A solid FPS adventure game, with superb graphics that stand out of the crowd, even now!
The adventure begins on the shores of the island, but players will quickly find themselves trying to survive in the jungles deeper inland. This is where the game should truly set itself apart from other First Person titles. In order to survive against these trained paramilitary soldiers, Jack will be need to use and master a variety of weapons, including machine guns, missile launchers, grenades, and pistols to kill enemies. There are 17 unique weapons types in all, but this just barely scratches the surface of the survival tactics available to him on the island. While he doesn't have much to defend himself with initially, he can take weapons from the mercenary camps, using their own tools to kill them. Some of the sniper weapons are incredibly powerful and sophisticated, allowing him to kill enemies from great distances. Since the mercenaries will immediately go into attack mode and search for him when one of them is killed, using these long range attacks can give him a head start. Using these sniper attacks let him disappear into the jungle before they can reach his location. Gaining a head start is crucial because the enemies are quite intelligent and use complex tactics in battle. The developers have given the enemies what is called the FAR, or Full Action Response AI system. Once they've become aware of your locations, they'll react with coordinated strikes that can come from any direction. There are a number of enemy types including snipers, stalkers, scouts, and grenadiers who can attack you from any distance. They can use the islands different angles and terrains to find your location. The player will be challenged to outsmart the mercenaries and can attack them in a number of ways. One of the most clever is the use of traps, which he can set in tree branches, and can kill an unsuspecting guard as they search for him. He can also kill enemies at close range by sneaking up behind them and knifing them, offing them without making a sound. Without a doubt, the AI is solid. Far Cry Instincts' controls are excellent, offering superb responsiveness and intuitive play for the system. The basic controls use a similar system to Halo, you use the left analog stick to control Jack's movement and can turn and look around using the right stick. You can change your stance from standing to crawling by pressing on the D button. Players fire using the analog sticks, and can change weapons easily. The interface is also fairly straightforward, with an onscreen radar that shows you the general direction you need to be headed, quite handy since its easy to get lost in the dense jungles. In addition to the standard First Person Shooter play mechanic, players can control seven different types of vehicles including tanks, boats and, even hang gliders. Using these is fairly easy, you basically need to walk near them and hold down the X button, and Jack will automatically take over the vehicles. The controls are fairly consistent from vehicle to vehicle, making them much easier to control. You use the left analog stick to steer and can fire at any foes using your standard weapons, or can in certain cases, use the onboard encamped weapon to clear out foes. Driving the vehicles is definitely reminiscent of Halo, though the controls here only allow you to view the action from the first person perspective, making them a bit trickier to use (although they fix this in Far Cry 2). The mercenaries are much easier to kill from land, sea or with the vehicles, but these take damage as well, so you have to be careful to jump out of them before they explode. This open ended, emergent gameplay approach gives you a great deal of flexibility in the method and tactics you'll use to complete each mission. This makes Far Cry Instincts more unpredictable than most other titles on the market, giving players an incredible amount of freedom. At certain points, Jack will also need to battle these mercenaries up close, and can sneak up behind them and use his knife. In order to survive, Jack will also need to use the environments to conceal himself from unknowing foes. For example, he can use the dense forests to hide behind, climb trees and more. The environments in Far Cry Instincts are fully interactive and he use this to his advantage to make his attacks less predictable. He has the ability to swim can go underwater, look up at an enemy at the shore, then leap out of the water, grab them and slice them before they can react. The environments themselves can be used as weapons, and you'll be able to set brutal traps to kill any mercenaries that get in your way. You can set tree branches to snap when a trip wire is pulled, immediately disabling an enemy. In addition to running around, Jack can also use a variety of vehicles to traverse the island. Far Cry Instincts will also include a number of driving sequences, which look breathtaking in their realism and intensity. While driving, you can shoot through your window at opposing vehicles, turn and shoot while driving and use the vehicle itself as a weapon against these enemies. All of this sounds fairly traditional for a FPS title, but Far Cry Instincts changes around half way through and becomes something else entirely.
As the game progresses and you explore deeper into the game, Jack will transform into ever stronger versions of himself with the innate ability to see things in heat vision mode, and jump huge distances. This gives Far Cry Instincts a unique feel that few other First Person Shooter titles can match, making the action even more exciting than it initially seems. Its single player game looks quite intense with an engaging plotline that unfolds at a breathtaking pace. From a visual standpoint, Far Cry Instincts looks fantastic. There is a price to pay, and that is long load times, including a long cinema whenever you start the game up. However, the resulting payback means the game's engine is truly impressive with a massive scale of the island environments that is nothing short of breathtaking. I am playing this on my Xbox 360, and the graphics are still ultra clear. The island is populated with realistic trees, water effects, bushes, beaches, and dense jungles to create a cohesive, realistic environment. The weather effects also look impressive, with the time changing from daylight to night, from dawn and dusk. Obviously, the lighting will play a key role in your stealth tactics, and the attention to detail in shadows is also quite impressive. Far Cry's character animation looks especially impressive, with each mercenary looking and reacting realistically to the events in the game. What's more impressive is that the environments are fully interactive allowing you to destroy objects, explore inside buildings and more. Far Cry Instincts' highly polished engine gives a cinematic feel to the action as you switch between on-foot, in-vehicle and stealth modes. The high polish extends to the weapons as well. Each weapon will look and feel authentic, giving Far Cry Instincts' arsenal a realistic feel. Y
Far Cry Instinct's mixture of brutal action and stealth elements creates a tension and realism in the gameplay that few titles on the market have even attempted. The game's visuals are stunning in their beauty and detail, creating a cohesive, believable environment that immerses players into the action. However, the most impressive aspect of Far Cry Instincts lies in its unique approach to the genre, mixing standard military operations with supernatural abilities. This gives you a great deal of flexibility in how you go about completing each mission. Since you can attack enemies from a variety of locations and use different tactics, you have a great deal of freedom. This emergent gameplay aspect of the game is excellent, though the main solo game unfolds in a fairly linear fashion if you follow the paths provided. The sophisticated AI of your opponents means they are smarter and less predictable than foes in most games. This approach definitely sets the game apart, and the intense storyline propels the action and keeps the player motivated as mysteries begin to unfold...
---------------------------------------
+ Stunning graphics, even now
+ Amazing, stealthy gameplay
+ Massive world to explore
+ Good weapons
+ Amazing melee tactics
+ Solid campaign
- Really long loading times
- Some boring missions