Crysis 2

By Christian Donlan Published 9 April, 2010

Nanosuits you, sir.

Last year, I went to Frankfurt to see a man who could make water flow from a rock. He could do it with a couple of clicks, actually, and then all it took was a couple more to turn the rock into a pile of rocks, and then a small mountain. Finally, he set the mountain on fire. After that, I probably asked if he had a "spawn helicopters" dropdown handy because, y'know, that's just how I roll.

That was my first glimpse of CryEngine 3, and while it was nice to see a piece of middleware so powerful you could edit levels and playtest at the same time - at one point, my guide was dropping little modular jetties into the water as I moved a character across them - the real focus was on what was happening outside of the PC monitor. Two flatscreen televisions were showing the same scene, as CE3 pumped every tweak and amendment to PS3 and 360 devkits simultaneously.

Crytek, one of the biggest names in the PC market, was pretty serious about going cross-platform, then. Somewhere, in the sheltering gloom of a distant valley, I heard Mark Rein cry out like a wounded boar.

A few days ago I went to New York to see what Crytek built with their new tech, once I'd stopped titting about with boulders and helicopters. They've built New York, as it happens, and after that - this being a videogame - they've trashed it rather artfully, sending seams running through tarmac in a variety of rakish angles, buckling skyscrapers in several attractive ways and filling the air with thick ash-clogged smoke, all the better to bring out the jarring bloom of an oversaturated sunset.

You could argue that Crysis 2 takes the battle to Manhattan because tower blocks and shattered concrete, with their sharp, angular edges and friendly heft, are easier for consoles to handle than the unpredictable curves and gossamers of the previous instalments' jungles.

'Crysis 2' Screenshot 1

The music is frantic and pacy, with bold use of the glockenspiel.

But there's still no getting around the fact that this is one of the prettiest titles you're going to see this hardware generation - certainly on the consoles, and probably on the PC too. The developer's not getting into specifics as to how the game will differ across the three platforms, but Crytek seems to be aiming for parity.

And the results are unlikely be too upsetting for high-end PC gamers, even though I was initially so affronted at the idea of Crysis on an Xbox that I snapped my mechanical pencil plain in two. The areas Crytek's ready to reveal so far - all running on 360 code, apparently - are large by the standards of most FPS games, and filled with brilliant detail.

Blades of smoky light halo the glittering mooring mast of the Empire State Building (ever the uncompromising aesthetic perfectionists, Crytek's designers have stubbornly shifted the landmark south a few blocks, so that it can share the skyline more comfortably with the best side of the Flatiron), while the finials and upper-most masonry of even the most distant buildings look sharp no matter how far away you view them from. City streets are filled with tatters of newspapers and the dust-streaked corpses of taxis, and curbside foliage shreds delightfully under heavy gunfire, busying the air with little twills of green confetti.

Gunfire, eh? It's not the first sign that Gotham's in a bit of a fix. Set three years after the events of the original Crysis, the sequel depicts a world that has been thoroughly chewed up by swarms of nasty aliens. Tokyo, London, and a handful of other cities have already been decimated, and good old Nomad's turned up just as the Big Apple takes a gigantic extra-terrestrial shoeing of its own.

The iconography is standard 9/11 stuff - rolling waves of toxic dust, the odd sneaker abandoned in the gutter, and haphazard photo walls of the missing that ensured that, during the presentation of the teaser trailer, nobody really knew where to look - but Crytek's doing it all in the name of emotional engagement.

"One of the things we learnt about the first Crysis was that nobody really cared about why you were being asked to defend this tropical island," admits the company's co-founder and all-purpose dreamboat, Cevat Yerli. "We wanted to elevate the emotional relevance this time. New York is symbolic of our pride in mankind. If I was to pick one city to protect, it would be New York."

Sucks to be you, eh, Nizhny Novgorod? Although the phrasing makes it sound like something that can be tweaked with a slider, emotional relevance comes up quite a lot when Yerli talks about his latest game. Perhaps that's because the original Crysis is too often seen as purely a technological achievement, its "video-realism" and tangled, tousled foliage making it easy for people to forget that its huge environments were tailor-made for intricate firefights and violent self-expression.

'Crysis 2' Screenshot 2

Crytek calls the visual style "Catastrophic Beauty", which I'm bagsying right now as the name for my no-win, no-fee divorce lawyer agency.

This time, the developer wants a strong narrative at the heart of it all. It seems like an odd idea, initially, given the first two games' brilliant capacity to allow players to tell their own stories (granted, they were generally stories about punching sheds). What seems to be on the agenda is a twisting, sneaky kind of yarn that threads through the freeform set-pieces, giving them an added urgency.

The science fiction novelist Richard Morgan has been brought in to handle everything from the broad strokes of the plotting to the detailed textures like NPC dialogue - during a brief chat it turns out that he's a huge Thomas Pynchon fan, which is a fascinating prospect. The developer is promising a storyline that fills in the backdrop of the rather sketchy Crysis universe, and will also make you care about the events taking place in the foreground. This time, when you punch a shed, you may well find yourself crying.

One of the keys to the story is the famous Nanosuit, now upgraded to Nanosuit 2.0 (which probably just means it's got Twitter support and its own iBook store). Nobody's saying just how Nomad's iconic clobber comes to play a pivotal role in the narrative - and it certainly means Crysis 2 will be one of the first pieces of fiction in which a pair of rubbery trousers have their own character arc - but it's a smart choice, as the suit already plays a pivotal role in the games' moment-to-moment action.

And, whatever Morgan has in mind, the Nanosuit's latest incarnation is emblematic of the approach Crytek is taking to the sequel. While its visual design remains largely unchanged - with its slick black piping and silver cinches, it still makes the wearer look like a cross between Captain Amazing and a really fancy car seat - its uses have been both streamlined and expanded.

The original allowed you to essentially respec your character on the fly, hitting the mouse wheel to switch between options for added speed, strength, armour, or, stealth. It was brilliant fun, but Crytek wasn't satisfied. "We looked at the way people were playing, and largely it came down to two decisions," says Yerli. "They tended to focus on either stealth or armour: they were either a predator or a tank."

Armed with that knowledge, Crytek has swapped things about a bit, promoting stealth and armour to your two basic starting points - on the 360 pad, they're mapped, rather wonderfully, to the bumpers - before allowing you to layer on up to two additional traits at any one time, expanding your options in some fascinating ways.

At this juncture, speed and strength are joined by a new arrival, tactical, which heightens your awareness of the immediate surroundings, picking out distant foes and allowing you to eavesdrop on conversations taking place the best part of a block away. When you start combining approaches, that minute-to-minute richness which always defined Crysis becomes faintly overwhelming: blending speed and strength and armour allows you to become a human wrecking ball, while combining tactical, stealth and strength lets you leap around and get the drop on snipers.

Beyond that, there are plenty of other permutations waiting to be exploited - even before you take into account that, in the finished game, the Nanosuit will also have the scope for customisation and upgrades as you move deeper into the story.

'Crysis 2' Screenshot 3

Twitter integration isn't really one of the features of the new Nanosuit, but it does run Bebo.

Watching a developer play through a few very brief set-pieces reinforces the potential of the new system, while also suggesting that, despite the change in location, the heart of the Crysis experience remains intact. Regardless of the overwhelming odds and the total devastation, this is still one of those shooters that revels in making you feel tremendously powerful.

Dropped onto a skyscraper ledge overlooking an intersection riddled with Crynet Security (a PMC who provide the game's human enemies - and who, despite the extra-terrestrial threat, appear to be gunning primarily for you), it's not so much survival as wringing out the maximum possible enjoyment that plays on your mind.

Tactical mode picks out a number of patrols dotted around the various rooftops between you and your ultimate objective, and it's a pleasure to plot a course through them, turning invisible and hitting armour to survive a 20-storey drop onto the first enemy-held rooftop before switching to strength and bounding all the way across the street to punch another group of unfortunates into the Hudson.

Weapons go off like short bursts of thunder - even the silenced pistol lets out a jarring grumble - and cover, ranging from solar panelling to concrete trestles of flowers, comes apart all too quickly when the real fighting kicks in. Beyond that, the map is linear but enormously broad, meaning there should be plenty of scope for replaying scenarios as you screw around with the smart enemy AI.

A second encounter suggests that Crytek's finally found a way to make its aliens as satisfying to take on as its human opponents. In the first Crysis, the extra-terrestrials were wafty little nuisances, squid-like knots of cabling and diodes that would float around enigmatically before succumbing to a hail of gunfire, often without doing anything that interesting while they had the chance.

Warhead made them a little more entertaining, granted, but the first proper sequel appears to have rethought them entirely. The ones we're treated to today walk on two legs, for starters, bringing them down to the player's level, while simultaneously making them far more threatening.

"Making them bipedal really allowed us to create an enemy you can get a better sense of," says Yerli. "Just seeing something walking tells you far more about it than you could ever learn from watching the first game's aliens float by. You can tell if they're looking for you now, if they are oblivious to you, and even if they're panicking, and we've given them this steel coating which suggests they won't be easy to take down."

'Crysis 2' Screenshot 4

They aren't, by the looks of it. Significantly larger than human enemies, and turning up in devastating clusters of three or four, these new aliens are swaggering bullies, stepping on cars, investigating suspicious corners of the map, and mowing through Crynet soldiers with little trouble.

With huge dark bodies and glowing clusters of eyes, they look a little like Venom from the Spider-Man comics, and success against them, given their armour and firepower, seems to be a matter of quickly closing the gap, separating them from one another and then getting up in their grilles: using the Nanosuit's abilities to transform you into both a tank and a predator, in other words.

It's been the shortest of in-game presentations, but it's already proved the supposedly impossible: Crysis 2 is likely to work as well on consoles as it will on the PC, and with little, so far, in the way of obvious compromise. Whether you care about the story or the bump-mapping, Crytek's latest is looking extremely confident, then. Finally perhaps everyone will get a chance to see what all the fuss is about.

Picture of Christian.

About Christian Donlan

Chris Donlan writes about games for Eurogamer and some magazines. His heroes include Eugene Jarvis, Errol Morris, and Linus Van Pelt.

Read more articles from Christian by visiting the Christian Donlan archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (97) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • muscleblade #1 2 years ago

    Day one purchase. November it is. I should be done with Halo reach by then.

  • muscleblade #2 2 years ago

    @retrend

    But it doesnt. You dont own a current gen console i presume.
    PC gamers alway think that the games look so much better on the PC but games like AC2 for example looks just as good or even better on consoles. How come?

  • KayJay #3 2 years ago

    I'm really really really excited about this.
    I've never had the grunt to play the first editions. So this is very welcome and kinda outa the blue (Or I just forgot about all the articles and analysis DF have done on it ;-))

    Again really really really excited :-)

  • matrim83 #4 2 years ago

    Watching this with some trepidation. Warhead was one of my favorite FPSs of the last few years. If this one is as good as that but longer it could turn out to be proper epic.

  • denyason #5 2 years ago

    the reason they think pc games are better are because those developers aint doing console gaming. for them to convert the full package would take to long to get to market. afterall those games didnt come about in one yr did they? so far not many games have used the full potential of the ps3. when the ps3 come out- all developers had to start from scratch. developers from pc only have to build from what they had previously so crysis 3 is essentially yrs and yrs of development.

  • muscleblade #6 2 years ago

    @denyason

    Thats true.

    @retrend

    Selling the 360 and keeping the PS3. Eeeeh ok. Now i understand where you are coming from. Good.

  • AphoticCosmos #7 2 years ago

    Of course I'm sold. Crysis and Warhead were simply brilliant. Also loving the possibility of combining stealth with other modes - I'm a predator at heart :D

  • vegard #8 2 years ago

    so we WILL be able to traverse rooftops? in an earlier preview i read that all combat was on ground level, so this makes me happy!

  • mashk #9 2 years ago

    'Hands on' my ass. Article reads like press blurb mixed with the observations of someone who's seen a bit of a gameplay video on Youtube.

  • PearOfAnguish #10 2 years ago

    Richard Morgan is involved? That's great news. His books are fantastic.

    Looking forward to this one. Crysis and Warhead were awesome, it's not just about the graphics. Good that it's coming to consoles, means more sales for CryTek and the PC version will still have extreme settings for high end systems.

  • Empedocles #11 2 years ago

    "Somewhere, in the sheltering gloom of a distant valley, I heard Mark Rein cry out like a wounded boar"

    Job done.............

  • PearOfAnguish #12 2 years ago

    Retrend, what's your problem? Do you think that CryTek will be delivering a sub-standard PC version just because the consoles won't be running at maximum settings? You'll still be able to dial up the detail on a PC.

  • FirewalkR #13 2 years ago

    Make no mistake, the fact that Richard Morgan is involved is THE real news. Awesome writer.

  • mashk #14 2 years ago

    "16x AA, 16xAF, 1920x1080 and 60fps."

    Just looked up the benchmarks on Tom's Hardware Guide for Crysis on an ATI 5970 with 2GB, which is pretty much the fastest graphics card money can buy. Guess what? It can't max out Crysis with the aforementioned settings.

    Heh.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/10 @ 14:35

  • PearOfAnguish #15 2 years ago

    Erm, I doubt it. The 360 and PS3 versions will probably be the equivalent of a mix of medium and low settings on PC, which still looks really good. They don't need to make separate assets, just lower the effects and detail settings.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/10 @ 14:45

  • bad09 #16 2 years ago

    Day one purchase, however I'd be lying if I said I didn't have reservations about 2. 1 is still the title PC gamers look to when they upgrade "how this new card handle Crysis" etc, if 2 is made for the consoles as well to I doubt history will repeat itself and I doubt it will really push PC hardware like it's older brother. Which is a shame I think.

    Either way bring on new york, although being in the states anyone shouting "Hey Milkybar!" is getting their arse sued rather than shot!

  • Syrette #17 2 years ago

    Hold on guys - some of you don't have retrend on ignore?

  • hiddenranbir #18 2 years ago

    ""One of the things we learnt about the first Crysis was that nobody really cared about why you were being asked to defend this tropical island," admits the company's co-founder and all-purpose dreamboat, Cevat Yerli. "We wanted to elevate the emotional relevance this time. New York is symbolic of our pride in mankind. If I was to pick one city to protect, it would be New York.""

    I'm afraid New York has no emotional relevance to me at all. :(

  • UncleLou #19 2 years ago

    Hohum. Not too keen on the New York setting, at least not in Crysis. Far Cry and Crysis have been about fighting in impressive landscapes.While the tropical setting is getting a little overused, something like Canada, Iceland or whatever would have been near.

  • makariel #20 2 years ago

    loved Crysis Warhead, looking forward to this :)

  • richardiox #21 2 years ago

    @ Retrend - if you're rocking two 5970s you have probably around £800 worth of GPU alone. Of course it's going to max games out. But you're talking about a full system that costs over £1500 easily. For that money you could buy a PS3, 360 Elite, decent £500 gaming PC and a 42" LED screen. Know what I'd rather go for

  • PearOfAnguish #22 2 years ago

    @retrend
    That makes two of us then.

  • UncleLou #23 2 years ago

    the real focus was on what was happening outside of the PC monitor. Two flatscreen televisions were showing the same scene, as CE3 pumped every tweak and amendment to PS3 and 360 devkits simultaneously

    Sounds to me like PoA is right.

  • Zerobob #24 2 years ago

    It looks amazing! Looks like they are doign a great job of the console versions and they are wise enough to know that it's the console market that they really have to keep happy if they want large sales.

    I'm also glad it seems like Crytek are developing all versions side by side to get a pretty uniform experience no matter what hardware you play it on.

    I kinda hope the whole game isn't set in urban city areas though. ODST, for example, felt really sterile due to the setting compared to Halo 3's lush settings. I want more sneaking around a tropical island!

  • mashk #25 2 years ago

    Should have listened to the person who said put him on 'ignore'.

  • PearOfAnguish #26 2 years ago

    @UncleLou

    No, the thing is Lou, there was a guy in the other room creating the same models and textures, but with slightly less detail, and that was being piped onto the screens. I hear that all CryTek artists now have a low-res shadow artist who copies everything they do but at worse quality, just for consoles.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/10 @ 15:00

  • darc #27 2 years ago

    I'll have to reinstall Crysis and have another go. I was a little late to the party the first time, but it didn't really grab me. I undersatnd it was a technical marvel for a while, but that's a trophy that a game can only hold for a few months anyway. There are certainly better *looking* shooters out there now, if only by virtue of art direction.

    Is there something else to recommend Crysis? Is it variety afforded by the nano-suit, or is enemy AI something special, or what?

  • magicpanda #28 2 years ago

    Hope they address the way silenced weapons work as they turned really good AI into tards. Was a big flaw in the original.

  • Madafunkola #29 2 years ago

    ^money>sense

  • des #30 2 years ago

    Vaporware...and trailer sucks...New York lol

  • PearOfAnguish #31 2 years ago

    You don't know what vapourware means, do you?

  • muscleblade #32 2 years ago

    "There are certainly better *looking* shooters out there now, if only by virtue of art direction."

    MW2 ( the console version too ) looks better than the original Crysis. Even if its on 5 year old hardware.

    You see retrend. Even if the hardware is getting older the developers learn to push it every year making the games better looking. Imagine Uncharted 2 as a PS3 launch title or Gears 2 as a 360 launch title. ME2 is a huge leap in looks over ME1.

  • kinky_mong #33 2 years ago

    Finally Crysis will be available to people who don't play videogames in their parent's basement surround by stiffened Kleenex and Doritos packets!

  • cianchristopher #34 2 years ago

    But it's not just about "dialling up the detail" on the PC version, though...

    It's about a PC game that's so ambitious that it simply couldn't be replicated on console (like they used to be 10 years ago)...

    The massive open-world of Crysis, combined with the AI of the enemy and the unbelieveable destructibility of the environment is what's likely to be confined by going multiplatform...

    These are things that can't be changed by increasing resoutions and AA and texture size...

    These days, PC shooters are console games with mouse-and-keyboard support. And some graphics options. That's it!

    But, whaddya gonna do? Crysis (1) proved that there's no market for envelope-pushing games anymore. The first Crysis is simply impossible on 360/PS3 (even with a lower resolution and less detail on the textures).

    Shame really, but I guess we're all getting a little sick of spending crazy money on keeping our PCs on the bleeding edge...

  • bad09 #35 2 years ago

    "Finally Crysis will be available to people who don't play videogames in their parent's basement surround by stiffened Kleenex and Doritos packets!"

    You don't play on LIVE much do you.... ;)

  • PearOfAnguish #36 2 years ago

    I take offence to that.
    My parents don't have a basement and I hate Doritos.

    MW2 ( the console version too ) looks better than the original Crysis.

    Not really, I'd say Crysis on medium detail is about on par with MW2, except Crysis has huge open levels and lots of fancy physics and destructible environments.

  • mashk #37 2 years ago

    @ Muscleblade.

    Awww c'mon! No way does Modern Warfare 2 look better than Crysis.

  • nuanimal #38 2 years ago

    One of the keys to the story is the famous Nanosuit, now upgraded to Nanosuit 2.0 (which probably just means it's got Twitter support and its own iBook store)

    Made me spit tea over my monitor. Lol.

  • miiiguel #39 2 years ago

    I always find it odd when someone says something it's not good and I shouldn't enjoy it because it has a specsheet saying it's not 160x ABY and 19756x987 and directY 14,5.

    Most times it's also said in the most rude way possible which completly destroys my curiosity of checking said "ecosystem".

    Then again, I can't do office desk gaming anymore, but judging is not on my job description. To each its own.
    Edited by 2 at 09/04/10 @ 15:26

  • Mickeman #40 2 years ago

    Nomand? NOMAD!!! NO, you must be MAD! Psycho is so much more fun. Please bring Psycho back or I'll stick to Warhead.

  • PearOfAnguish #41 2 years ago

    @cianchristopher
    Consoles handle open world games like GTA just fine, and Crysis doesn't really have an open world, just really big maps. Maybe there'll be some more load transitions for the Xbox and PS3, but I don't think the games will be compromised in any way that's noticeable for PC players. CryTek are PC devs first and foremost.

  • MrWonderstuff #42 2 years ago

    Sounds promisiing. Although could we change the header to 'hands-off' as clearly your hands didn't actually get 'hands on'.

  • miiiguel #43 2 years ago

    You don't play on LIVE much do you.... ;)
    You don't play much Live etiher. Your words not mine, btw...

    miig, if you dont notice the jaggies, tearing and low resolution that plagues console games, probably might as well just stick to them.
    But I do, don't worry I wont invade your world, that's totally not my scene, every time I read such arguments I realize I don't want to be on that boat. I hope you have high resolution 14x AA fun, and that's honest.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/10 @ 15:34

  • Geordiemp #44 2 years ago

    "Somewhere, in the sheltering gloom of a distant valley, I heard Mark Rein cry out like a wounded boar."

    Funny comment. I used to be yearning for a change from Unreal engine games, but I really enjoyed Borderlands as my fav game of 2009 (by far), Ps3 and Xbox.

    However,, a new engine is really what Ps3 (multiplat devs at least) AND 360 needs to bring the wow factor into more games, good news for gamers.

  • Geordiemp #45 2 years ago

    P.S have a PC for gaming, xbox and Ps3. I like using a controller, 360 or Ps3.

    Many console games are either not publised with proper analogue support to make you buy the console version. Xpadder is rubbish.

    Even if i can have BFBC2 on PC running at 16 AA it just feels crap using keys, yes I can aim accurately with mouse but strafing and circling is just so easy with a controller on a sofa.

  • bad09 #46 2 years ago

    @ miiiguel

    Stand down the MS defence force, it was only a joke no need to direct your 360 missiles at me my friend I care not what you play on.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/10 @ 15:57

  • bad09 #47 2 years ago

    "Even if i can have BFBC2 on PC running at 16 AA it just feels crap using keys, yes I can aim accurately with mouse but strafing and circling is just so easy with a controller on a sofa."

    Amen, thankfully not all devs forget controllers work on PC, including Crytek.

    / glares at DICE, IW, Bioware and 2K

  • Cpt_McOneball #48 2 years ago

    @retrend

    Shut the f ck up. Judging by the gratuitous amounts of "-" ratings all of your comments are getting, the rest of the Eurogamer would agree that you are an uneducated little prick.

  • miiiguel #49 2 years ago

    @ bad09
    huh? Where that came from?! I never implied you cared what I do with my private time neither I was picking on you, was just saying what you say so many times (a day), that you don't do consoles anymore.

    Maybe jokes only work one way?
    Edited by 3 at 09/04/10 @ 16:02

  • tiny_Eggy #50 2 years ago

    @ retrend: don't bother too many console fanboys here. You'll just be downvoted. Claiming that AC2 looks better on the console is laughable, just let him live in his fantasy world.

  • Machiavellian #51 2 years ago

    It's about a PC game that's so ambitious that it simply couldn't be replicated on console (like they used to be 10 years ago)...

    Isn't this one of the main reason why the First Crysis was pirated to hell and back. Crytek tried that route and the only thing they got for it was a bunch of PC gamers whinning they were not going to purchase a game they could not max out on their PC so they pirated it.

    It doesn't make sense for a developer to go all out on the PC like Crytek did only to have PC gamers spit in their face. I am pretty confident that Crytek didn't even want to go the console route until the PC community showed their loyalty. Now, like any developer who wants to create the games they like but have to also make a decent enough profit do is go multiplat.

    Will this affect the PC game, hell yeah!!! In the end its better for the developer since a lot of gamers will be able to play Crytek games and still get a damn good experience out of it. Not only that but a new multiplat engine is introduced to other developers so we can expect games to take on a different look and feel from Ureal3. Once id gets into the game the triangle will be complete.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/10 @ 20:02

  • bad09 #52 2 years ago

    @ miiiguel

    I may not play on much now (after many many years of live I might add) doesn't stop there being complete idiots on there, hence the tounge in cheek (including winky face) reply.

    Why you felt the need to point out I have no 360 now is beyond me, hence why I thought you was on red alert.

  • miiiguel #53 2 years ago

    Why you felt the need to point out I have no 360 now is beyond me

    I didn't do that.

    note: is my english getting (even) worse? :/

  • bad09 #54 2 years ago

    Ah just forget it Miiiguel we are just confusing each other here!

    Edit - @ retrend

    Actually Crysis was top of the pirate list and Crytek got all arsey about it. Yes the game sold well but piracy is supposedly to blame for the shift to all 3 platforms. There's a interview somewhere.
    Edited by 1 at 09/04/10 @ 16:08

  • Synthesis #55 2 years ago

    Most importantly, I wonder how they'll get around balancing the game for the different platforms. Given that console users play FPS games on control pads that handicap their abilities dramatically compared to their superior PC brethren.

    I expect that's the primary reason they've gone bipedal and created aliens that are nothing like those encountered in the first game. Easier to track, easier to predict and easier to shoot (with your inferior control pad).

    Also, at least the first game had a relatively believable story. Ancient alien architecture/life found on an island. The aliens didn't want or care to be disturbed or 'woken' in such a way, but they were and they fought back. What is their purpose with going to New York specifically, what is their objective for wiping out that City?

    I'd certainly agree with the notion that the New York setting is down to the consoles as well. Since they'll cope far better with a highly square and limited visibile range environment rather than an open ended jungle covered island. Expect to see lots of movement restricted by 'rubble' ala Fallout 3 to give closed, limited levels an illusion of open ended gameplay.

    Looks like the console effect is in full swing already to me.

    Note: I don't have a huge grudge against the consoles, they are good platforms with interesting games. It's just the fact they are complete rip offs, combined with them being responsible for dumbing down many PC games over the years that makes me dislike them.

    That and the fact that they still can't design a proper control pad that has six main buttons vs. the current poorer standard of four. Come to mention it, they can't design a properly functioning d-pad these days either.

    Lets hope Crytek don't ruin the game too much by trying to maximise their casual gamer console sales.

  • UncleLou #56 2 years ago

    Yes the game sold well but piracy is supposedly to blame for the shift to all 3 platforms. There's a interview somewhere.

    I don't remember them blaming piracy directly, it was more a case of "we sold 2 million copies, a similar game like Modern Warfare sold 8 (or whatever) million", simply because it's on more platforms.

  • bad09 #57 2 years ago

    @ UncleLou

    Yeah one of the top bods at Crytek basically said you'd be mad to develop only on PC due to piracy (Total War says hello!).
    Edited by 2 at 09/04/10 @ 16:18

  • Armoured_Gideon #58 2 years ago

    retrend said: "agreed tiny, but i do my best on here to fight the tide of shit and make this site a better place."

    You are resplendent in your heroism. A tear snakes down my cheek at your thankless, misunderstood yet noble struggle to restore the light. Imagine, all of us in our thousands, coming here every day, entirely oblivious that we were in need of deliverance, that we toiled in ignorance, somnambulantly plodding through the darkness.

    And then there was you. Bless you.

  • bad09 #59 2 years ago

    @ retrend

    I think they were pissed Crysis topped the pirated list more than the actual sales TBH. Never mind the fact the demo was not optmised for dual core chips at all therefore not really showing you the game properly if you had a dual core ;)

  • waggy79 #60 2 years ago

    Maybe Crytek are a business who decided to go multi-plat to make more money.....Sorry I guess thats a bit too 'out there'.



  • darc #61 2 years ago

    muscleblade: "Even if the hardware is getting older the developers learn to push it every year making the games better looking."

    Yes. The possibilities that arise simply because devs can count on a consistent audience with consistent configurations year on year are incredible. You look at what was accomplished in the last run of AAA PS2 titles (e.g. God of War 2) on hardware that had been more or less stable for years, and it becomes obvious that the technical advancements PC mfrs provide every year go mostly to waste, at least for early adopters. There's simply no time (or profitable motivation) for PC devs to learn to optimize for the moving target of PC tech. Not to mention the fact that PC's represent so *many* moving targets.

    At this point the only thing I miss about PC gaming is the mouse and keyboard. Beyond that, I love turning on a game and knowing that what I see is exactly what the developer intended and expected for me to see, and if the game fails, it fails on its own merits - not whether I threw enough money at the problem, downloaded the best drivers that minute, and so on.
    Edited by 2 at 09/04/10 @ 16:52

  • kinky_mong #62 2 years ago

    "Thanks armoured, theres a small band of people who are smart enough to truly appreciate whats going on here, welcome to our club."

    Wahey! Not only are PC gamers condesending gobshites who still live with their parents at the age of 30, they don't understand sarcasm!

  • Slipstream #63 2 years ago

    I am so hot for this game right now..

  • poorwretch #64 2 years ago

    @retrend
    "so piracy is a reason not to develop on pc, despite the fact that crysis has sold more than basically every big ps3 exclusive, the only machine WITHOUT piracy. good argument, they really thought that one through."

    buddy take your own advise

    3 word google search:
    [link url=http://www.google.com/sear ch?client=safari&rls=en&q=heavy+rain+sales&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
    ]http://ww w.google.com/search?client=safa...[/link]
    heavy rain not being everyones cup of tea

    4 word google search
    [link url=http:/ /www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&q=god+of+w ar+3+sales&aq=f&aqi=g1&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=
    ]http://ww w.google.com/search?hl=en&clien...[/link]
    god of war 3 aprox. 1 month in stores

    same thing about uncharted 2, MGS4, killzone 2 and so on and so forth

    friendly piece of advise: try to get out more, I think all the noise from your dual graphics cards is getting to you.
    Who knows you may make some friends too, got knows you're not making any in here.

    Cheers

  • Machiavellian #65 2 years ago

    retrend: so piracy is a reason not to develop on pc, despite the fact that crysis has sold more than basically every big ps3 exclusive, the only machine WITHOUT piracy. good argument, they really thought that one through.

    I guess you do not get it retrend. Piracy is not the only reason but it is one reason. As someone already said, Crytek definitely did not like seeing their game Download 5 times more than it sold.

    Yes, making more money is always a good motivation but also not putting all your eggs in one basket is another. When you are trying to be a big time developer, worrying about creating the most bleeding edge game on the PC only to have it pirated like Crysis was does not sound like a good business plan. It always cracks me up when PC gamer decide what is good sales for a company only to justify why piracy is not a big deal on the PC platform.

    We have retrend here saying that Crysis did great because it sold a little over 2 million on the PC but forgetting that the game can be had for less then 15 bucks. How much of that money actually went to the devs. How much did the game sell at full price.

    The key that you are missing retrend is that making games that utilize your hardware is becoming quite silly when those games will not net the developer the sales where it is worth it.

  • PearOfAnguish #66 2 years ago

    Oh shut up retrend, you're a massive shithorn. Nobody gives a crap about your demented wittering.

    they are buying it because its the benchmarking standard for pcs and they want to see how their new gear performs.

    Yeah nobody buys games to play them, it's just to see how high the framerate goes. Bellend.

    Wahey! Not only are PC gamers condesending gobshites who still live with their parents at the age of 30, they don't understand sarcasm!

    That's just retrend, don't include the rest of us in that.

  • Dylbot #67 2 years ago

    Retrend, you're a fucking moron. Some of us don't have a grand or two to blow on a top-spec gaming rig. You can bitch about lower antialiasing and resolution all you want, but you could go out and pick up a 360 for £100 if you know where to shop.

    But shit, all us console gamers are just sheeple buying into Microsoft's hype machine, right? God, people like us should just fucking give up on gaming altogether.

    Idiot.

  • schmung #68 2 years ago

    Wonder if they can finally make a great game instead of just a good one. Hopefully the cross platform nature of the engine means that more companies pick it up - the earlier versions were really lovely bits of tech.

  • TheApologist #69 2 years ago

    Real shame we aren't getting the progress possible because of crappy console hardware.

    Sigh...

  • Machiavellian #70 2 years ago

    Here is a link for you retrend since you are so fond of them.
    [link url=http://www.edge-online.com/news/no-more-pc-exclusive s-crytek
    ]http://ww w.edge-online.com/news/no-more-...[/link]

    I guess my google skills are better than yours. You wanted proof well I got it for you ;)

  • Machiavellian #71 2 years ago

    Real shame we aren't getting the progress possible because of crappy console hardware.

    No, actually you can blame PC gamers for that.

  • Deckard1 #72 2 years ago

    did somebody just say MW2 looks better than crysis?

    Is your head the size of a tennis ball?

  • ronuds #73 2 years ago

    Are we talking about Crysis 2 or having a cock fight about which platform is best to play it on?

    I doubt you'll find any platform "not fun".

  • Scimarad #74 2 years ago

    Really, really looking forward to this as my computer couldn't really handle Crysis. Also, I'm a sucker for a decent alien invasion story.

  • TheGuvernor #75 2 years ago

    I get really good frame rates playing CRYSIS on my washing machine using my cat as a controller.

    Edited by 1 at 09/04/10 @ 21:49

  • irrelevanthuman #76 2 years ago

    Seriously considered building a big rig to run Crysis on,but then my natural indolence,lack of disposable income and complete ignorance of how to build a gaming pc scuppered that notion.So I am very excited that one of my consoles will be getting a snifter of the Crysis effect.Very nice gaming year is 2010.

  • hollowroom #77 2 years ago

    "Even if i can have BFBC2 on PC running at 16 AA it just feels crap using keys, yes I can aim accurately with mouse but strafing and circling is just so easy with a controller on a sofa."

    Cant agree with this, but each to their own. Thats what makes life interesting ;-)

    I find Just Cause 2 unbelievably annoying to play with a controller. I would never like to play BFBC2 with one.

  • tickleygonad #78 2 years ago

    Why oh why does almost every article turn into handbags at dawn on the comments page?!! Look, will you all just get over yourselves! Some people will be PC gamers, some 360, some PS3 some even Wii.

    This may be through choice, because we can't afford anything else or maybe just cus our mums didn't pay enough attention to the Christmas list!

    The point is, what we all have in common (regardless of format) we're all GAMERS!
    We all love playing games, sometimes excessively/obsessively and apparently in many cases involving too many tissues and doritos!! Basically we have more in common with eachother than the majority of people in the street, can't we all just get along?!
    Learn to accept some people will just have diffrent preferences than you and who the fuck are you to tell them they're wrong?
    Edited by 1 at 10/04/10 @ 11:36

  • Widge #79 2 years ago

    Crysis might be really quite awesome technical wise but artistically it is a bit boring. Absolutely no flair. That also applies to the game. I feel like I only boot the thing up to see how well my graphics card is performing.
    Looks like there is a greater emphasis on an involving story with this though, so fingers crossed that the game is more involving than whats come before.

  • blacktick #80 2 years ago

    Lol,so many retards here...it's unbelievable.
    Piracy this piracy that,it's the easiest scapegoat to use because no one knows any better.

    Let's THINK for a moment who actually are the pirates(which is a wrong word in the first place).
    Let's say you live in a poorer country that sells consoles for a very high price and pc is strong since it's cheaper. You don't get payed 2000-5000 euros per month,but more like 200-500 euros. You got expenses that your pay might just cover...now let's say you want to play something,but having to come by with so little money,you can't afford games. You download them and maybe wait until the price drops significantly and then buy it from a sales bin.

    That's just one hypothesis. You can also add students,uncatered customers(not selling the game in a certain region due to multiple reasons) and ppl who just think they should spend the money on their family or something more important.
    Of course there are ppl who COULD buy games,but don't want to unless they have to(mmo's),but I wouldn't call them a huge majority.

    You tend to forget the people behind the word and just accuse all pc gamers as filthy "pirates" who tries to destroy pc gaming. When in fact it's the developers and publishers who is doing that by themselves by not catering to our needs.
    Besides,have you ppl ever thought that when something like crysis comes out,that not everyone is excited and rushing to buy it. People like different things...shocker!
    2 million is still 2 million and that's a LOT. But we live in a capitalistic society,so money talks and everyone wants more...it's really simple as that.

    Seriously,eurogamer is becoming as retarded as gametrailers if it already isn't.

    @ Machiavellian

    Oh and as a sidenote. Some devs get payed BEFOREHAND,so all the game selling profits go to the publisher(no matter how low the price is).

  • curtlikesmeat #81 2 years ago

    I don't know, to be honest I'm more interested in the engine than in another fairly generic (but fun) FPS. I'd love to see this engine put towards an Elder Scrolls game or something like that....

  • Widge #82 2 years ago

    Yeah, I think I'm more excited about the advent of new tools rather than Crysis 2. Really interested to see how the tools filter down to both platforms.

  • Rodchenko #83 2 years ago

    Crysis might be really quite awesome technical wise but artistically it is a bit boring. Absolutely no flair. That also applies to the game.

    Amen to that. I find the constant wanking over its visuals to be rather annoying, really, given that everything else is probably as generic as they come. Picking New York as the setting for the game – a location which has literally been done to death as the backdrop for catastrophic action – only seems to underline how unimaginative the developers are outside of the tech department.

  • legendmir #84 2 years ago

    did anyone else read cabling and dildos?

    no?

    just me then....

  • sarcasmoidosis #85 2 years ago

    I think Shadow of the Colossus looks better than Crysis. Artistically speaking.

    The game was good, fluid and it looked gorgeous because of all those technical details Crytek were kind enough to throw in. But from an artsy fartsy point of view, they had trees and bushes.

    I love Crysis just because it brings out the flame in all of us :)

  • Geordiemp #86 2 years ago

    Wow all these PC vs Console comments, more importantly, will crysis 2 have any coop or multiplayer ?

    Will there be any different enemy type than the 1 alien mentioned ?

    Game length ?

    Also confused about mention of large and wide but linear maps, how big a game is it ?

    Obviously not sandbox elements ?

  • Godhather08 #87 2 years ago

    The first in-game pics. from the console version looks crappy, it's far from setting any new standard.

    [link url=http://www.pcgam es.de/Crysis-2-PC-213107/Bilder/Crysis-2-Bildervergleich-mit -Crysis-als-Wallpaper-Update-InGame-Screenshots-706499/galer ie/1275358/?fullsize
    ]http://ww w.pcgames.de/Crysis-2-PC-213107...[/link]




    They still have time to make it look better, but for now it looks very crappy on console.
    Edited by 2 at 10/04/10 @ 08:55

  • Martin #88 2 years ago

    A well written article, Christian. Funny and informative.

  • local_celebrity #89 2 years ago

    Do you still get to strangle Oriental fellas in this game?

    Urgh. This black bean sauce is too salty...

    MAXIMUM STRENGTH.

  • IneptPercy #90 2 years ago

    Look on the bright side, the engine running on consoles will brings things to the PC. The consoles are multi-threading beasts so the engine should now support all 4 of my processor cores now.

    This will be an instant purchase for me as long as they remember to keep pad support as I am not sitting up to my monitor, my PC is connected to my TV for a reason.

  • DarkFenix2k9 #91 2 years ago

    It's going to take a lot for me to actually buy Crysis 2 after the bad taste the original left in my mouth. Sure Crysis was a good game, but it was hyped as a great one, then failed to deliver. The first few levels against the Koreans were reminiscent of the fun I had in Far Cry, only more so. Both the original and Warhead however were spoilt by the aliens, which look like they'll be boring to encounter again in Crysis 2.

    The aliens look like they're just taking the role of the dull nanosuit enemies in Crysis 2, with no more tactical finesse than unloading a large amount of ammo into them required. They won't be difficult, they'll just ammo sinks (again). I reckon all of Crysis 2's fun will be in the first two or three levels, then they'll start throwing copious numbers of aliens at you and spoil the whole thing.

    Oh, and why do we care about New York? Does anyone outside America actually give a damn? I sure as hell don't. The only reasons they're actually using New York is because a) it'll get US sales figures up and b) because New York is such a visually and geographically boring city they can get away with lazy map design.

  • bad09 #92 2 years ago

    "They would be shooting themselves in the foot by making it a PC exclusive when hardly anyone plays games on PC now."

    Picard please someone....

  • Grayvern #93 2 years ago

    Good to see they've thought about power usability for the sequel. Richard Morgan has written some great sci fi so that's also good.

    In terms of the whole console vs pc thing it's weird to see the arguments. Crytek have to release Crysis 2 on consoles, they are after all trying to market a cross platform development engine. Not to release on all 3 would't be good publicity, especially since it's meant to make cross platform development easier.

    Also just because it's on consoles does not mean the PC game will have to change at all. If the engine really makes cross platform development easier it means that platform specific changes are easier to make. Also if the engine is really as good as Crytek says then it will graphically scale to look best on moderately powerful PC's and up.

  • Chupakun #94 2 years ago

    Could care less about New York. Why not protect Londontown?

  • geeza2020 #95 2 years ago

    i like to play gamez with high rez AA , consoles fail megalolz etc etc etc.

    I fucking hate some pc gamers.

  • craziii #96 2 years ago

    as long as they don gimp the pc version, who cares if they are going multi-platform? if it makes them more money to make future pc versions, I am a happy gamer.

  • mizcicz #97 2 years ago

    it´s about time for some gameplay footage!!!