The original Far Cry earned a mixed reputation at best when it debuted on the PC and Xbox a few years back. The Crytek shooter started characters out in a fairly open world, but eventually funneled them into a very specific path, all the while bestowing upon the player some nearly ridiculous feral powers that threw out every notion of game balance or good common sense. Now, Far Cry 2 is nearing completion, but with a new chef in the kitchen. Ubisoft Montreal has stepped in for Crytek, and the game they’re crafting is far different than what we saw the last time around.

We got a bit of time with the title at E3 last week, and quickly learned that the jungle setting is about the only thing this game has in common with the original. Now, instead of running from one objective to the next along a very restricted path, the whole world is opened up, and you can attack objectives in whatever manner you see fit. There’s no better illustration of this than examining the way one of the game’s developers completed an objective when compared to TGR’s own writers.

When the game booted up, we were offered the choice of one of six weapon loadouts for the purposes of this demo. Our guide explained that he prefers stealthy fighting, so he took the “Commando” weapon set which features IEDs for creating distractions and a sniper rifle for quietly picking off enemies from afar. He also made it a point to quickly take his character to a nearby safehouse so he could advance the game to nighttime, since there would be fewer enemies patrolling due to the AI’s need to eat, sleep, and generally behave like human beings. While at the shack, he also got some advice about the objective (blowing up a radio tower) from a few buddies. These NPCs are constant companions throughout the game, and making them grow to like you will cause them to come to your aid in battle (possibly even reviving you when you die), or even help you complete objectives in new ways. However, they aren’t like the characters in most games: these guys can all die (even by your hand if you choose), and killing them means they’re gone forever. That’s right, if you take them down or let someone else ice them, you won’t see that buddy again until you play through the game again from scratch.

At any rate, once our demo guide was stocked up, briefed, and ready to go, he set out for the main objective. Pulling out his trusty compass and map (which is brought up in real time and held by your character for as long as you have it activated), he set off for the objective, but not without making a stop first. You see, one of the characters back at the tent mentioned a pipeline which, if ruptured, would refill a dry riverbed and allow you to use a boat to close in on the ultimate objective and then escape later. Taking out this pipe is completely optional, and if you’d rather forgo it, then there’s absolutely no consequence aside from needing to devise another exit strategy.