Far Cry 2 - interview

In what other areas would you say you're pushing FPS genre boundaries in Far Cry 2? Our spies have told us something about dynamic story elements, for example...?

Clint Hocking: The game's story is non-linear, dynamic, and procedurally assembled using a simple drama-management engine to populate the story with key characters, and facilitate the convergence of the story toward major climactic events.

The player's overarching goal is to hunt down and kill a man who is allegedly responsible for selling arms to both sides of a conflict in a failed African state. He is not only free to go where he wants in order to achieve this mission, but is also free to take missions for either of the game's principle factions who promise to facilitate him in his mission.

The player can work for either or both of these factions, playing both sides against the middle to keep them handicapped, and leveraging his reputation and infamy to maximize his gain while simultaneously working with autonomous AI "buddies" - themselves procedurally called into the story by the drama-engine to suit the needs of the narrative.