Recently, I’ve been considering plagiarising people’s reviews to write my own. I know it’s not the done thing, but when you really get down to it, there’s only so many things to say and only so many ways to say it, and say it well. And, well in my opinion, Xboxworld Australia is luckily to be blessed with some of the best writers in Australia. Dom’s excellent review of Far Cry Instincts and Dylan’s excellent review of Far Cry Instincts Evolution basically say everything there needs to be said about both games. Merge the two together, throw in a few more swear words, take out a few similes, and you’ll have my review about Far Cry Instincts Predator for the Xbox 360.

For that is all the Xbox 360 version is – both games ported from the old xbox. There is a little bit of graphical adjustment to take advantage of the 360’s power, but considering the game is absolutely gorgeous to start with, it doesn’t really stand out from the Xbox version. Sound is also given a little touch up, but these changes are only really noticeable if you play one after the other, and only to a pedant. Noticeable things like the longer draw distance and better water effects make it more akin to the PC version, but these effects don’t make the game mindblowingly different from the games on the consoles’ lesser brother. The controller setup is altered slightly to accommodate the different button arrangement of the xbox360 controller, and because the controller is of a much better design, it feels a great deal better. It’s far easier to select types of grenades now, so I’ve found I use them far more often.

Everything else seems pretty much the same. Given the power of the xbox360, it seems a massive shame that it is not utilised in any way to make the game better apart from a graphical touch up. The models appear no different, the vehicles look and handle the same, and the AI is still rather stupid. You can snipe a guard from a distance, and other AI will react, sometimes, then seem to shrug and go on its merry way, all but forgetting his ally even existed. The maps in game are exactly the same, so they’re still rather like wide corridors than the wide roaming feel that you get from the PC version. The Evolution part of the game opens it up the game a lot more, but it’s still no where near the free roaming experience of the PC version, or even other Xbox360 games.

Things do take a change for the better once you’ve unlocked the Evolution part of the game. The action ramps up as you access Carvers feral abilities, being able to run amok right from the beginning. In fact, you find yourself immediately thrust in the action as you gun for an AI driven jeep, and then flash back to where it all began. I don’t want to give too much away, but just lets say Carver should have thought with the head on his shoulders, and not the head on another part of his body. Carvers Feral Abilities have been tweaked somewhat, making them all seem much more useful. Feral Jump and Sprint are much smoother and useful, even just to get you past the slower areas where there are no guards, or you’ve killed them all.

The level design in the Evolution part of the game is also much better, opening up the maps and allowing different, less tunnelled routes to the objectives. It’s never in the same league as the PC game, which is somewhat disappointing, but does make a refreshing change. For example, you can use Feral Jump to jump on a ledge, then snipe the enemy from afar, or you can simply run into an area guns blazing, using Feral Punch to take everyone out. This gives you a greater sense of control and purpose in the game, and makes for better action.

The main problem I have with FCIP is I don’t think there are too many people out there who didn’t own an xbox before purchasing an xbox 360, and I don’t think there are too many that wouldn’t have played Far Cry on it, because it was one of the “must have” games. Like my time with Tony Hawk’s American Wasteland, I struggled with my time on FCIP. After playing through the levels on the xbox, shooting tonnes of enemy mercs, killing hundreds of those weird feral animal things, and rescuing princesses from gorillas, err, I mean reporters from evil scientists just mere months ago, I felt cheated that I had to go through and play the exact same Instincts portion again before I could unlock the new section I hadn’t played. Plus finding out that was the same as what had just been released on Xbox felt like a double barrelled blow.

Conclusion:
Don’t get me wrong, if you haven’t played Far Cry on Xbox then there should be nothing stopping you from racing out and buying Far Cry Instincts Predator right now. The Instincts portion is a great game, looks absolutely stunning, and fun and exciting, if a little easy and short. The Evolution portion of the game ramps up the action and opens it out, and will extend your time with the title somewhat, and online play is a blast. However, if you do own an Xbox, and have this game, then I can’t really recommend buying it for the Xbox360. Apart from earning achievement points from playing the game, there’s nothing here to differentiate it from it’s Xbox brother.

Pros:
Both games for the price of one
This is Far Cry, one of the most gorgeous games available.
Graphical and sound tweaks are welcome, although not all that noticeable because it’s so good to begin with
A fair amount of achievement points, if you’re into that sort of thing.

Cons:
It IS the Xbox version of Far Cry Instincts, with the tacked on Xbox version of Evolution
AI is still dumb as two bricks.

85/100