Thursday 26 August 2010

And Another Thing...Cinematic Pretensions in Crysis 2

While on the subject if games as art the trailer for Crytek's much anticipated Crisis 2, engineered in the incomparable CryENGINE 3 was created in the game engine and the cinematic pretensions are obvious, with visual nods to news footage of the aftermath of 9/11 and most obviously to Matt Reeve's Cloverfield, itself leaning heavily on post 9/11 iconography, and also to Spielberg's wonderfully chilling realisation of HG Wells' the War of the Worlds.  There are some references to past games as well, the in helicopter scenes are drawn directly from the opening of Half Life Opposing Force.  Anyway, I like this trailer a lot, although the in game footage, from Crytek's website, is less exciting, focusing as it does in endless urban mayhem, somehow the beauty of the lush landscapes of FarCry and Crisis are lost.