The Xbox, whether by design or circumstance, is primarily a shooter console, built around a pair of triggers on a controller that weighs about as much as a loaded M-60 squad automatic machine gun. The Xbox came into the world with a great first-person shooter, and the Halo series is still the most popular title in its library. And, paradoxically, until now, Halo was the only truly great FPS it had. Enter Far Cry: Instincts, the next—and possibly last—great Xbox FPS. You play as Jack Carver (or, as is the tradition in these things, Jack Carver's hands) after his boat is blown out from under him near a tropical island. Naturally, this means you have to kill a lot of people with those hands, or whatever they're holding. This is handled beautifully, via everything from silenced pistols to double submachine guns to spiked branch traps, plus a seamless running-walking-crawling system which is used either to sneak around killing people, or to run around killing people. Later, you'll be captured and injected with mystery mutant serum, which gives you fun new senses and turns those hands into gnarled, deadly weapons that can rag-doll a mercenary through the side of a Quonset hut. And it all looks fantastic, even online with far too many people homiciding around. Only the iffy plot, the excruciating soundtrack, and the imminent launch of the Xbox 360 will prevent Far Cry from assuming a place in the firmament.