Crytek seems to be focused on producing a very tactical and dynamic gameplay method unlike any other. A game which provides the tools and story to allow the player to play how they see fit.
One of the things that makes the gameplay so great are the dynamics. You have the ability to re-model the environment as well as customise your abilities and weaponry in real-time as you fight it out against koreans and aliens.
Every game claims to have "tactics", but compared to Crysis, they just don't. Below are descriptions of all the major gameplay elements in Crysis.
Gameplay Elements of Crysis
Natural Events & Disasters: Crytek is pushing hard to make the Crysis world more believable and exciting than any other game. The world will act and react like the real world with things like dynamic weather, physical wind, varying temperatures and disasters. What does "disasters" mean you may ask, well things like earthquakes, tornadoes and maybe tsunamis. This should make things very interesting in combination with the destructible environments.
Dynamic Day & Night: In all games up until now, the game would always wait for you before it progressed in time. In Crysis, the game continues on regardless of how long you are taking. So, if aliens are attacking and you're not helping anyone, the situation is going to get worse and worse. But the great thing is, the game won't force you to do anything, you can do it all at your own pace or even skip certain missions. But you may suffer the consequences.
Mission Dynamics: Not all missions in Crysis are compulsary. But if you complete an optional mission, you will usually get rewarded. As well as the ability to skip some missions, the outcomes of certain missions will vary, and so the lead up to the next mission will be different both ways. You will play with squad mates during certain missions, however if one dies, you won't ever see him again and so future missions may become more difficult.
Interactive and Destructible Environments: This probably has the biggest effect on gameplay. It's certainly the most unique feature to Crysis. Your actions and how you fight will directly effect the environment in either a positive or negative way. If you're playing online for example, and you find a good camping spot behind a tree. The next time you join a server, someone may have blown that tree up so now you will instantly have to change your tactics to adapt to the dynamic and ever changing environment.
The AI also needs to be smart enough to adapt to this very dynamic and ever changing environment. The natural disasters mentioned above will be as destructible as you'd expect, but there's also non-natural distasters in Crysis such as nuclear bombs which can literally flaten the surrounding environment on a scale never before seen in a video game.
Weapon Modifications: You will have the ability to add and remove attachments such as scopes, lasers and flashlights while also having the ability to adjust what method of attack you wish to use. You may change your ammunition to a tranquilizer for a softer approach, or use explosive bullets for that little extra warmth. The combinations are almost endless and every weapon has some kind of customizable componant.
Vehicle Modifications: In the power struggle multiplayer mode, you'll be able to capture alien technologies and use them on your own human vehicles. You can mix and match just about anything. For example, you could replace the .50 cal machine gun on your jeep with an alien freeze ray. This will create some interesting and possibly 'odd' gameplay.
Nano-Muscular Suit: The year is 2020, of course there has to be some hi-tech suit. Your suit can perform many things, as long as it has the power to do so. In different situations you will require different enhanced attributes. If you want to take the fast and agile approach, you would set your suit to speed as an example, but as a consequence, you will not only lose power from your suit, but you will decrease your other attributes. So it's extremely important to adjust your suit perfectly to match your tactics and the situation. The different suit functions are speed, strength, armor and cloak. I think you can work out for yourself what each function does.
Dynamic Story: The plot is set, but the rest is up to you. While some missions will be forced, others will be optional. Optional missions usually end with some kind of reward and they have the potential to alter the rest of the story. Crysis has what the CEO of Crytek likes to call a multi-threaded storyline. This means every major character has a storyline of their own, this includes your squad mates. If you let a squad mate die for example (mentioned above), it may make your future missions a little tougher, or you may have to find an alternative to a certain task.
Another thing about the story is this. There are no cut scenes, nor is there anyone telling you what to do (not directly or constantly anyway).
The story will unfold around you, its your job to find out what's going on. You need to keep your eyes open and ears tuned. A squad mate may mention to another squad mate that there is a weak spot to destroying one of the alien crafts. If you don't hear what that is, your going to have to kill it the hard way. That's just one, there will be things like that the whole way through Crysis.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Crysis will be a huge leap ahead in terms of gameplay. It will keep the proven-to-be-fun fps formula and add a whole new level to it.
It will be the most unique gaming experience you will have had in a long time - if not of all time. This will set the standard for pc and console games in the years to come.
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