Preview

Crysis 3 preview

We get some hands-on time with a PC build of the last planned chapter in the Crysis trilogy, and see if Crysis 3's new bow lives up to the hype.

Jeff Mattas

June 7, 2012 11:00 AM

QUICKTAKE: Crysis 3 is the "finale" of Crytek's shooter trilogy. Once again, you can play stealthily, aggressively, or a combination of both. The new compound bow is a real boon for players taking a stealthier approach. Although stil in alpha, the E3 demo was downright stunning to look at. THE DEMO: The demo began with a short briefing, in which I got to sit down at a PC and play a single-player campaign level called "Dam Busters." DETAILS: In the pre-gameplay briefing, it was explained that players will assume the role of returning character Prophet. The evil Cell Corporation has been encasing cities (New York, specifically) in giant Nanodomes, to try and harness the aliens' powers. New York's dome, known as the Liberty Dome, has transformed into seven distinct environment types known as the Seven Wonders. Of course, Prophet finds himself in the thick of the conflict. The setup for Crysis 3 provides a lot of opportunity for variety in design. Generally speaking, the "Seven Wonders" idea allows Crytek to go for a variety of different environments. The "Dam Busters" campaign map I played was set in a sort of swampy urban jungle, and if the other environments are as gorgeous, you'll be hard-pressed to find a prettier shooter. It was also explained that each of the seven environments geography will also cater to different weapons, enemies, and tactics--a welcome idea that promises to shake things up from sandbox to sandbox. The map was quite large, and as I slowly took out enemies from afar and made my way toward the objective marker. Normally, I would have naturally settled in to my favorite Crysis tactic of uncloak-headshot-cloak. However, thanks to the slick-looking compound bow I've been hearing so much about, I uncloaked far less frequently. It's a design nod to the stealthy player, and one that comes off quite well. Normally, firing a weapon in a Crysis game while cloaked immediately renders you visible and temporarily depletes the nanosuit's energy supply. While the bow still takes a bit of the energy bar when it's fired cloaked, it's not much. With it, I was usually able to get off a couple of undetected shots before I had to hide and recharge. It's subtle, but it really improves the experience for those who like to play stealthily.

Stealthy cloakers, your new favorite weapon has arrived.

Awesome bow aside, the mechanical and presentational improvements in Crysis 3 seem incremental, but since Crysis 2 is still one of the best looking shooters out there, that's not particularly harsh criticism. The "Seven Wonders" idea of creating multiple disparate environments within a devastated New York is particularly intriguing, and though I only experienced one environment and map, the overall premise seems to be potentially the best of the series. The nanosuit returns in February of 2013 for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, and based on the E3 demo, I'll be gearing up to put it on again.

Jeff Mattas

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June 7, 2012 11:00 AM

Jeff Mattas posted a new article, Crysis 3 preview.

We get some hands-on time with a PC build of the last planned chapter in the Crysis trilogy, and see if Crysis 3's new bow lives up to the hype.
- valcan_s
  
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  June 7, 2012 11:51 AM
  
  Cool, I knew it would own and be the best in the series I could feel it. So did you play the PC version maxed out? Was it in DX11 build? Any visual stand out that you where like wow the ground looks really detailed, I swear the tessellation is better, man the textures are really high rez, nice lighting or anything like that that stood out?
  
  What was the progression system if any? Do you get any skills or is it just about the weapons?
  
  Any suit abilities etc?
  - [deleted] 1324565298
    
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    June 7, 2012 12:24 PM
    
    [deleted]
    - pyide
      
       reply
      June 7, 2012 12:29 PM
      
      Also, how did you get that it owns and is the best in the series from a short text preview?
- KAF Elite
  
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  June 7, 2012 11:54 AM
  
  Prophet? He's dead. I thought I heard that it was Psycho that you were playing in Crysis 3? Is that what you meant orr?
  - dantastic
    
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    June 7, 2012 1:53 PM
    
    did you play till the end of crysis 2? prophet seems to become one with the suit and basically takes over. Prophet's consciousness + Alcatraz' meat + Suit = you. Unless I misunderstood...
    - pyide
      
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      June 7, 2012 1:56 PM
      
      I actively tried to forget as much as of the story in Crysis 2 as possible, that sounds like something that could have happened though.
- SlamDunk
  
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  June 7, 2012 12:41 PM
  
  The franchise will carry on after Crysis 3.
  - MOOMANiBE
    
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    June 7, 2012 12:43 PM
    
    I wish it wouldn't. I want to see what else Crytek can do gameplay-wise.
    - K1Bond007
      
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      June 7, 2012 5:43 PM
      
      See: Ryse.
    - PenicillinX57
      
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      June 7, 2012 6:08 PM
      
      What else Crytek can do gameplay wise? Based on their track record, I'd say not much.
      - MOOMANiBE
        
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        June 7, 2012 6:29 PM
        
        I'd rather see them try than pump out endless uninteresting Crysis sequels.
- xellotath
  
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  June 7, 2012 1:03 PM
  
  I really want to play the game that Crysis 2 should have been narratively, which would be picking up directly where Crysis stops, heading back to that island. Looked like a big enough island to get another game's worth of content out of
  - jeffcox111
    
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    June 7, 2012 1:56 PM
    
    100% agree- I didn't even finish Crysis 2 because I gave up on it ever connecting back to Crysis 1 in a way that would make me the least bit happy. Instead, I played back throuh Crysis 1 and Warhead again and had a blast.
    - dantastic
      
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      June 7, 2012 2:04 PM
      
      so crysis 1 started investigating what the koreans were up to on that island or something right? which lead you to discovering some alien shit and you wake em up and they start invading. in the 2nd game they invade and fuck up NYC and the koreans are out of the picture. the game's about those damned aliens invading. personally i liked the urban jungle change. it's too bad that the 3rd game doesn't seem to have a change of atmosphere as drastic as the 2nd game had compared to the first.
  - Elsaispo
    
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    June 7, 2012 5:37 PM
    
    Yeah like whatever happened to Nomad and Psycho when they went back on the island to get Prophet?
    Seriously Crytek really fucked up the story in Crysis 2 and that along with the fact that each area is pretty much linear are both my biggest complaint about the sequel.
    
    Crysis 2 could have had an awesome story continuity from the 1st but they had to start up from scratch so the console players wouldn't be lost.
    
    such a shame...
- creeping-death
  
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  June 7, 2012 5:54 PM
  
  I hope this game is more like crysis 1 or warhead instead of crysis 2. I mildly enjoyed crysis 2 but one cannot deny that it was flat out inferior to crysis 1 / warhead.
  - Halen
    
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    June 7, 2012 6:43 PM
    
    Agreed. I was really impressed with the power they were able to squeeze out of the consoles, but the game itself was considerably inferior to the first.
- reznory
  
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  June 7, 2012 6:20 PM
  
  I guess I'm one of the few that really liked Crysis 2. Looking forward to this. The guns felt really solid in 2, the hit feedback surpassed both call of duty and battlefield 3 IMO. The suit management wasn't all that great to me though. The way stealth worked made some of it feel like I cheated my way through. But the guns blazing play style was up to par with any other good shooter.
- drac01
  
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  June 7, 2012 9:48 PM
  
  That actually looks really damn nice, love the Crysis music.
- rottdcorpse
  
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  June 8, 2012 11:06 AM
  
  Crysis 1 was such a great game...such a shame they ballsed it all up. They didn't realise why people loved the first game, and went and made a sequel that was CoD with a Nanosuit.
  
  Damn shame...
- finestgame9
  
   reply
  April 11, 2013 6:03 AM
  
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