If you had the hardware to play the first Crysis game, you might have been able to overlook its cookie-cutter story and frightening disregard for Asian people thanks to the game’s open island, incredible visuals, and accurate physics. Besides all the (justified!) hoopla surrounding CryENGINE 2, Crysis’ island was the game’s real draw, which made some of us wince when it was announced that Crysis 2 would be set in NYC. It’s not the most uninspired setting imaginable – that title goes to the “Abandoned Research Facility” – but with Crysis coming from the lush and mysterious jungles of the Philippines, yet another gunfight in Times Square doesn’t sound quite as unique or exotic.

Here’s a quick look at Crysis 2:

CryENGINE 2 was big on volumetric smoke effects, and it looks like 3 might take that a few steps further. They’re nice looking stills, but they don’t do too much to assuage concerns over this being just another NYC shootout.

Source: kotaku