This Shacknews preview of Far Cry 2 makes it seem like the game is going in a very interesting, decidely non-linear and Stalker-like direction. I’ve heard a variety of good and bad rumblings about the project, but at least you have to like the ambition. I particularly liked the fact that you have NPC allies who can die, and can’t be brought back in any way. Eastern European game design seems to be influencing more mainstream design in a lot of interesting ways. Obviously part of the reason
Far Cry 2 is going in this direciton is because of its roots, but it’s still a different team and I could have imagined them making a fairly straightforward and linear narrative-based scifi shooter that would have smited us all with its legendary god-like mediocrity.