Far Cry Instincts (Demo)

[unknown_citizen]

Just played this and am very impressed. Looks absolutely stunningly gorgeous - water effects are very nice. There is a bit of pop up - most noticable when you're in the jeep and the grass is growing in front of you as you drive (that or Agent Orange was actually Miracle-Gro I guess).
Never played the PC version so I'm coming at it from a novice viewpoint. It plays really well, objective based gameplay but you're free to get from A to B in any way you see fit. Driving the jeep is a bit tricky to get the hang of - one stick drives whilst the other stick controls your gun - pretty much the videogame equivalent of rubbing your stomach and patting your head.
The Demo's quite long, you'll be playing it for a good hour at least. You can get a free copy from http://www.visitjacutan.com/ if they haven't all gone yet.

[EvilBoris]

that sounds promising, I was worried about the framerate, as for the popup, even the PC version had some. I forgot about the vehicles, this was the same problem they had with porting Half Life 2 over, I just hope you get an extra chunk of auto aim (in far cry and half life2)

[Yoshitsune]

Mmmm,im looking forward to this after the stunning conversion of Doom on XBox,i think from what ive read,they've spent time on the conversion getting it right,lets hope so when it's released next month.

[Kotatsu Neko]

I'm interested in hearing how different this is from the PC version, and so if it's worth picking up again.

[EvilBoris]

The cool thing is that its not a conversion, its more of a whole new game, a sequal almost

[Spatial]

I've heared people saying the A.I. and physics are complete bobbins. Anyone who's played the demo care to comment on these aspects?

[PeteJ]

I picked up the demo over the weekend at I25, but haven't tried it yet. I did play the 8 player deathmatch they had setup and came away with very mixed feelings. The graphics are good, but I think they've tried to get too much out of the xbox - although the framerate is pretty good, the graphics are very rough around the edges and everything looks like a mess. Each effect is very nice, but all together is very offputting.

They only had the beta available (running on dev kits), and the gameplay wasn't particularly impressive either. The controls were very unresponsive and the balancing was way off - the weapons seemed to be uneffective, so it usually ended up being the insta-kill knife that finished them off.

It took about five minutes to load the map too, which is baaad.

That said, I did have a pretty cool chase using the boats (hard to control, but quite satisfying) which showed a lot of promise.

It was a beta, so I expect most of my issues to be fixed.

[nonny]

Ive got the demo and yeh its not bad... Ive never played the PC original though so I cant comment on it in a comparative sense.

Graphically I think they have done wonders with the Xbox. I dont think its on a level par with Doom3 but technically they are so different and as this is going to have multiplayer up the wazoo I am leaning more towards Far Cry as my game of choice. The bloom lighting is very nice and really gives everything that hot climate glow though I personally think its a little bit over-done for the most part. This is definitely one of the better looking FPS games on Xbox though, the water is stunning and framerate-wise it didnt falter at all when I played it.

What really stood out for me was the audio. Its not quite up there with Ghost Recon but not far off and it kinda comes off as being GR set in a tropical climate... which is a good thing. Very crisp atmosphere and good directional surround... good stuff.

The demo is literally two levels, the beginning scene where your boat just got destroyed and you ditch into the island for safety... and then beach which has some more of the same.

The AI is a bit dumb in places but then again it is just a demo so this could be something they are tweaking in the last few months.. its not that bad but it definitely stands out as something that needs some attention. I've also heard some people criticise the amount of ammo you need to pump into enemies in order to kill them but I didnt find this a problem at all... I picked off many guys with headshots using the standard pistol but then perhaps some people where playing very run and gun tactics, I was more inclined to creep up on people.

Controls are good for the most part... only thing I struggled with are the vehicle controls as mentioned further up and also the toggling of lying prone or crouching. The left analog stick switches between crouching/prone when you hold it down, clicking it returns you to a standing position. Its not bad but I found myself switching to the wrong stance at some very inconvienient moments!

All up I think the single player is looking alright. I didnt come away completely amazed but I was justified that my fully-paid preorder on this title was the right thing to do. Really though its the multiplayer and mapmaker that are going to determine its final score and I really hope Ubisoft can nail this one down perfectly given their track record with stuff like the GR and R6 series.

All up, its looking good... just needs some spit and polish.

[erhgiez]

Ive not played the PC version very much but enough to get a decent feel for the game, and as far as that went the AI wasnt anything special, all the guards just came at you or just stood behind boxes shooting you nothing paticularly impressive. not played this demo yet though, but its ordered

[EvilBoris]

I picked it up today too, I was very impressed by the graphics, they've done a stunning job of porting, even the realtime shadows across the hands/weapons are there! THe game seemed to play very much like the pc version too, its a shame they son't let you get to be a beast in the demo.

[Paleface]

Enjoying it a lot. Bit ropey at points, but I found driving the jeep not-too-hard - though the one-hit-deaths in it were annoying. Still, lovely foliage, and lovely, lovely water. I don't like shooting things in the demo - I just like wandering around the coast. And not only is the water glorious, but the swimming is probably the best I've seen in a game. Actually feels underwater.

Oh, and the foam in the tide as it laps back and forth. Fab. In short, it's pretty impressive, and fairly good fun (though the range on the radar is nuts - far wider than it looks), and it has the BEST TITLE SCREEN EVER. So... calming.

[anephric]

The engine for this is fairly amazing. It looks pretty splendid. Shame about the tearing, though...

[Concept]

Is this demo on the official magazine or only available over the web?

[Ciaran]

Its on OXBM Demo Disc 47

[Concept]

Cheers.