Far Cry from Great

I'm playing Far Cry Instincts for the Xbox right now. The game had a lot of great buzz when it was released for the PC, and got some good reviews. Here's my take: Far Cry is a curious combination of Awesome and Not Awesome, so ultimately it's a wash. Which is a disappointment, considering how great the game starts out.

You land on a lush tropical island (gorgeous graphics!) with no weapons and very little understanding of the environment around you. The levels are huge, which gives you lots of of options. You can crawl through the jungle if you want, which is very dense and gives you a great feeling of protection. But at the same time, you don't know where your enemies are and it's diffucult to see, so you also feel vulnerable. The first third of the game requires a lot of sneaking and careful progression to stay alive, which was totally fun. I had a great time with this and really felt like I was "immersed" in the role of the character.

Then you gain animal powers, and the game's vibe does a shift. Suddenly, you're a lot more powerful, so you can run into most situations with guns and claws blazing. The difficulty level takes a sharp dive, and actually, it's for the better. Because it's suddenly so much easier to take out your enemies, you really feel the power of your new abilities. I thought this was really cool and subtle, but whether it was intentional is questionable. Because as you gain more powers, the game fails to keep up and starts using some really cheap tactics.

By the end of the game, Far Cry Instincts is suddenly not much fun. The bad guys become supremely powerful and pick you off instantly if you're not careful. The environments become dark and murky, a cheap ploy to force you to use your "feral vision". Even the jungles, once lush and protective, become a nuisance. The level design gets sloppy and in the last few stages on the island it becomes very easy to get lost or run up against the edge of the world. Not to mention the introduction of the worst kind of enemy: suicide bombers. You know, the ones that make a beeline for you and explode. Arrgh. I know the game's balancing act is shoddy, because suddenly armor pickups and first aid kits are everywhere. It's like the game starts to expect you to fail. I'm at the final boss fight right now, and I don't even know if I have the stomach to complete it.

In the end, Far Cry serves up some amazing fire fights, some cool action sequences and really gorgeous graphics (for the most part). There's also some fun to be had with weapons and options for how you want to tackle the missions. (Take the jet ski and deal with floating mines, or swim underwater and sneak up on the baddies with your silenced pistol.) I hope it gets a sequel, and that they put a little more care into the enemies and game balance.