Another Xbox 360 game with looks that could launch a thousand Plasma HDTVs out the door of your local electronics store, Far Cry Instincts Predator is not just a testament to graphical horsepower harnessed, but of top tier game design, all South Seas lush and organic tropical that it is.

It's a first person shooter (FPS) set in the now, which means there's no skulking down the dim dank corridors of alien infested space stations (though there are some clammy caverns and urbanized confines in need of a good skulk) and no mucking though fifty shades of brown in WWII trenches. Just a veritable Caribbean holiday amongst thriving vegetation, exclusive-spa-caliber beaches lapped by the meditative waves of pristine ocean swells and quite a few people trying to kill you. Gun 'em down. Or tip-toe through the palm fronds all quiet and commando, or go all melee berserker on 'em, or jack a jeep and make a run for it. It's all good. Exceptional, really.

There's also a stock but solid multiplayer element and a surprisingly inventive map editor that lets you create your own lush levels and share them.

All told, however, it's not a particularly new game (it's not called Far Cry 2, after all), but it is the most complete version of a game that first appeared spectacularly on the PC as Far Cry, was then appreciably revamped and injected with a primordial man-beast element as Far Cry Instincts for Xbox (which you play again here), now suffixed with "Predator" (as the next chapter/new campaign) and just plain vamping to man-beast extremes on the Xbox 360 where it stands in good company with the few other games that can justify the extra $10 you need to spend for its allegedly-costly, new-generation newness.

• TIP: You can unlock the new Evolution part of Far Cry Instinct Predator without playing the Instincts story first by going to the cheats menu then entering GiveMeItAll.



• You can also get infinite adrenaline by entering Bloodlust, infinite ammo by entering UnleashHell, and enable Evolutions' Feral Attack by entering FeralAttack.