AI, emergent gameplay and modding
Now one of the criticisms of Far Cry was that the AI, as good as it was, was a bit patchy in places. You could snipe one of two guys standing next to each other and the remaining baddie would sometimes react or sometimes not. This has been sorted out for Crysis and sorted out big time. Though there’s still obviously a lot of work left to do on the game, the AI we saw represented a touch challenge and gave a realistic feel during some massive firefights.
Click for larger imageWe saw two guys slinking along a big log, trying to flank us whilst another two took up positions behind a Hummer and pinned us down. We managed to dispatch all four of them and went for a drive in the Hummer which, by the way, had a very nicely rendered interior. We came up to a checkpoint and an AI soldier, thinking we were friendly, just strolled out into the road to stop us. When we ran him down his buddy leapt out of the way and started shooting… pretty cool, huh?
Click for larger imageAs was touched on with Far Cry, Crysis has fairly open ended gameplay, leaving you to decide how best to achieve your objectives, but Crysis takes this a step further by taking your previous actions and changing what happens later in the game. For example, sneak past a checkpoint and you’ll find the base ahead will be ticking over as normal. Blast your way through the same checkpoint and the base might be alerted to your presence, be locked up tight and swarming with troops.
Click for larger imageI know this sort of thing has been done before but Crysis works more subtly than this and nearly everything you do has an impact later on. So should you blow up that fuel dump for the hell of it? If you do, the enemy won’t be able to use vehicles as much and you create diversion… but at the same time you flag that you’re there and the enemy will be alerted.
Click for larger imageHowever you choose to play it, there’s no doubting that Crysis is going to be huge and even more fun that Far Cry. We didn’t see multiplayer code running but Crysis is expected to support 32 players with real-time weapons and armour customization. Also, Crysis will have a full toolset allowing modders to get to grips with it making extra single and multiplayer levels.
Click for larger imageCrysis is set for release this winter.
