Far Cry Instincts Predator

Far Cry Instincts Predator is a compilation release for Xbox 360 that combines the campaigns from Far Cry Instincts and its Evolution expansion in a single package, adding a graphical and technical update that takes advantage of the new console generation's power. In late 2006, just a few weeks after the Xbox 360's launch in Europe, Ubisoft Montreal thus offered players who were just picking up the new console a complete experience with the mercenary Jung Duke on a single disc, without having to hunt down two older titles for the original Xbox and play them on backward-compatible hardware. The previous generation of players, meanwhile, had to buy both installments separately, deal with two different memory cards, and manage save files separately, something Predator unified into a single start menu on one console hard drive.

Compared to both original games, Predator benefits mainly from higher resolution, more stable frame rates, and adjusted lighting effects, which give the tropical island from the first installment and the volcanic locations from Evolution a cleaner, sharper look matching the new console generation's standard. In terms of gameplay, it's still the same mix of non-linear exploration, vehicles, and Feral abilities that let players temporarily boost their senses or resilience, but the Xbox 360 version also received tweaks to the controls and some combat situations to better take advantage of the new hardware, more powerful processor, and analog controllers of the new generation. For many players, this was also their very first encounter with the Far Cry series, precisely through this technically polished collection rather than through the original 2005 release for older consoles, which many of them hadn't picked up at the time and instead moved straight to the new hardware.

Why play it: A good choice for those who want to experience both of Jung Duke's adventures at once and in better technical shape than the Xbox and PlayStation 2 generation offered, without missing out on anything from the original content of both previous games.