If there's one genre that the Xbox is certainly not short of, it's first person shooters. But if you're going allow yourself to be coaxed away from housework, sports, work or the opposite sex and become engulfed in a few hours of running around and shooting things, you want it to be worthwhile. Luckily for you then, Far Cry Instincts is indeed worthwhile. So much more than worthwhile, in fact. Yeah, that's right, more. Sometimes I think you're being spoiled.

Far Cry Instincts sees you playing as one Jack Carver, a man who has spent years running away from his past. A dishonourable discharge screwed up his life, but he now makes a living running people around tropical destinations. However, things go horribly awry when a journalist named Val Cortex turns up and offers Carver a bagful of cash to take her to a remote archipelago named the Jacutan Islands. Carver abides but is promptly forced to abandon ship when his boat is subsequently turned into a charred wreck by a band of mercenaries wielding mounted machine guns in a pair of choppers - something you don't really need, to be honest. Awakening on a beach, Carver sets about escaping the islands.

The game starts out like your typical FPS: you have enemies to shoot and you have guns with which to shoot them. Or you can sneak up behind unsuspecting mercenary types and knife them in the spine, if you're a particularly malicious individual. Sneaking around the islands plays as big a part of Far Cry as you want it to; you're well within your rights to just run around, shooting people here, there and everywhere, but you'll often find yourself in situations where doing this just doesn't amount to what's referred to by those in the know as a good idea. Like, for example, when you're outgunned by about fifty to one and have about as much chance of getting through the area alive as Rik Waller does of eating a salad. It's simply not going to happen. So creeping around and being a bit sneaky is at some points in the game not only extremely satisfying, but also a necessity. As well as being able to stealthily slip a knife in between somebody's shoulder blades, you're also able to set 'branch traps'; walk up to a tree, pull a branch back, chuck a stone to lure an enemy towards it and… THWACK! Branch snaps back, guy goes flying and you have one less mercenary even remotely capable of riddling you with bullets.

Things get a lot more interesting, however, once you find yourself captured and subsequently experimented upon. You escape, but soon realise that not everything is as it seems. You're now a hell of a lot stronger; so much so that the stabbing people in the back will seem quite tame when compared to clawing some poor sod to death and sending him flying through the jungle canopy missing around eight pints of O positive. And things get stranger still; eventually you'll be able to sprint, take giant leaps and use your feral senses to detect the scents of enemies, as well as see in the dark. All these abilities make for some pretty spectacular gameplay and vary things up a bit, as opposed to simply offering a standard FPS affair. You're not able to use these abilities as you please, however; on-screen is an adrenaline meter, which depletes as you use your abilities and replenishes when you find yourself low on health, when stalking enemies or by picking up MRE's. One thing about your feral senses that hinders your progress in certain parts of the game is that the mercenaries place sonic alarms that play havoc with your super sensitive hearing. Coming across one of these makes for a mad dash to destroy the alarm before it drives Carver completely loco, while an inevitable army of enemies plough into the immediate vicinity.

You have a few levels chucked your way with which to get used to solving problems by harnessing your newfound feral abilities before you get your first proper opportunity to make good use of them. You find yourself within a holding enclosure and pursuing a gargantuan genetic monstrosity on its destructive and murderous rampage, before having to fight for your life in a battle to the death against the beast, a sequence that will have the adrenaline pumping through you for real. As you progress even further through the game, you also gain access to superhuman strength and self-healing.

Standard gameplay is smooth and fast throughout Far Cry; the movement and aiming is both tight and responsive, as well as each feral skill being easy to access in a pinch. However, the various vehicles that you come across and commandeer - including jeeps, ATVs, speedboats, jet skis and even hang gliders - don't handle so well. Maybe it was intentional, as careening through a jungle on an ATV while trying to take out guys with a submachine gun is never easy (believe me, my criminal record makes for extremely interesting reading material), but developers Crytek could have tightened up the vehicle control scheme a little bit.

On top of the supremely enjoyable single player campaign, Far Cry boasts one of the best experiences yet over Xbox Live. The usual FPS game modes are available: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag. However, the most interesting game mode is Predator, where a group of mercenaries is attempting to cross an area in order to activate one of their sonic alarms; however, one player is in full possession of the feral skills, feral strength and regenerative abilities and it's his or her job to stop the mercenaries from achieving their goal. Despite the potential for a somewhat dissuading 1 player versus 11 game mechanics, the player acting as the predator proves an almost unstoppable force, meaning that even if you've got 11 people on your team trying to take him down, you'll be required to work together cohesively if you're to activate the sonic alarm and win the game. By far the most impressive feature of the Xbox Live play is the map editor, which allows you to create your own custom maps, and one that puts the Timesplitters: Future Perfect custom maps to severe shame - you can upload them to other players online, too. This gives Far Cry limitless online potential. Surprisingly, any custom multiplayer maps you create will also be compatible with Far Cry Instincts: Evolution, coming at the end of March 2006.

Far Cry backs up its sublime gameplay with some of the best visuals and audio you've experienced, and are ever likely to experience, on Xbox. The jungles of the Jacutan Islands are chock-a-block with superbly detailed foliage and the water effects have to be seen to be believed. Character animation is fluid, lifelike and, in the case of the less human enemies, impresses with its truly spine-shivering if-one-of-those-actually-existed-THAT-is-how-it'd-move factor. And everything sounds - for want of some words that don't scream "cheesy alliteration" - positively perfect. While you make your way through the archipelago you can hear water flowing down rivers, birds singing and wind rustling through the jungle canopy. The guns all sound pleasingly meaty, the enemies chatter among themselves when they're unaware of your presence - and either bark orders at each other or panic amusingly if they spot you - and those creepy mutants have the audio splendour to back up their sublime animation. Just wait until you first come across the screeching mutant monkey things. You'll want a shotgun handy…

Far Cry Instincts is nigh on perfect. There's no other way to put it. Words simply cannot do this game the justice it so admirably deserves. It's the most original, involving and technically astounding first person shooter since Halo 2 finally emerged and barged its way into every Xbox owner's home, and it puts most of its competitors to absolute shame. If you have even an inkling of interest in running around gorgeous jungles, unloading shotgun shells into someone's face and engaging in super-powered duels to the death with genetic freaks brewing inside you, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this game. Pick it up now and you should just about complete it in time to run out and pick up the sequel. Remember: listen to me, because I'm always right.

Reviewed by Mark Reece for AceGamez (All Rights Reserved).