Crysis

As you read this, beta sign-ups for Crytek’s highly anticipated shooter, Crysis, will have officially begun, giving select gamers the opportunity to play through the game’s multiplayer elements. At a recent press event at EA’s Redwood Shores studios, team members from Crytek were on hand to demo some elements from the game’s single-player component. So far, the game is doing a phenomenal job of showcasing a cinematic atmosphere with incredible ambiance and production values, as evidenced by our time with it, and the single-player mode should be an absolute blast and worthy of the hype.

Last week we revealed the Ice level, which showcased some of the unique environmental effects and textures in Crysis (see that preview here). The second area on display was the Core Level, which took place onboard of the alien ship in free-floating zero-gravity. The alien ship was the same hulking behemoth featured in the Ice level, only now the action was happening on the inside.

The inside of the ship was a nod to the works of H.R. Giger and felt similar to the look of the Alien movies. The whole area was rife with great organic elements, and the whole ship seemed to breathe and pulsate with activity, making the atmosphere very intense and suspenseful.

Long corridors would stretch on seemingly for miles as aliens popped out from behind corners to pounce. The fact that you would basically float around and “swim” as though you were in water to get around added to the disoriented feeling and could even cause vertigo when facing down a long hallway.

The Core section was extremely creepy and psychologically jarring. Given the amount of attention that the team at Crytek are giving to the game and the sheer amount of detail and consideration given to every design decision to make a compelling and realistic sci-fi game, then PC gamers should have a real winner on their hands this November.