For anyone who's ever experienced that occasional moment of deja vu, Farcry Instincts Predator could seem like Groundhog Day on a console. After just a few minutes of playing the 360's latest first person shooter, your brow will crease and the smile on your face will pause and slowly turn into a frown. Didn't we do this yesterday? The fact is that the original Farcry was one of the best shooters the PC had ever seen. When you consider that other contenders for this accolade include the mighty Doom 3 and Half-Life2 you'll realise just what an achievement this was - two years ago. When Crytek's 2004 master blaster was ported over to the Xbox the game received a warm, if not slightly muted, reception. The Xbox incarnation was a solid enough shooter and well worth the asking price - if you hadn't already played the PC original.

Now we come to Farcry Instincts Predator (lets abbreviate that to FCIP, ok?) At a glance FCIP has all the ingredients of worthy addition to the franchise: a variety of weapons and vehicles, a stunning outdoor location, online modes and a great map editor.

But then isn't that more or less what the Xbox version had and the PC game before that?

Even the story line is identical. Rough and ready mercenary Jack Carver is hired by a sultry but ultimately dangerous damsel for a job which appears simple but ultimately dangerous and ends up on an exotic island which appears luscious but, yes, you guessed it, ultimately dangerous. Ad infinitum. Don't get us wrong. FCIP isn't a bad game. No, that's a Farcry from the truth (see what we did there?). It's just that for most first person shooter fans who've already played the game on the PC or the Xbox, there isn't really much here to justify handing over your hard earned cash.

The graphics have been polished slightly (this is the most powerful console in the world, after all ) and, yes, the water looks even better than before. There are slightly more vehicles and weapons than you'll find in the Xbox outing and the map editor has been improved. But, really that’s it as far as improvements go. When compared to the mind numbing superiority of Call of Duty 2 and the 'Oh, my God, would you look at those graphics' appeal of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, FCIP is so weak it could be on life support.

In some areas, Farcry Instincts Predator even manages to under perform its Xbox sibling. Enemy AI has been dumbed down to the point where soldiers will run in a straight line into your line of fire and, on occasions, stand still while you pump them full of lead. Targeting, a huge bug bear for first person shooters on the console, will also make you grind your teeth and mutter obscenities. Whereas in the Xbox the slightly a*isted cross-hair made up for the precision of the PC's keyboard and mouse, FCIP's aiming is, to say the least, loose and inaccurate. Yes, you can double wield weapons as you could in the Xbox game. But hitting a target has become, well, a 'hit and miss' affair. Another minor gripe we had with this game was in the interface. Why, oh why, is 'Play without saving' the default option when you boot up the game? Who the devil wants to play a game without saving? And, while we’re shaking a fist at the console, why can't you save whenever you want? If there's one thing we hate at Loadedinc its games which force you to play through twenty minutes of a level again and again simply because you keep dieing in the same spot and can't save. Seriously, it’s enough to make you want to stand on the cats neck.

In its defence FCIP is essentially two games in one.

Once you've completed the 'Instincts' game you will automatically unlock the 'Evolution' chapters. Here you start off with all your feral abilities intact and can go on a rampage, following the scent of your targets, seeing in the dark and jumping like the incredible Hulk. However, this game is fairly short and will be completed in about 6 hours. Hmmm. If you'd rather get straight into the unleashed Carver gameplay without wading through the first game, the developers have thoughtfully added a cheats option which will allow you to access the locked game without playing through its prequel. Handy. Also, the multiplayer mode will be a huge hit with FPS fans. Here you can go toe-to-toe with up to 16 people online and four on a split screen. There are some 22 different maps and some very cool modes including the excellent Stealth mode. As we mentioned, hard core gamers will love the improved map-editing function which makes it easier to create maps, populate them with trees, vehicles and objects and publish online.

And yet even this is not enough to banish that persistent sensation of déjà vu. The truth is Farcry Instincts Predator is a great game for first time around players. For anyone else, it’s sadly more of the same.