Rule your own world

Volume 48, No. 12, July 13, 2006

Far Cry Instincts Predator
XBox 360 MA15+

FIGHT: Feral punch.

The game:
There are two stories in Far Cry. In the first you are Jack Carver, a retired Navy commando, now a charterboat captain, stranded on a remote Pacific island where a mad scientist is creating human-animal hybrids and a massive army of guerillas are pretty keen to end your time. You are captured and injected with a serum that makes you part animal. In the second story you (Carver) end up as muscle for gun-running. When it all goes pear shaped, you’re on the run, battling rebels as well as a tribe of animal-human hybrids.

The play:
You have a massive arsenal and are able to pick up your enemy’s weapons. Once you’re part animal, you have the ability to hand out the ‘feral punch’ – an absolute favourite of mine. There’s plenty of variety, from hit-and-run raids to stealthy inflitration of enemy compounds, to setting up traps in the jungle to take out unsuspecting enemies. There’s an excellent range of vehicles, from quad bikes to jet skis to Humvees and even a hang-glider. Multi-player modes are standard with the exception of predator mode, where one player gets animal powers.

The terrain:
The scenery is excellent, the soundtrack isn’t too bad and the sound effects are very good. Shadowing is excellent and dappling light effects in the jungle are amazing – especially in HD.

The experience:
There’s a lot of game play in Predator – highly recommended.

– SQNLDR Nick Hogan.

Rogue Trooper
PS2

The game:
Set on the Planet of Nu Earth, you are Rogue, a genetically-engineered soldier cloned and bred to survive the harsh environmental conditions while eliminating the Norts, who are the oppressors and your sworn enemy.

The play:
You have three buddies which you initially run around with, but one by one they are taken out and you end up with their microchips attached to various bits of your kit, allowing you to access their specialities. This allows for a lot of extra capabilities including holographic decoy images to enemy fire.

In virtually all of the battlefields you’ll have the ability to snipe enemies, plant explosives, use weapon emplacements and toss around a few different types of grenades – but you don’t run around and pick up battlefield ammo. Instead, you have to purchase it. I found myself having to duck for cover while I bought a few more rounds to send down-range.

The missions are quite varied and keep the interest factor throughout, although it took me around five hours to finish this title. It is multi-player enabled for on-line play but this was not tested.

The terrain:
Scorched earth, blue friendlies and plenty of baddies – not much for terrain detail but I didn’t note any framing issues and the sound effects for each weapon system allowed me to determine large from small calibre. The cut-scenes were good but nothing to rave about.

The experience:
Rogue Trooper is quite unique and a whole lot of fun but unfortunately short.

– SQNLDR Nick Hogan.

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