Far Cry 2
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
Release date: October 2008

In 2004, German developer Crytek released Far Cry, a PC-only FPS that had you scouring a tropical island in search of a woman who was kidnapped by mercenaries. Crytek has since gone on to make last year’s controversial PC system-crusher Crysis, handing off the Far Cry sequel to Ubisoft Montreal.

The new game shifts the narrative focus to Africa and a battle between warring native factions. You play a hired gun that’s caught between the combatants, stricken with malaria and forced to play one side against the other to survive. You do this by wandering the 50-square-kilometer map, using any means necessary to take out your enemies.

According to Creative Director Clint Hocking, Ubisoft has built Far Cry 2’s game engine from scratch, rather than licensing Crytek’s original technology. All objects in the game are either deformable or alterable, including the grasslands of the savannah, which can be a valuable weapon when set ablaze by a flamethrower or a Molotov cocktail. There are 30 available weapons in the game, but your character can only carry three non-melee weapons at a time, forcing you to decide which are the best three for the job at hand. Also, the new engine allows the loading of the entire map at one time, which means you won’t have distracting loading screens to take you out of the action.

Far Cry 2 comes loaded with 12 possible playable characters. You choose one, and then the others, known as “buddies,” are seeded throughout the map in strategic places. As you encounter these buddies, they join you in your fight against the enemy, and fall by the wayside after you move on. But if they are killed, they stay dead, which can become a factor as the story progresses. Online multiplayer facts were scarce at the event, but Hocking did confirm that the game will include four MP modes, 14 maps and a level editor. He also indicated that the PC version will be DX10 compatible, so those of you with Windows Vista and a good graphics card will have a new toy to play with this fall.

Prince of Persia
Platforms: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, PC
Release date: Holiday 2008

The Prince has been a busy boy. The Prince of Persia series goes back to 1989 in a game published by Broderbund for numerous platforms, most of which are now extinct. In the intervening years, there have been 11 Prince games; two were even designed for mobile phones. A new chapter in the Prince’s adventures is coming this fall, and it takes a bold step away from linear storytelling and towards open-world gameplay.

In the new game, the Tree of Life has become a casualty in the ongoing war between the gods of light and darkness. A creeping black mass known as the Corruption is spreading throughout the world. It’s your task as the Prince to stop the Corruption and heal the land. You are aided in this quest by Elika, a fierce fighter whose help is invaluable in your battle against the evil infestation.

Powered by the Anvil engine, used most recently in Assassin’s Creed, Prince of Persia features anime-style graphics that bring to life the colorful world of the Middle East. Gameplay combines traditional fighting-game mechanics with Tomb Raider-style acrobatics in a world in which you can progress in a number of different paths, rather than being herded through the story in a linear corridor. Your choice of paths has an effect on how the story progresses, creating numerous opportunities for repeat play. The addition of Elika means that death respawns are at a bare minimum, since your companion can’t die and will always come to your rescue when needed. This guarantees a practically non-stop gameplay experience that action gamers will find most refreshing.

On the disappointing side, Prince of Persia will not include a multiplayer component; the developers chose instead to concentrate on creating a top-notch single-player game. Also, this title is not connected to the upcoming feature film “Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time,” due for theatrical release in 2010.