Beach Level Walkthrough

Far Cry Instincts™ easily ranks among the top first-person shooters on Xbox®. Thanks to its incredible artificial intelligence, jaw-dropping visuals, and trigger-happy setup, the game never fails to impress. One thing the game isn't, though: easy. Use this step-by-step guide to safely complete the first level and begin your quest to survive in this tropical hell.

Adrift in the tide, you swim up on shore. Suddenly, there's movement on the beach … mercenaries go zipping by in helicopters and Humvees. Stand stunned as a voice resonates in your ear.

A mysterious figure known only as Doyle makes contact. His message: Your current position is unsafe. Head inland towards a mercenary village, then proceed onwards until meeting up with your former passenger, Valerie Cortez. A licensed helicopter pilot, it's suggested she can help you escape the island.

You're now in direct control of hero Jack Carver, armed only with a butterfly knife.

Stalk With Stealth
Cross the shallow body of water in front of you. Stalk and kill the mercenary ahead by backstabbing him, so as not to alert other enemies. Proceed onwards, towards the encampment ahead, where a guard stands staring out to sea through a pair of binoculars.

Eliminate the sentry by aiming for his head and executing a one-shot takedown with your silenced pistol. Take the binoculars sitting on top of the sandbags. If you need health, look beneath the rock outcropping next to the radio.

Continue along the beach, sticking to the left side of the path and maneuvering through the vegetation. Two more mercenaries come strolling up the beach. Use the cover provided by the foliage and nearby rocks to hide behind and slaughter them. Don't worry about making noise; no one will hear it.

Afterwards, proceed along the seashore. A path opens up on your left. Follow it upwards and between the rock outcroppings.

Eliminate the Mercenary Patrol
After passing through, immediately move to the right side of the path and enter the underbrush. Mercenaries are patrolling the area. Set up branch whip traps using the trees in the area, then throw rocks to trick one or two into investigating. Once you've whittled down their ranks, dispose of any stragglers. After finishing, if you need first aid or ammunition, look in the hut on the right.

Follow the blue triangle on your radar to the south—it points to your next objective. You'll come upon a hut on stilts and some wooden docks nearby. All appears quiet, but beware—deadly foes lurk nearby. Disable as many as possible by stalking and backstabbing them before charging in, barrels blazing.

Now's as good a time as any to swap your silenced pistol for a single revolver or pair of handguns … the firepower will come in handy. Watch out for boats with machine gun turrets docked nearby. The hut holds health and ammo if you find yourself in a pinch.

Keep moving up the hillside on your left until you reach several additional huts. Kill the mercenary in the hut closest to you by backstabbing him, or crawl under the hut, roll over onto your back, and shoot him through the floorboards. Keep an eye out for his buddy, who's patrolling the area.

Mercenary Camp
Continue onwards to a small mercenary camp. A chopper takes off as you watch. Circle around back and pick off enemies from behind the cover of tall grass and trees. Be careful—they have machine guns.

Enter the tent located closely by. Grab the body armor and health pack waiting there. A map of the island is there for you to check out. Doyle phones in to let you know there are a couple paths you can take to get where you're going, and introduces the local mercenary commander, an unsavory fellow known as Crowe.

Head west, watching for mercenary patrols along the way, which you can eliminate with your automatic weapons. Cross the bridge to another enemy campground. Search over by the toilet to find a box of grenades. Use them to kill all mercenaries in the camp.

Follow the path leading upwards and northwest. Continue down it until you see a chopper in the distance. Hold the up arrow on the directional pad to use your binoculars so you can spy on the events transpiring, and listen in as Crowe makes off with Valerie.

Doyle makes contact—change of plans. You need to swipe a Humvee and head for the other side of the island.

A One-Man Army
Proceed forward toward the mercenary camp. As the gate opens, obliterate the enemies which come pouring out by any means necessary. Then take control of the mounted machine gun on your left by holding the X button; use it to mow down onrushing adversaries.

Move towards the west side of the camp, to the right of where you first entered through the main gate. The Humvee waits in a garage there. Hold the X button to climb in, then hang a right out of the holding bay and ram through the fences ahead.

Drive up the path which lies before you, passing several huts guarded by mercenaries that contain ammo and health. With Crowe's chopper in pursuit, try to stay on the path while it shoots missiles at the road and knocks trees and boulders into your way.

When you see the chopper hovering low over a clearing in front of you, switch to the gun turret by pressing the B button. Unload on the whirlybird until it flees.

Eventually, you'll come to a fallen log. At this point, it's necessary to leave the Humvee behind. Head forward on foot, past the destroyed bridge, to a small mercenary camp with a tower and satellite dish atop it.

Take Out the Camp
Several mercenaries are located here. Start by quietly assassinating the one directly in front of you. Get close to the fuel barrel near the tower, and lob a grenade at it or shoot it until it blows up. The tower explodes and falls down on top of the hut. Finish off any remaining mercenaries.

Steal the Humvee and ram through the fence ahead, flooring the gas pedal while dodging any obstacles the helicopter sends flying your way. Watch out for an enemy Humvee which suddenly bursts onto the scene too, although you can easily eliminate it with your gun turret.

A bridge looms in the distance. Damn—the helicopter destroys it. Looks like you'll have to continue onwards by foot…

At last, you're off the beach. Check back for more strategy and tactics for Far Cry: Instincts. Until then … keep your head down.

Article by Chris Zimmerman