Beyond Far Cry Instincts
At A Glance
- An Ubisoft producer discusses Far Cry Instincts Predator.
Developer Crytek opened a lot of eyes when it unleashed Far Cry on PC a few years ago. Ubisoft expanded the franchise last year with the Xbox® game Far Cry Instincts™. Now it's taking the story a step further with an Xbox 360™ exclusive, Far Cry Instincts Predator™. The fact that both of these shooters are brainchilds of Ubisoft's award-winning Montreal studio bodes well for this new title.
While the protagonist, Jack Carver, remains the same in all of the games, his story has been expanded for this latest adventure. A retired Navy commando, Carver ferries rich clients around the Pacific and enjoys his life. Everything changes one day when his boat is attacked and sunk by mercenaries off the coast of a mysterious island. It's up to Carver to rescue his missing passenger and get off the island, which just happens to be infested with enemies of all types—including elite mercenaries, blood-thirsty pirates, and native warriors.
We recently sat down with Bertrand Helias, Ubisoft producer on Predator, for some behind-the-scenes insight into the upcoming next-gen title.
"The new story continues Jack Carver's adventures," says Helias. " This time around we really opened up the maps. For example, one of the first maps of the game will ask you to visit three different islands to complete some objectives, but players will be able to do it in any order. The new adventure really gives players a real sense of freedom and really encourages exploration."
The visuals in this version bring the action to life.
Fortunately for Carver, he's got more than just weapons knowledge and military training in his arsenal. The game lets Carver become stronger, faster, and more powerful through feral abilities, which enable him to track down enemies.
"For Far Cry Instincts Predator, we revamped the artificial intelligence with better reaction times, [faster] movements, improved accuracy, more use of covers, flanking options, etc.," says Helias. "So, this game will play completely differently on Xbox 360. It won't be a walk in the park anymore."
" Next-gen technology opens up the door to
create more immersive and interactive worlds."
The Islands of Jack Carver
Helias says that the Xbox 360 hardware allowed the development team to double (and sometimes triple) the polygon count on several aspects of the game, including vehicles, weapons, and characters. From a gaming world perspective, he says the team was able to use hi-resolution texturing on most assets in the game. The use of multiple CPU cores also opened up the door for more stunning effects which really shine with the game's water system.
"We were able to beef up action sequences with more stuff happening on screen at the same time, such as more enemies on screen, plus helicopters on the same screen arriving with reinforcements," says Helias. "Overall, the game will be more challenging than the original version."
Four wheel drive doesn't help when under assault.
Two Games for One
Far Cry Instincts Predator actually provides two experiences in one box. The game includes the original content from the Xbox title and brings new action to the table created to take advantage of the processing power of Xbox 360. The game's open-ended tropical environments have been designed to allow the player multiple options in taking out enemies. Some options include setting up brutal jungle traps, going for the stealth kills amidst the foliage, or holding your breath and making the perfect sniper shot. Gameplay covers all grounds as enemies come from the water, land, and sky. As a one-man army, Carver has a full arsenal of weapons like rocket salvos and dual machine guns to take down the enemy in single-player gaming.
In multiplayer gameplay, Helias says the original multiplayer modes return, which includes Predator mode, Chaos, Team Chaos, and Steal the Sample. But the team also added Seek and Secure, where teams race to locate a station and defend it for a certain amount of time to score points.
"The map editor returns with more features like zip lines, mounted weapons, new brushes, new functions, etc., which should allow the Xbox Live® community the ability to create even more spectacular maps to share amongst themselves," says Helias.
Targets come from above.
Far More to Do
"I think we're barely scratching the surface of what is technically possible with the new console," says Helias. "We were able to do some pretty cool things like the water, for example, and raise polygon counts and texture resolutions."
Helias says that next-generation consoles free up developers to create new games.
"Personally, I think it depends on what type of game you want to make," says Helias. "There are tons of good ideas out there that can be explored and they do not need to rely on tech specs. However, next-gen technology opens up the door to create more immersive and interactive worlds, such as Far Cry Instincts Predator."
Article by John Gaudiosi
