As the game progresses, Jack will be captured by the mad Doctor Krieger. He uses Jack as a test subject for his experiments, but Jack escapes and now finds himself with some new abilities. His “feral” powers include a lunge attack, increased speed and jumping, the ability to pick up scents, and enhanced vision. The lunge attack is a great weapon and it never gets old hearing badass mercs scream like six-year-old school girls as they go flying through the air after a successful attack.

All the elements of gameplay come together to make the single-player game a joy to experience. “Wow!” and “Cool!” involuntarily escaped my lips more than once as I worked my way through the campaign. The story is a bit pedestrian, but holds the action together well enough.

In addition to the campaign game there is also a solid multiplayer experience that includes the usual modes of play plus the "Predator" mode that pits regular soldiers against soldiers with feral abilities. The multiplayer games can be played split-screen, system link or on the Live service. There is also a full-featured map editor that allows the player to build maps and upload them to share with other players.

Control of the game is very tight and responsive. If you’ve been playing a lot of Halo, you’ll quickly adapt to Far Cry Instincts’ controls. The one exception is the vehicular controls. I can’t quite decide whether they are a breakthrough or a nuisance. On the one hand they allow the player to control all aspects of the vehicle with just the left thumb stick and left trigger while at the same time being able to wield light weapons with the right thumb stick and right trigger. (Think of driving a warthog in Halo while still being able to shoot with a plasma rifle. It would be cool, right?) The problem is there is a stiff learning curve with the scheme and it can be near impossible to effectively drive and engage enemies simultaneously.

Graphically the game is a huge treat. The well-detailed tropical jungle environments and sweeping vistas of the game are awesome. The characters move well and have adequate detail to the models. The sound easily equals the visuals. Pumping the audio through a 5.1 surround system yields a world lush with bird calls, footfalls, rushing water and the rich sounds of combat.

The biggest complaint I have with the game is the cheap level design. While moving around, the player will encounter invisible walls that restrict their movement. If I walk up to an incline that looks like a three year old could scramble up it without trouble and I can’t get up it with all my great feral powers, it just cheapens the game and breaks me out of the world rather abruptly. It also doesn’t help that I negotiated a similar incline just a little while ago with no problem whatsoever. Unfortunately this sort of thing happened a little too often to be easily forgiven. I also encountered one full-fledged glitch during an escort mission. The fellow I was escorting got stuck on the back side of a tree walking endlessly. I finally had to kill him to get him loose and restart the mission. Admittedly it only happened once in the half dozen tries it took me to win the mission, but of course it should never happen.

Despite its small problems, Far Cry Instincts is a good addition to the FPS games on the Xbox. The gameplay mixes up pedal-to-the-metal action with enough thinking stealth elements to provide a fun challenge. Definitely recommended to all FPS fans.