By Dimorphic
It has been two years coming, but finally the next generation of consoles are delivering the next generation games. The recent releases of Far Cry 2, Fallout 3 and Fable 2 have shown off the next generation really should be.
The answer is freedom. Pretty graphics are all well and good, but true freedom and advanced gameplay is what this generation of consoles should be all about. The freedom to shape the game world you are playing in, the power to tackle a situation through means that you want too, and the ability to be immersed in a story that you help shape. These things are what I consider truly “next generation”.
Lets look at Far Cry 2 to start with. You are thrown into a fictitious country in war-torn Africa and told to go and find the Jackal. That’s your objective, and how you go about it is your choice. The missions you undertake, factions you align yourself with and ways you approach the mission objectives is all down to you.

To illustrate my point, I decided to scope out this big rebel base, surrounded by long grass. I hiked it from a fair way aways because I wanted to be all sneaky like and after I set up with my perfect position I decided to start picking people off. No sooner do I start shooting do I realise that the occupation of this camp is much, much larger than I thought and I begin to get overrun.
I switch to my MAC-10 and start pumping the guards that coming running at me, while I see others down near the garages run to their jeeps. I decided to bail and pull out my flamethrower. Now I decided to set up my escape route before I attacked the base and had my car ready to go a little bit down the other side of the ravine (away from the base), so I light a HUGE bush fire with my flamethrower so the other guards can’t chase me down (the ravine funnled into a narrow pathway so the fire engulfed everything on the other side.
After watching my handiwork for a bit from the top of the ravine I drove back to Pala and undertook some faction missions, and having experienced that previous attack my mind was working, figuring out all the different ways I could attack the scripted mission objectives.
I think that just illustrates the freedom you are given these days, you are god within the world and your actions decide the scope of the game.
Fable 2 is similar, you can choose to give a guard the warrents he lost or sell them to the criminals, both offer obvious immediate reactions (money for selling the writs, presitge for giving them to the guard), but come back to that part of town years later and depending on your choice the area will be a well kept, growing and vibrant city, or a hive of scum and villany.

Fable 2 has a fully working in game economy for gods sake! If I want to build up a nice little real estate buisness but don’t have the money to start it I can just run down the town that I want to buy out. Steal things, smash up shops etc, and that lowers their real world value. After that value has been lowered I can buy the stores and houses, rent them out and set the prices of the stores, as well as refurnish the houses and start to build the town back up, making it economically viable and earn myself a nice profit.
I think two years in we are starting to see the possibilities with the new technology these new consoles are offering to developers. And if the recent releases are anything to go by, we’re in for a fun ride!
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