Crysis 2 Preview
Most discussions about 2007's first-person shooter Crysis usually involve the title's groundbreaking visuals and the demands made on even the most pimped-out PCs to enjoy those amazing graphics. For the upcoming sequel, developer Crytek wants gamers to have similar conversations about its eye-popping presentation, but not on how they had to break the bank to run it on their machines. In fact, they want all gamers--even console owners--to experience Crysis 2 in all its graphical boundary-pushing glory. To emphasize this, they recently demoed it for us on Xbox 360 hardware.
The hands-off peek began on New York City's Wall Street, in a future set not long after the events of the first game. But the financial mecca wasn't populated by the expected Starbucks-sipping suits; no, this version was empty, save for all the abandoned, burning vehicles, smoke-billowing skyscrapers, and patrolling Crynet soldiers. The affective setting, supported by photo-realistic shadowing, lighting and other cool visual trickery, could send a chill down the spine of anyone who's visited the real-world location. Dubbing their NYC's destroyed design as "catastrophic beauty", Crytek hopes to make this unsettling setting as much a character as the game's star super soldiers.
Speaking of Nano-suited badasses, the demo quickly went from showing us the rotten core of the Big Apple, to the man who's going to clean up the mess. From high above the post apocalyptic-like landscape, the unnamed protagonist surveyed his surroundings right before leaping to an adjacent rooftop. Once he found his footing, he went into cloaked mode, one of the many powers afforded by the Nanosuit 2.0. With the stealth camo equipped and footsteps silenced, he pulled a pistol and took out a private military henchman with an ease that'd have Sam Fisher taking notice. Crytek then explained that most gamers played the original Crysis either very stealthy or like a shoot-first-ask-questions-later tank. With this in mind, they're streamlining the sequel's Nanosuit abilities to better accommodate these opposing play styles. Previous strategies from the first game of fighting as a guerrilla, skirting around the fringe of a hardened position can still be executed, but they'll now be better integrated, allowing for more customization and on-the-fly gameplay. In a nutshell, Crytek is creating a suit that not only does more, but does it better.
Preparing to show off the Nanosuit's more run-and-gun style, the hero switched off his invisible camo—as well as any concern for alerting foes with his hammering footsteps—and ripped a turret clean off a nearby balcony. Moving on from where he pierced a Crynet soldier's brain pan with a single, silenced shot, he headed into a glass-covered tunnel. As expected, bringing a hand cannon into such a fragile structure can lead to some ear-shattering and eye-pleasing action. Sure enough, with baddies alerted to his presence, the Gatling gun-toting avatar turned that tunnel into a pile of jagged shards in just under five seconds. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed the sights and sounds of sparkling, flying fragments that much.
With a path of destruction in his wake and a pile of Crynet corpses in front of him, he continued to unleash a hot lead storm on all remaining enemies. Giving their destruction tech another nod, Crytek staged the next firefight on a rooftop cafe. With a sea of patio tables, chairs, plants, and umbrellas between him and the bad guys, the well-armed protagonist put on a destruction-fueled display to rival his previous handiwork in the glass tunnel. Tables flipped into the air, plant leaves received a surgically precise bullet grooming, and those umbrellas were reduced to wind-swept confetti. Coupled with the turret's endless barrage of bullets, the destruction-encouraging environments put on quite a show; and the decimated NYC backdrop only complemented the all-hell-breaking-loose vibe. It'll be hard playing this one stealthy after seeing how much fun it is to simply blow crap up in Crysis 2.
Of course, the sequel to one of the genre's most defining titles has more to offer than just pretty effects and explosions. While we didn't see much of it during our demo, the urban jungle setting promises a vertical play approach absent from the original's lush jungles. Players, with help from the Nanosuit's boost jump, will be able to get around the city's towering structures with ease, delivering death from above if so desired. The sprawling city will also provide more of a sandbox for players to strategize and experiment in; in fact, the developers are hoping the open world and varying play styles afforded by the Nanosuit will encourage curious gamers to thwart this particular alien threat multiple times.
Speaking of pesky extraterrestrials, enemies will also be more varied in the sequel. In addition to the super-soldier humans we spied, we saw some Halo Hunter and Jackal-like baddies charging down Wall Street. Expect smarter baddies, too; alien and human AI will flank, use cover, and generally try to use the environment in a sophisticated fashion. Additional improvements include a well-crafted story; Crytek makes no bones about the last title's narrative being its weakest area, so they've brought on sci-fi author Richard Morgan to flesh out a yarn they're promising will place equal importance on the setting, characters, and the Nanosuit--yes, even the suit has a story to tell.
What we saw of Crysis 2 was damn impressive. The visuals and destruction effects seem to be raising the bar for console shooters, and the freedom-granting gameplay looks to be taking the often highly scripted FPS genre in a new direction. The story is still under wraps, and who we'll actually be playing as hasn't been officially confirmed--is it the first game's Nomad? Multi-player details are similarly shrouded in secrecy. But based on what we saw, Crytek's history, and what they're promising in terms of Nanosuit abilities, enhanced AI, and a fresh take on the frequently used NYC setting, Crysis 2 could finally let console gamers know what all the fuss is about.
