Crytek's Mike Read on the Crysis Universe and where it could go following Crysis 3

Crysis 3 producer Mike Read talks about the game, what may follow, current consoles and pushing PC capabilities.

Talking with AusGamers, Read goes into the path leading up to this point. "So, in terms of what we’re doing in Crysis 3, this is the closure to this sort of story bubble. But if you look at the past five years, and what we’ve done with the franchise, you could probably come up and say that we have basically built a Crysis Universe. And we could go in so many different ways in this franchise at this point, and weave in alternate storylines from different tech, to different realities and things like that. So moving past Crysis 3, we have a lot of opportunities moving forward outside of this."

With the trilogy finding some closure in Cyrysis 3, he plays down handing the franchise over to another developer. "Crysis is something that has really helped build Crytek to what it is today. From the CryEngine 2 with the original Crysis, to what we’ve done with the CryEngine 3, and the number of licensees, and how we’re continuing to grow out that, in terms of film, and games, and architecture, and all of these different facets. We’re moving in quite a number of different directions."

"Coming back in Crysis 3, there’s a lot of different elements that we have from Crysis 1, and Crysis 2 that we sort of rolled back on. And it’s that rollback, mixed with the hunter theme/the jungle themes, and the introduction of the bow, sort of just fit in with all of these different things that we had to offer on that front," Read explains what the team really wanted to bring to the third game.

"So that’s really where we’re at with it. We wanted to come and find a middle ground between the two, but not focus on one thing, as solely graphics, or solely gameplay quality, or cinematics. All of these things have been brought up to an equal level to create a great overall game experience."

When asked about consoles, Read finds more than hardware limitation. "We’re definitely feeling the strain of consoles, not only on the hardware side, but in the way that their certification programs work, and really having to deliver stuff way ahead of time. And there’s a lot of variables on consoles, and things that they want you to deliver beforehand."

"Whereas, we’re very freeform on what we can do on PC, unlocking the abilities of some of this high-end hardware, and we wanted to be able to push that. But we still want to provide a great gameplay experience across the board for both consoles and PCs," he furthers.

Check out the third installment in the Crysis 3: 7 Wonders video here. Crysis 3 is out on February 19 in the US for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.