All in all, what has been shown of Crysis 2 has been controlled, calculated and carefully choreographed. That in itself is not unusual for high profile games such as this, but what is actually being omitted is perhaps more telling and slightly worrying. It’s very easy to get excited about Crysis 2, but every now and again, taking a step back can help you see the wood through the hyperbolic trees.

Pesky alien scum

For all its talk of player choice and crafting the experience to suit particular play styles, Crysis 2 has a few obstacles in its path – ones that weren’t present in the original. Firstly, it’s quite rightly taking advantage of everything that New York offers – its height, architecture and emotional resonance as a beacon of human achievement (though why New York wins out over newer cities such as Tokyo says more about the audience Crytek is chasing, we feel) have all been touted as key decisions.

The ‘urban jungle’, with its familiar grey and drab façade, isn’t anything that new, but it is easier to forgive Crytek’s art direction when its engine looks as good as it does. But an urban environment is still far more static and less dynamic than a jungle, no matter how much you dress it up with recognisible landmarks and differing locations. Crysis 2 is really less about how much the engine can be pushed and more about what can be done with the existing tools.

Clearly, New York offers gameplay that will differ greatly from the foliage-infested nature of the Lingshan Islands. But Crytek has conveniently washed over the fact that its Big Apple environments are more like ‘instances’ or areas for action to happen. Crysis 2 will give players a streamlined and more linear experience – it will restrict players to areas in which it will house its clearly frantic FPS antics. Is there a danger of it being far more restrictive than we’ve been led to believe? It’s a possibility, and one Crytek has vehemently rejected as being detrimental to the experience. Crysis 2’s ‘levels’ will still allow for the same open-ended gameplay as the original – albeit this time with improved visuals, greater emphasis on narrative and streamlined nano-suit abilities.

TAXI!

In fact, another area that has seen EA and Crytek direct media attention towards is the surprising way in which players interact with the unique abilities the nano-suit provided in the original game. Crysis 2 will simply help you achieve this by allowing easier access to speed, armour etc, and grouping together abilities that are useful, such as strength and armour. It’s an intelligent choice and at least doesn’t simply pander to the console audience in the way some PC games have done in the past, but the fact remains: how will the gameplay structure change when you’re moving from one enclosed space to the other?

Perhaps we’ve had our pessimistic hats on too much recently; we can’t deny we’re not excited about Crytek’s general design – it’s incredibly accomplished in every regard – but there is a lingering doubt that the gameplay that has been shown will live up to the memories of the original. The careful drip-feed of information has certainly whetted our appetites, but it’s also tricked us into overlooking some of Crysis’s more glaring issues. Without the benefit of some hands-on (which, incidentally, no one has had) it’s difficult say if too many concessions have been made. As they say, time will tell.