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In just the last few years, the notion of what makes an action-packed game, or a roller coaster ride within a singleplayer game has drastically changed. With Call of Duty once seen as the king of directed action, more and more game have attempted to reach the same spectacle by merely building the systems to create chaos - but letting the player discover it themselves. And among those video games, Far Cry 4 has a head start.

Far Cry 3 went head first into insanity, dropping players into a tropical fever dream with larger-than-life villains and venues. The reception was clearly a strong one, since Far Cry 4 is taking that same brand of action to brand new heights (literally). And the latest video on the game shows that in the world of Kyrat, the mythological realm of Shangri-La, or simply playing with friends, chaos is still key.

We didn't need further convincing that the core systems of Ubisoft's upcoming shooter would lead to... unexpected encounters; after we saw charging elephants shift from friend to foe at E3 2014, it was fairly clear that letting go of some control would be necessary. In our most recent time with the game, a trip to the Himalayan peaks proved there really was something to the game's tagline - that every second can become its very own story.

As we explained in our preview of the game's Shangri-La stages, the trip into the mythological history of Kyrat is far more constrained, or linear than the larger open world. As constrained as gameplay can be when players have a man-eating tiger at their side, anyway. But no matter how different those areas may feel from the grounded look and feel of Kyrat, the developers are right to promise that the gameplay will remain a constant. And after being chased off a cliff by a charging rhino, a power trip is a nice change of pace.

Another interesting aspect to the game will be the unique strategy that Ubisoft - in conjunction with Sony - has concocted to help sell copies of their game among friends. With each copy of the game purchased for the PS3 or PS4, players will have the chance to invite up to 10 friends to play cooperatively. The play session only lasts two hours, but past experience shows that it's not always easy to grasp that in the world of Far Cry, losing control is partly the point. If newcomers learn that alongside friends - where story missions are removed - then perhaps they'll take the plunge themselves.

What aspect of the game are you interested to see for yourselves: the open world gameplay, or the story of a Kyrat native returning home to a war-torn nation? Will you be holding off on buying, and trying co-op with a friend to gauge your interest? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Far Cry 4 will be available for PC, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3 and PS4 on November 18, 2014.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.

Source: PlayStation Blog