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Crysis 2
Crysis 2 was out in full force at E3, showing off a couple of impressive gameplay sequences, as well as some new screens.
Both Crysis 2 demos we saw took place in a destroyed New York City in 2023. Developer Crytek is known for its graphical mastery, and it was on display here as Nomad stalked the streets littered with debris and picked off enemies in the nearby skyscrapers. What was cool was that even though he was on street level and outside of the buildings, you could zoom in and see quite a bit of detail inside the office towers as he shot up his alien enemies within them with ease. Crossing a foot bridge with a few burned-out taxis, Nomad demonstrated the power of the Nanosuit by attaching a couple of mines onto the trunk of the taxi and then kicking the thing with ease down on some foes lurking below in the fire-enveloped rubble. Later on, a heat-sensing scan mode helped him pick out some enemies hiding here and there.
After finding a detonator and blowing the hell out of a building in a glorious blast, the demo switched to Grand Central Station. Like the detonation sequence before it, this part of the demo showed off what Crytek is calling the "choreographed sand box" of Crysis 2. They want to give you plenty of freedom to tackle the game any way you choose, but also add in focused sequences to bring out more drama. In Grand Central Station there was plenty of that as Nomad ran around taking out aliens left and right before a mech-like Pinger enemy dramatically crashed through the giant, scenic window that the station is known for. The Pinger is a deadly enemy, and Nomad had to hit it with several different weapons before it fell, including missiles and more mines, as well as engaging the Nanosuit's stealth invisibility to sneak up on The Pinger, which tracks you by sound.
It turns out The Pinger was just the first wave of the attack, as a ship starts slicing up a building looming above the station. Nomad gets out and meets up with an armored personnel carrier with some troops. As Nomad is leaving the scene, a civilian begs you to help him free his wife who is trapped under some rubble nearby. Torn between helping and getting the hell out of what is quickly turning into a bad situation, we see Nomad's indecision. Unfortunately, there is no other choice but to beat it out of there, as the ship above blasts the building to bits, and brings it down right onto where the pedestrian was standing, narrowly missing Nomad as he and the carrier high-tail it out just in time.
Crysis 2 for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 comes out early next year.
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