Crysis: So clever it's stupid

Reason 4#: You'll get lost
Few games offer true open worlds. With the exception of games like Grand Theft Auto and Just Cause, split paths and the illusion of space are often as far as they go. Even STALKER, which promised to deliver an expansive, living and populated world, actually ended up with distinctly level-like areas.

While Crysis is very much a level-based game, it easily out-does the average shooter in terms of possibilities and openness; and while it's most similar to its spiritual predecessor Far Cry, it expands on even that in terms of scale. Most games guide the player to one combat situation after another. Crysis lets you choose your next fight: Whether you want to take it on, sneak past, or approach it from an unexpected angle – like out of a lake or pelting down a mountainside in an APC.

“The openness of the levels and sandbox take on gameplay means you can encounter things in different ways,” says Hubler. “In some levels we take a little bit of that freedom away to make sure you see when something cool happens, but there are a lot of those open sections. You can completely do what you want and there's not just one goal you have to achieve.”