will know that graphically it was pretty special, with effects, features and settings that made it stand out from the crowd. No doubt there were a fair few people who scoffed that a console system as old as the Xbox just wouldn’t be able to do it justice but those naysayers should prepare to eat some pretty filthy-tasting humble pie. In the flesh, Instincts looks as wondrous as was promised. When you stand atop a mountainous ravine towering over the jungle canopy below, slink through the long grass and undergrowth in the almost palpable warmth of the setting sun, or even hammer through the bamboo fields on an ATV whilst trying to evade being shot, it isn’t hard to appreciate how much of an achievement the game truly is. Shafts of light filter through the trees, bodies of water ripple and reflect the world around them, trees and foliage cast shadows, enemies’ torches cause flickering shadows across cavern walls – it would be impossible to list all the little touches which, when tossed in the graphical bag, add to the playing experience. Yes, the game has problems with pop-up (and pop-in) at times, some crazy ragdoll glitches and low-quality textures in parts, but these are forgivable in view of the game looking so damn good.
Adding to the presentation is the audio. Vegetation rustles as you pass through it, water sloshes from waterfalls and down into rock pools, while endless numbers of birds squawk and chatter overhead. The interiors of caverns and metal structures provide echoing distortions, diving underwater muffles sounds while grenades cause a realistic ringing in the ears if they go off too close to you. Just as with the graphics, listing all of the little touches would take ages but they are unmistakable and engrossing additions.
Rather than just rehashing the levels, Ubisoft have opted to tinker with the gameplay elements too. The major inclusion on this front is the addition of Feral Abilities. Thanks to some unwanted genetic tinkering by Dr. Krieger, Jack develops a number of enhanced abilities throughout the course of the game. These range from super-strength and melee skills (allowing him to slice through enemies and ragdoll them into the air), to being able to see in the dark. These are particularly well implemented, with things like heat vision allowing you to track enemies by their heat signatures, which slowly dissipate over time. The nifty visual effects don’t just stop there though, with certain countermeasures employed by the mercs causing some disorienting onscreen effects and sensory impairment by overloading Jack’s newfound senses.
The other most noticeable update is the addition of stealth tactics. Just like the original, it is possible to play the game as a gung-ho island massacre, but Instincts gives the player the ability to creep through the jungle unseen and noiselessly dispatch enemies. A variety of stances helps determine the player’s speed and how visible they are. Creeping up on an enemy allows for silent kills, whilst setting tree traps (and later Claymore mines) before tossing a stone to attract the enemy’s attention, luring them to their doom, is also extremely satisfying. Once spotted though, shaking enemies is generally not an option as they will doggedly pursue you (and alert any nearby comrades) until one of you is dead.
Rather than being completely optional, some parts of the game require stealth to be used to thin out the number of nearby enemies and stand a fighting chance of survival. Levels are not as free-roaming as the PC version, but the inclusion of the different methods of dispatching enemies more than makes up for this. The mercenaries (and the genetically modified misfits encountered later on) are no slouches with their aim, meaning it provides a challenging experience. This is counteracted somewhat by the generous hit boxes which make it possible for players to be quite clumsy with their shooting; something that is likely to divide the opinions of players, but does make the game more accessible to those who prefer playing FPS’s with the traditional inputs of mouse and keyboard.
As was the case with its predecessor the A.I. is a mix of good and bad, with earlier enemies displaying some pretty amazing feats of stupidity. However for each act of indifference by a mercenary as his buddy gets blown to smithereens, there are moments of genius where enemies will roll for cover, try to flank you, dive from vehicles if in danger or even flee for their lives when outgunned. Krieger's shock-troopers that appear towards the end of the game are particularly noteworthy for their tactics and ability to tax the player.
Sadly, the single-player campaign is short-lived and won’t take long to complete. Those with Xbox Live will be grateful that there is the usual inclusion of Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag modes, along with Predator mode which allows players to step into the shoes of either the mercenaries or Predators (complete with their Feral abilities). The game also includes a Map Maker, which be used to create levels for playing over Live, or just messing about in whilst offline..
Far Cry Instincts is a clear and impressive demonstration of what can still be achieved by the current generation of hardware. Putting aside its technical prowess, on the surface everything seems fine but, as with the featured island, delving into the thicket uncovers the game’s glaring problems, some of which may be inexcusable to players expecting a bit more meat on their gaming bone. For those who were unable to play the PC version, or those who did and were left wanting more, this game will be a ticket to paradise. |
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System: Microsoft Xbox
Genre: First Person Shooter
Developer: Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher: Ubisoft
Players: 1-16
Version: European
Reviewed: Oct 2005
Writer: Jamie Davies
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Pros:
- A real graphical achievement
- Feral abilities and stealth are a welcome addition
- Single player is fun…
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Cons:
- …while it lasts
- Generous auto-aiming and hit boxes make it too easy in parts
- Some glitches may be unforgivable for some
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Far Cry Instincts Video: 13.8MB
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