From inCrysis, here's the latest on Crysis 2, the sequel to my all-time favourite first-person shooter PC game, Crysis, compiled to a one long handy news post, for your convenience.
In their latest investor call publisher Electronic Arts confirmed that Crysis 2 will be out this year, between October 1st and December 31st. Who knows, perhaps Crysis 2 will be released exactly 3 years after the first one; in the 16th of November.
IGN reports that EA's Chief Operating Officer John Schappert has stated that every one of EA's games released between April 2010 and March 2011 will have both downloadable content (DLC) and online play. This seems to strongly suggest that Crysis 2 will receive DLC updates.
And here is some of the first screenshots of Crysis 2 taken from Gamereactor magazine (click to enlarge):
Gamereactor - Cevat Yerli Q&A
Here is list of all of the relevant stuff from the featured interview:
- You play as Jake 'Nomad' Dunn.
- Compared to Crysis there will be more freedom, larger gameplay areas and more tactical warfare.
- Nanosuit 2 will give players more freedom in how to tackle situations in the battlefield.
- The different aspects of nanosuit 2 are designed to further encourage experimental and fit-for-your-own-style usage of nanosuit's features.
- Cevat thinks that the weakest parts of Crysis were 1) the story, which lacked originality and details 2) the on-rails gameplay style in the end and 3) that there were no console versions.
- Compared to the majority of console games, the console gamers will see Crysis 2's freedom and openness as a new and interesting gameplay style.
- The player has again the freedom of choosing what weapons to use and how to use them, or how to take advantage of the environment.
- Crysis 2 will again feature the familiar "Veni Vidi Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered) gameplay style.
- In Crysis 2 Crytek will, of course, try to surpass the previous Crysis games in graphical splendour and technical features.
- Setting the events of Crysis 2 to New York City was a result of a long thought process; Crytek did not choose New York City because of "console limitations".
- With three previous games set in the jungle Crytek decidedly wanted to avoid making a fourth "jungle game".
- New York as the setting was chosen in the early stages of development; Crytek wanted to see Nomad in a metropol and make the area as a huge sandbox for the player.
- Compared to jungle, urban environment offers more opportunities for gameplay based on vertical differences and the player will have more freedom to choose how to progress and plan out attacks.
- Player will be able to, for example, jump between floors and buildings, and roll down along a crater wall.
- Cevat did not want to share details on Crysis 2 multiplayer... yet.
- The transition from one nanosuit ability to another will be "softened" in Crysis 2: for a short while before speed changes to power, the player will have both abilities in his possession.
- In the battle against the aliens, New York City will offer plenty of architecture that the player can destroy, protect, climb on and take advantage of.
- Fighting against the alien invasion will be "catastrophically beautiful".
- Crytek have tried to actively avoid of using dark dystopian colors and tones that have been plaguing many games these days.
- Details on the story will not be revealed until summer.
PC Games - Nathan Camarillo Q&A
Source: Interview at PCGames.de (German)
PCGames: What's the background story of Crysis 2?
Nathan Camarillo: Crysis is set in New York, three years after Crysis. It's about surviving - the player must survive in order to save himself, New York and mankind.
PCG: Why did you choose New York as the setting?
NC: We asked ourselves: What will happen next in the story? What happens next in the Crysis saga? After Crysis' story ended with a big bang, of course there were rumours about the catastrophe; obvious that these rumours would get to the big centres of the world. So we looked at the places in the world, where the player would like to go to with the nanosuit. And of all these places, New York came out ahead for several reasons.
PCG: Which reasons were crucial?
NC: When you're asking people where they'd like to go on holiday, there's mostly New York on the top of their list. It's one of those places you'd like to have seen before you die. The history of New York is formed by more recent events than the one of other cities, for example in Europe. It's younger, it arose as America arose. And due to the progress in science and architecture, New York has become an entity on its own, with its own personality, its own life, its own character. And this on a terrain, that was just open space - before people populated it. New York is a symbol for the accomplishments of mankind in the past one hundred years. The settlers have created so much on a so small piece of land and when they had no space left, they built everything higher and bigger. New York has many advantages over other cities.
PCG: Which advantages in gameplay does New York have as a setting?
NC: Of course, the urban environment has its own imagery, concerning things you can do and objects you can interact with, e.g. how players can use cover or vehicles. You know what you can throw towards the enemy and what objects he may use as cover.
PCG: Which famous New York locations we will be seeing in Crysis 2?
NC: You can assume that we will lead the player to very well-known places in New York. We can neither tell about nor show all of them because we want to reveal them during the marketing campaign. About some we'll keep you in the dark as a surprise for the release.
PCG: Will there be different environments like ice worlds or trips into space?
NC: Crysis also didn't solely play in the jungle. There were alien environments and the frozen paradise. For Crysis 2, players can expect corners of New York that are influenced by the events durin the game. And of course there will be unique environments that we won't mention right now. There will be more than one city scenario, once at night and another time in daylight.
PCG: To what extent has the nanosuit been enhanced? Which new functions does it have?
NC: The new nanosuit is tougher, stronger; it looks as if it could actually be used. The hands look strong and brutal for melee attacks, as well as the legs. In Crysis there were different suit powers but people mostly played the game in one way; as commandos who blew everything up, as strategists, as snipers or as a cat-and-mouse game, where they hid over and over again to emerge and cause mayhem. With the new nanosuit, we want to support these ways of playing and make them better. We have a mode that enhances agility and combines the strength and speed mode from Crysis: sprint, be very fast and then jump on or over something - in Crysis you needed to change suit modes for this, just for one idea.
We have another mode, that is completely designed for infiltration and camouflage. Although we're not developing a sneaking game, we know that sometimes you'll want to get through an area unseen or set up a trap for the enemy. Or to reach higher ground without being noticed.
And then we have armor mode for all those who love to shoot and blow up stuff. Here, naturally, survival is in the focus.
Tactical mode, finally, is about collecting information. People can mark persons or positions, where a rocket launcher or a machine gun nest is, to find it quicker later. Plus, you can scan items or find out who is the leader of a group of enemies. Maybe it will help in the later course of the game, to eliminate this leader first. Some plans work, some don't.
PCG: How do you try to embed vertical gameplay?
NC: In an urban environment there are certainly more possibilities for vertical gameplay than in the jungle. In a city you can jump onto buses, onto trucks, into the first floor, into a crater - there are many different levels. Players can even jump from one building onto another, where there are interesting things to discover. The fight however must take place within certain bounds. Building roofs are very useful to plan your actions and to give you an advantage.
PCG: We have seen enemies called Crynet Ops. What is this about?
NC: We have yet do decide about a final name for these enemies. They are no US marines, they belong to a different faction; paramilitary or something similar. No North Koreans.
PCG: In the demo, the player was addressed as Prophet. Do we play as Prophet?
NC: The people think you're prophet. We didn't think of this audiofile still being in the presentation demo. This raises false expectations. We should have taken that out. You do not necessarily play as Prophet. Of course, everybody pecks at it now. *laughs*
PCG: In which way is the Crysis 2 story told?
NC:We have set a high value on the story in Crysis, but unfortunately a lot of that didn't even make it into the game. Precisely because Crysis didnt't focus on long cutscenes or the like. For example, you didn't really know why the jungle was eventually frozen. Some players wondered about this and tried to make connections. In any case, there were more thoughts put into Crysis from our side than the player ultimately noticed in the final product. In Crysis 2 we tell a deeper story - but we want the player to discover details on his own. There are many ways to obtain information in the game world, for example through scanning objects or through eavesdropping on conversations.
PCG: How long will the campaign of Crysis 2 be?
NC: We do not talk about that yet.
PCG: To what extent are the two games connected?
NC: We don't want that people need to have played Crysis to understand Crysis 2. But we will answer a lot of open questions for the players of the first game. And much information will of course be consistent in all Crysis products.
Prime: Man, I can't really wait for Crysis 2. Give it to me now! :p
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