After bringing a "parallel universe" of Far Cry - Far Cry Instincts - to the Xbox and not receiving the same kind of praise, they felt it would be best to re-release the title on a machine that would do it justice, and that's exactly what has happened with Far Cry Instincts Predator.

Sure it's a mouthful, and could easily be titled Far Cry Instincts 1.5, but this title definately sits well on the 360 lineup. While the initial story stays the same, Crytek Studios added a second chapter of sorts to the game, so that those that had played the game before will get a little more out of it.

Sadly, to open up the second story you need to spend the hours playing through the first, while this may not be an issue - and would seem the logical way for things to unravel - those that have spent the hours going through the game the first time through may not see the benefit in going through it all again just to open up the smaller second story.

For those that have played this game before, let's cut to the chase, there is only a tiny reason for you to pick up this title and thats for the achievements, for the rest of you, this review is for you.

The game starts with Jack Carver as captain of his ship, while not being the best boat out there it helps him make a living. We find him and his newest client just outside the reef of a tropical island and before the opening intro can finish she has hired his jetski to further investigate the island.

With nothing left to do, Jack lies down and relaxes into a deep sleep. Woken by the sound of helicopter blades and the incoming bullets and rockets, Jack swears his way through the first intense minutes of the game, and thus starts the game. In the following chase you will learn everything you need to know to keep Jack alive. How to swim, how to climb and how to take down a soldier from behind with your butterfly knife.

Over the course of the game you find out why there are soldiers on this isolated island, that the client you were showing around isn't who she said she was, that there is some kind of weird experimentation going on on the island and that Jack is now a part of it.

After being captured and injected Jack starts taking on interesting abilities, and by the end of the game you will not only be able to smell your enemy, but jump over chasms to tear them to shreds with your newly sharpened claws. While this may not sound a lot like Far Cry it is a lot of fun and it will always be a tough decision on whether or not you want to take out the encampment of soldiers with bullets or brawn.

Another new addition to Far Cry is the ability to only hold 3 different weapons at once: a pistol (or two), a sub machine gun (or two) and a sniper/rocket launcher. Jack is also armed with his trusty rocks, which can be thrown to alert/interest soldiers, can pick up a selection of explosives and always has plenty of thorny branches to set as traps on trees.

While the second story is a nice bonus, it feels more like a second chapter than an added bonus we should be thanking them for. It doesn't last very long and you start with all the powers you finished the first story with, however it does start on a different island with a different heroine by your side: it just doesn't captivate as much as the first story.

The good news here is that once you're bored with the solo player mode you have almost an unlimited amount of hours to spend creating your own island getaways and them playing them against friends or over Xbox Live with a group of online friends.

The Map Editor has a gentle learning curve, and before too long you will zooming a jetski around your small island paradise taking it over jumps and running through the self placed buildings before taking it online and wowing others with your inane spatial ability.

OK, so 90% of the user created maps over the live service are extremely lame, so take your time and try to keep building on bettering your idea and try to place many of the new additions - ziplines and sniper ladders - in places that help instead of prohibit, and maybe gamers will be happy to take each other out on your map. And you'll be seeing a lot of different Xbox Live maps purely for the amount of multiplayer mayhem you'll be putting yourself through.

From your standard deathmatch to a Secure the Sample (capture the flag) style there will be a game mode for everyone here. With the added benefit of grabbing "Predator" powers you'll find yourself tearing through the hours before you even realise the night is over.