Far Cry Instincts: Predator, Better Than Bad
The Far Cry franchise transcends time and console generations with massive commercial success and an almost three-decade legacy. But the modern series itself is a far cry from its humble beginnings in 2004. Coming from German developer Crytek, Far Cry was praised for its gunplay and well realized environments that were made possible with the CryEngine, the company’s namesake. But when Ubisoft was given the engine to develop their own Far Cry game for consoles the results from this partnership weren’t as stellar as some might think.
Tropical Apocalypse
Far Cry Instincts is a remake of the original game with “improved” graphics and changes to the narrative. The main protagonist, Jack Carver, gains feral abilities similar to the mutants he fights. Something that wasn’t present in the original.
The problem I find immediately with this game is the nature of it being made for consoles has diluted some of the best aspects of the original game. The Xbox was not capable of handling the wide areas that needed to be rendered for the original Far Cry. To compromise, the levels were made extremely linear and the graphical quality is noticeably lower than what you would see on a PC running the original game on highest quality.
The shooting is another aspect I find has not aged well in 2022. I understand this game was released in 2005, but the gunplay can’t be ignored in how primitive and unrefined it really feels. There is no lean mechanic to fire shots off from around corners and movement feels stiff. The enemies themselves have almost pinpoint accuracy when at medium range which can be quite crushing in the early levels of the game when you are short on weapons and outnumbered.
It also doesn’t help that there are certain enemies that seem tailored to piss the player off to no end. Namely, the exploding Trigen Mutant that suicide rushes you like a madman and the bulky mutant that looks like a fat Charger from Left 4 Dead. The latter was especially frustrating as they were a bullet sponge of biblical proportions.
The next move would be to use stealth to avoid battle wouldn’t it? Well, there are problems with that too. Enemies seem to have an almost supernatural level of detection when it comes to sussing out a clever player using the foliage to mask their presence. And taking them out silently is sometimes easily done but they can almost always hear the sounds of their comrade dropping at an unfair distance. However, I can’t deny that there are some positives to this game.
The feral powers.
Thrills & Kills
They are absolutely the saving grace of this game as there is an undeniable level of satisfaction running through a tropical hellscape infested with mutant bioweapons and trained mercenaries out for your blood and being able to rip them apart and jump at great ranges in and out of battle. You get a host of powers besides these that include seeing in the dark, spotting the trails of enemies, and even seeing enemies through physical objects. Moments like stalking through the brush with an illuminated haze over your prey certainly gives you the feeling of a predator as you move in for the kill.
But I feel the game comes up short with squeezing as much potential out of this gameplay loop with having such a lackluster soundtrack. It is generic guitar riffs and drums at best and completely forgettable at its worst. The game tries its best to maintain the atmosphere despite this and I can’t deny it succeeds on more than one occasion.
The areas that come to mind are the Dead Marshes and night time levels. The dark trees and foggy terrain give the impression of the land teeming with unseen threats around every corner. The introduction of the Trigen mutants and dinosaurs you face certainly give credence to this impression as well as you fight them through the dark jungle.
Last Mag, Last Words
Though there is still a linearity to these levels, their inclusion goes a long way towards making the game standout as lush jungles and beautiful blue rivers can only be interesting to see and fight in for so long. I can at least applaud the devs for this and the smart addition of the map editor. Though this is still 2005 and this isn’t as impressive as Halo’s forge mode, Far Cry Instincts still goes the extra mile of giving a map editor and allowing the use of these maps in multiplayer with your friends. This is something I’m sure lengthened the lifespan of this game considerably.
The final element to consider is the story which at its best is a serviceable vehicle to get you from one tropical action set piece to the next. At its worst, it’s very forgettable and never particularly interesting, but the story was never the appeal of Far Cry to begin with. The game shines when you can use the feral powers in conjunction with combat to create some very entertaining bursts of violence as you tear through mutants and mercs alike. Were it not for that, I would say there is no worth to the game at all, but since that’s not the case I would say Far Cry Instincts is worth a playthrough if you’ve got nothing else catching your eye and you’re a little curious about what the franchise was like before the third game.
If you’re bloodthirsty for more, you can be assured that the expansion, Evolution, and Far Cry 2 are very much worth your time if you were a fan of this.