Far Cry 2 Headquarters

Of all the games at E3, there were very few that left a lasting impression like Far Cry 2 has. I loved the first Far Cry game. The experience was defined by the limitless options players had when approaching any given conflict. I often found myself starting a fight, backtracking a quarter-mile and then re-engaging the area from a new location. Thankfully, Far Cry 2 has taken everything that I loved about the first title (open world, vehicles, amazing graphics) and left all the bad parts out to pasture (mutant ape storyline, I’m looking at you)...

When we last saw Clint Hocking, creative director at Ubisoft Montreal, he was making a last minute stop at PAX to show off Far Cry 2. The visibly tired Hocking took us on a tour of the new game's exotic environment, the African Serengeti – exoticism being the game's major connection to the original. A couple weeks ago at Ubisoft's Ubidays event in San Francisco, Hocking was there again, but in a smaller room (decorated in an African theme) surrounded by journalists actually playing the game...

The argument that cutscenes are dead as a narrative form in games has been spread far and wide. The sense that we must push the medium toward a form of interactive narrative that is as strong and vital as the innovations in other areas of gameplay and technology has taken hold with many creators.