STALKER though, STALKER is all about the interaction -the Al factions battling it out over the map, the creatures fighting each other and dragging carcasses into food stockpiles: the whole mess coming together in an unhealthy splurge of bullets, flesh and teeth. Sure, they 'could' program in some lions, cheetahs, tigers and dinosaurs to hunt down those sprightly gazelles, but it isn't the focus of the game, so they're not bothering. but they can't be arsed with the ecosystem. The Ubisoft guys are creating a wilderness in Far Cry 2. When it comes to free-form FPS action, Far Cry 2 may have stolen the limelight from CSC Game World a smidge, but, while that game promises astounding things, it certainly isn't as brave.

This might sound fanciful, but anyone who's played STALKER knows the unexpected goodness its Al can conjure - this event can and will happen to the fortunate as they play. One is mere feet from your hiding place when, suddenly, an almost invisible creature leaps 10 feet in the air from the growth opposite, grabs the bandit before again leaping away into the rushes to feast on its prey.

And there you are, crouching in the windswept reeds, taking cover from a military helicopter sweeping overhead, when you spot a bandit patrol coming straight towards you down one of the bog's many narrow gullies - their brains powered by an updated version of STALKER'S astounding A-Life system. It's a huge boggy mess, flooded long ago by a Soviet government far more interested in hydroelectricity than land management.

The Sun Is setting on the vast, open marshland that constitutes Clear Sky's opening stages.

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