Crysis 2

Though we've seen the new Nanosuit and the tech trailer from GDC, Crytek has been keeping its latest project under wraps for a while. That all changed this week in New York as Cevat Yerli and the team from Crytek invaded New York to show off a full demo of Crysis 2 in action. Though the demo was shown on the Xbox 360, the game will also be released on PC and PS3 this holiday season. In addition to getting to see the game for ourselves, we also had the chance to talk with Cevat and the game's writer Richard Morgan, bonafide science fiction author, about the new direction for Crysis 2.

By now you've probably seen the video of the trailer shown in Times Square earlier this week, but that's only the very beginning of the story. As the nanosuit-clad soldier stands amid the ruined rubble of Manhattan, choppers fly by overhead. Aliens lurking in the shells of demolished buildings launch an attack on the choppers and, predictably, all hell breaks loose. Enter the player to kick some serious alien butt.

After a brief introduction by EA Partners' General Manager David Demartini, Cevat YErli took the stage to discuss the inspiration behind the sequel. Building on the sandbox success of Far Cry and the original Crysis, Crysis 2 will allow players to overcome obstacles through a fluid mixture of stealth, speed, strength and shields. How you tackle each encounter will be entirely up to you and, based on the demo, it seems like you'll be able to switch back and forth fairly quickly between the different modes.
The nanosuit is one of three key areas Crytek is focused on. Cevat explains his intention is to make the use of the suit more accessible by reducing the layers of interface. This time around, for instance, you will have two basic modes, a hunting mode that emphasizes stealth and a tank mode designed for direct combat. In one you can sneak around invisibly, but in the other you can really soak up damage before going down. You can also activate a secondary mode that determines whether you want more power or greater tactical awareness.

So, for instance, you might opt for a stealth approach and also activate your tactical mode so you can spot the location of nearby enemies. If things get too rough, you can switch from tactical to power mode and use it to escape with quick running and powerful jumps. If that still doesn't get you out of trouble, you can switch your stealth mode to shield and rely on the suit's additional power mode to give you the muscle to really bash your way through any encounters. Once you've taken out enemies, you can switch from power back to tactical mode while still keeping your shield profile up and running. In this mode, you'll have greater awareness of where enemies are and be able to stand up to them in a direct fight.

This matrix, which allows for one of two styles and one of two modes, gives players four different options that they can switch to depending on the situation at hand. Upgrades which are available during the course of the game will even allow players to customize their suits for more specific types of play. It's all about adapting, engaging and surviving.

We saw a good bit of this in the demo level. It begins with the player standing high up in a damaged skyscraper, looking down at the Crynet guards on nearby roof below. Activating power and stealth modes, the player turns invisible and jumps down on the roof. Sneaking up behind an isolated guard, the player gets the option for a quick and quiet stealth kill. Pulling out a shotgun, the player takes a few shots at the other guards and quickly switches from stealth to shield mode to maximize his armor.

The battle has come to New York and it's up to you to protect it.

As he makes his way through the firefight, the player switches freely back and forth between stealth and shield approaches. When the last enemies are down, he switches off power mode and activates the tactical awareness mode. The tactical mode reveals rocket-armed guards on a nearby building, so the player switches back to power mode to quickly jump away from danger. Power mode also allows the player to pick up a gun mounted on the side of the building and use it as he would any other ordinary weapon.
The second big pillar of the sequel is the location of New York. Drawing on the concept of the "urban jungle," Crytek has created levels that have a much more vertical focus than those on the previous game's island. Given the city's ruined state in the game, there are also lots of opportunities for cover. Despite the move to a city setting, Crysis 2 remains a game that takes place mostly outdoors, so you won't be spending much time running in and out of buildings as you fight against the aliens.

Using New York as a setting also makes the game much more emotionally relevant to players. Where many players had to be told they were supposed to care about protecting the island, most will presumably already feel some initial motivation to save New York. The game's writer, Richard Morgan, even revealed that New York will be treated a bit like an actual character in the game with its own story arc and its own destiny. It is, in his words, the world's most iconic city, so it makes sense to use it as the backdrop for this latest story.

Unfortunately, the team isn't quite willing to talk about the specifics of the story and they aren't likely to reveal many of the surprises or twists in store. Richard likes to present the story to the player like a freefall, forcing them to cope with danger without exactly knowing what's going on. To that end, he would say that the Crynet security forces aren't necessarily the bad guys. The player will find himself in opposition to them, of course, but their separate agendas might line up from time to time as they both fight back against the alien invasion.

The nanosuit still allows players the option to play different ways.

We saw a bit of that in a scene where the player has been captured by Crynet and is being loaded into a helicopter to be taken to a nearby prison. As the chopper lifts off, an alien construct explodes out of the building below and destroys the chopper. As the player lays there waiting for the nanosuit systems to come back online, he watches as something strange happens to the Crynet security guards lying beside him. A larger ship flies down the street, dropping massive alien soldiers all along the block where you've crashed. As soon as your suit is functional again, you find yourself in a firefight alongside the surviving Crynet forces.

The third and final piece of the puzzle is highly interactive destruction, which was amply demonstrated in this street level firefight. Grenades and bullets are whizzing through the air and stonework and steel are exploding all around you. Not only does it make for an outrageous spectacle, but the smoke and fog it kicks up seems designed to keep the view distances from getting out of hand on the long straight streets of Manhattan.

The city of New York has its own destiny and story arc.

Naturally, Crysis 2 will feature all the latest features of the new CryENGINE 3 technology, which was recently showcased at GDC. Real time lighting, complex shading, procedural destruction and physics based effects will make the world seem more alive, while a dynamic cover system, lifelike AI and credible hit reactions will add a sense of realism to the actors in the game. The tech demo shows off many of these features and explains which platforms they're being rendered on. When asked if PC gamers need to be worried that the performance ceiling on the consoles will set a lower limit on the PC presentation, Cevat said that the team is fully committed to taking full advantage of the PC's expanded graphics power.

Crysis 2 has definitely been one of the game's we've been the most curious about this year, so it's great to finally see it in action. You can check out the trailer and the tech demo yourself on our media page, and be sure to stay tuned to IGN for even more details on this amazing and ambitious new shooter.