The graphics are incredibly detailed. Check out that grass.
The final sequence offers Crysis 3 one last opportunity to flex its graphical muscles. Riding atop a railroad car, your fellow rebel operative Psycho snipes both Stalkers and passing CELL operators as you rush down a tunnel like a bat out of hell. Some very nice looking explosions soon follow.
What's interesting about Crysis 3 is the niche that it fills. Out of all the shooters on display at last night's event, it was clear that EA was positioning Crysis 3 as the choice for the most dedicated gamers. The kind of gamers, in other words, who might drop $4000 or $5000 on a gaming rig (or spend $800 on the components to custom build something nearly as powerful). The ones who want both a beautiful game and a really good challenge.
Crysis 3 would seem to have both of those elements so far. What's striking in particular about the gunplay is how heavy it feels. This is definitely not Call of Duty, where speed and reflexes are paramount. Moreso even than Battlefield, raw aim is what gets the job done in Crysis. At times, it can be unforgiving in that regard, especially when using the bow and arrow. It's deadly, but it seems like the bow would be the province of only the most skilled players. It's just that hard to aim and shoot. In this case, however, the difficulty is welcome. It's the one element, besides the graphics (and the recognizable title), that will help Crysis 3 stand out from the field when it arrives on February 19 of next year.
As for the graphics, Crysis 3 is meant to be pure, unadulterated eye candy, which means its best played on max settings (though it'll probably look amazing regardless). One side effect of that, unfortunately, is that it falls back to the pack a bit on Xbox 360. It still looks very good, but the muddier visuals and somewhat choppier framerate are two elements that definitely stand out. The feeling is that Crytek is putting Crysis 3 on consoles to wring a few extra sales out of the franchise; but in general, their primary focus is on the PC version.
Despite their decision to embrace consoles a few years back (the game is also coming to PlayStation 3), Crytek is still very much a PC developer, and Crysis is still very much a PC franchise. It's a shooter made for the kind of early adopters who pick up new video cards day and date of release, and who have been playing multiplayer since the days of Quake. This is their game. And out of all the shooters on display last night, Crysis 3 seems the most prepared to cater to its chosen audience.