Far Cry Instincts: Predator

I really enjoyed Far Cry Instincts: Predator. Played it all the way through, and it was lots of fun. There are a few guns, nothing too unique. Typical sniper rifle, grenades, m16, d-eagle, silenced pistol. I really liked the scenery, it was lush and almost perfect, had it not been for the very forced path you take.

I bought Far Cry Instincts after I had beaten elder scrolls 4 oblivion. This game got me hooked right after playing the first mission - it is incredibly fun especially if you play online or via split screen. The best thing about this game has to be the Map Editor - you can make whatever map you want and there are no templates for objects which means you can build a temple out of platforms if you wanted. You can virtually create any map in a matter of 30 min. I have seen maps that look like Coagulation from Halo 2 or Helms Deep from Lord of the Rings: Two Towers.

This game is definitely worth buying - recommended to anyone who has an Xbox 360 or a good PC.

As I've loved the Far Cry games on PC and XBox, I was jumping around like a loon when I heard about an XBox 360 Far Cry, how could it go wrong? But it has...

Firstly, it's pretty much almost a straight port of the first XBox Far Cry, with the Predator storyline from the XBox follow-up to go with it, but it still doesn't impress.

Considering Far Cry on the 360 costs more than the other two put together, you'd expect something special, but it never is.

The graphics are a mixed bag, on one hand you've got the 360's anti-aliasing and admittedly brilliant water effects and lighting but it's let down by Ubisoft lazily re-using virtually all of the original textures, the plants, ground and buildings all look identical to the original XBox version, which doesn't say much for the new generation. The character models have been updated but they have the weird shine on them seen in the likes of Dead or Alive, and the animation and AI has remained exactly the same and it gives the game a whole half finished feel.

Fortuantly though, the gameplay is still just as good, and it has a pretty solid multiplayer, both online and offline. However the 360's had Call of Duty 2 since launch, and is Far Cry's main competitor in the FPS section, and although Far Cry could hold it's head high on the XBox it just hasn't moved along, CoD2 is a fantastic, fast-paced shooter and Far Cry suddenly seems old and slow compared to it.

The addition of the Predator story doesn't add much either, I hoped it would be the redeeming point of the game but although it's less linear, you can explore more, it feels more rushed and doesn't flow as well as the original story.

All in all you'd have to push yourself to bother finishing both stoylines, you probably will if you want to follow the story but you're unlikely to return to it, XBox Live is the only time the game truely comes to life but Call of Duty 2 does it all better...