Crysis 2 Impressions

The Crytek team will be tearing into New York if the latest glimpse of Crysis 2 is anything to go by. At the EA E3 2010 press conference today, Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli took to the stage to show off another gameplay snippet from the upcoming shooter, with this newest look featuring plenty of frenetic action with the nanosuit, as well as lots of environmental destruction in an iconic New York locale.

Before the demo began, Yerli once again outlined some key points about the shooter sequel. First, the game--like its PC predecessor--would present a sandbox experience where gamers would be given the tools (that is, weapons and the sweet nanosuit) and the environment to approach a situation in any way they please. Second, Yerli promised that Crysis 2 would have the "most intelligent enemies ever." It's a big call, but if the demo he showed afterward is any indication, he may be onto something.

The demo took place inside a ruined version of New York's Central Station in the year 2023, with the iconic structure featuring heavy damage from the alien invasion that has all but ruined the city. Nomad--the protagonist from the first game--runs into the station and immediately activates one of his upgraded nanosuit's abilities: a vision mode that overlays tactical information about his environment. Doing this, Nomad quickly spotted some large alien foes, rushing in to take them out quickly with some concentrated firepower.

With the first set of alien foes dispatched, an even greater threat emerged. The gigantic mech-like Master Pinger--which was first unveiled in the game's pre-E3 trailer recently--crashed through the front entrance of the train station, accompanied by several other aliens. Nomad had to stay mobile to avoid the Pinger's heavy fire, using his nanosuit's enhanced speed ability to quickly weave in and out of pillars. Nomad found a rocket launcher and quickly switched to a stealth mode where he became close to invisible. Nomad then sneaked up to flank the Pinger, firing a missile straight at its head.

But a large explosive detonating directly on top of it wasn't enough to stop the alien vehicle, and it turned to fire at Nomad once again. Nomad had to turn tail and run, and he eventually found some M4 explosives in another room. Switching to stealth mode, the soldier went right up to the Pinger and attached two explosives to its legs before racing away to detonate. But this still wasn't enough to bring the beast down--Nomad had to find yet another rocket and fire it directly at the Pinger before it eventually died.

From here, things got hectic. Looking up beyond the shattered roof of Central Station, Nomad saw several alien rockets crash into a tall building overlooking his location. The large building started to slowly collapse. An armored vehicle then came screeching into the station, picking up Nomad and rushing out as debris started to rain down. Outside, the vehicle spotted a civilian begging for help--a friend was trapped near the entrance of a subway station, and he was pleading for assistance. Unfortunately, the building was close to coming down on the entire area, forcing the military vehicle to race away. As Nomad looked back, he saw the gigantic building fall into what once was Central Station.

With the demo over, Yerli had yet another announcement to make: that Crysis 2 would be available in stereoscopic 3D on all three of its platforms when it ships later this year. Yerli then showed a new trailer in 3D--unfortunately, we weren't equipped with the right glasses, so we can't attest to the visual fidelity of the 3D on show. What we can say, though, is that Crysis 2 is looking quite impressive right now in normal 2D, with an incredible amount of detail and with particle effects being thrown around during the firefight with Pinger.

We'll have more on Crysis 2 soon, so keep it locked to GameSpot for our full E3 2010 coverage.