I love it! No console shooter offers the expansive environments or the gameplay variety that Far Cry Instincts does.
The game's most striking feature is definitely its environment. If you aren't so busy hunting down whatever mercenaries or deformed mutant baby pigs were coming your way, this game's luscious, ambient jungle environment is still a virtual getaway on par with the PS2's Shadow of the Colossus. And this environment doesn't just make the game look very, very pretty, but it adds depth to the stellar gunplay.
In this shooter, if you run into a group of guys all by your lonesome, 9 times out of 10 you're dead, if you're good. So the more cautious approach is usually best, and this game let's you carry it out in spades. Not since The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay has a 1st Person Shooter integrated aspects from Metal Gear Solid so well. It is so satisfying to catch a merc with his pants down when you lay a trap up against a tree, or poke him in the back with your butterfly knife.
Also, new to this console version of the PC shooter, you have animal powers. You can "smell" out your enemies (which makes their tracks glow orange, and the heat from their body shows up), leap long distances, and muscle around enemies like they were rag dolls. The powers aren't all that necessary to get through the game, but they certainly don't feel tacked on, as they are definitely useful and add that extra layer of depth to the already stellar gunplay.
The vehicles rock too. Most of the vehicles are intuitive to use, with the exception being the hang-glider. It's not terribly difficult to control your vehicle while taking pot-shots at the same time, but it's not something you'll need to do very often in the single-player game. You get a hum-vee, a four-wheeler, a hover craft, a gun boat, the hang-glider, and a Sea-Doo. The water's pretttyyy......
Last, but probably the most exciting feature Instincts has to offer : The Map Editor! This thing is sooo damn cool. You can put up to 50 item placements (weapons, health, etc) on the map, and several hundred "brushes." These brushes range from small stones to huge, open parts of a complex buidling. And huts. Huts are fun....
The map editor can be a bit unwieldy at first, but I'll offer a tip: Build up your terrain and then smooth. If you ever get frustrated (like I did), don't worry. You can always add back what the smoothing tool erases. You can make some HUGE maps, with monstrous mountains and deep ravines. This feature alone makes Far Cry Instincts a game that you'll consistently pop into your Xbox.
***OVERALL***
If it had the great online component to match the single-player experience and the map editor, this would be the only Xbox FPS you would need. The map editor will have you coming back, and it has a decent length to its single-player game. The multiplayer's a little inconsistent, as one character can more easily kill another from time to time...don't know why that is, but it can make for some fairly frustrating multiplayer matches.
This is still Xbox shooting greatness. I love it!