Far Cry 2 dev - CoD4 was the new reference for multiplayer

Far Cry 2 multiplayer producer Richard Gaetan has admitted that the shooter's online play was heavily influenced by Call of Duty 4, but that the Activision shooter's exact formula was too "chaotic" for the African action game.

"For sure, starting last fall, it was like the new reference for multiplayer," said Gaetan of CoD4. "We played it a lot, and people on the team played it a lot, and then we discussed. Some people wanted to be exactly like it and then we said, 'No. Our core technology and the core mechanics of single-player are not Call of Duty-like.'

"We wanted to keep some of the cool things that Call of Duty brought – the progressions system is one thing – but then, we tried the same progression, as in you unlock weapons as you go, etc, but it didn't work for us. It was a bit too chaotic. Our map, with the dynamics of the destructibility, the fire, the night and day cycle: it wasn't working fine.

The team, instead, focused on elements from the single-player game and adapted them for the online side.

"So we said, 'OK, we have some mechanics that are really good from the single-player and we're going to bring them to the multiplayer and just adapt them.' So, some of the animation, reloading, iron sight, we tweaked them so they're a bit faster in multiplayer, but not as fast as another shooter," said Gaetan.

Far Cry 2 ships for PC, PS3 and 360 later this month.