This newest look at Crytek's bow-wielding first-person shooter gives viewers the option to see what it looks like you take on enemies sneakily or jump in with guns blazing. The threequel set in a New York overgrown with apocalyptic levels of vegetation comes out next year for PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

Forget the fancy compound bow. It looks like you're going to need weed-whackers to journey through the lush overgrowth that's choking New York City in Crysis 3.

These screens—grabbed by Polygon from the personal site of lighting artist Pierre-Yves Donzallaz before they were taken down—show the Big Apple in a state of natural disaster. Gorgeous lighting effects and texture details have always been a Crytek signature and the dev studio's upcoming shooter looks like it's going to continue that tradition.

Crysis 3 Canyon Environment [Pierre-Yves Donzallaz, via Polygon]

Occasionally we in the world of games journalism are asked by people in the world of public relations what we thought of a game we just saw. Surely, anything I could say to them, I could say to you, reader of Kotaku. And I should, right? Otherwise I'm just doing free consultation.

In answer to those who asked what I liked or didn't like about Crysis 3 after I played the February 2013 first-person shooter several weeks ago, I'd say, first of all, that I'm hoping to like this game more than I did Crysis 2. That 2011 game presented the promise of open-ended level design but its campaign was ultimately more constricted and funneling than I expected. For a game that was supposed to be the thinking gamer's Call of Duty, it was too, well, Call of Duty.

I was, therefore, happy that the one level I've played of Crysis 3—the dam-detonating level you see chopped up in the trailer above—felt like it offered a variety of tactical options. I could play through it stealthily or aggressively. I could stick to the water or fight on land. I could work my through the level's main building or around it. I liked all of that.

The Crysis games fetishize the super-suit worn by the the player's character. The suit lets you jump really high, turn nearly invisible, punch trees and so on. Crysis 2 made a big deal about the suit always crashing, re-booting and apparently upgrading, though all of that seemed like inconsequential special effects to me. I'm not sure Crysis 3 will do a better job with the suit, but now they've added a new item to fetishize, one that I like more: the bow-and-arrow.

The prevalence of bows and arrows among the games at this past E3 became a bad joke, but Crysis 3 gets a pass from me. Its' bow-and-arrow is great and fits the series perfectly. Over in the new Tomb Raider, we've got a bow-and-arrow that is used as a survival weapon, as a sort of gun-replacement in a place where guns aren't easily obtained. In Crysis 3, the bow and arrow feels like something better than a gun. It's lethal, it fires fast and, best of all, it's quiet. Previously, Crysis was a game about trading off power for stealth, of choosing to forgo one's own cloaking device when it's time to uncork a spray of machine gun fire. In Crysis 3, the bow and arrow feels like the best of all worlds, offering quiet lethality, a combo that feels like it trumps the tactical options of the previous game. This particular weapon also suits the Crysis series' appeal to the shooter player's tactical mind, requiring them to use the ammunition in their quiver efficiently and encouraging them to pick up their spent arrows to use them again.

The new game will let players hack and use alien weapons and still offers bunches of suit upgrades. These features don't interest me much, nor does a perpetuation of the previous game's plant-overgrowth-in-the-city aesthetic. While other shooters globe-hop perhaps more than they should, it feels that Crysis may be erring in staying too still. The new game is supposed to feature a variety of climates and terrain in special biodomes that house the game's urban levels. But the overall foliage-and-steel look that I've seen makes this new game look, to me, like an add-on to a Crysis 2 campaign that had already gone on too long for me. I'm hoping to see more visual variety than we've seen so far.

I did not attend EA's E3 press conference a month ago, and I was surprised to hear that this game closed the show. I'd walked away from my demo of the game feeling that Crytek's series was on the upswing, but I did not walk away feeling that it was grand finale material. Blame the marketing team or show organizers for that, I guess.

I have a hard time seeing where Crysis 3 fits in and it remains a sequel that risks being one too many in a crowded field. For me, it needs to be best at something or at least interestingly different. Crysis 3, however, feels a shade more conservative than the next Call of Duty, which is adding branching story to its own previously-safe formula. I am now looking toward first-person shooters such as Metro Last Light and its striking Russian post-apocalypse for my FPTS aesthetic left turn. I now look to whatever the former Infinity Ward folks at Respawn Entertainment are doing for the next big shake-up in first-person shooting game design. I wasn't the kind of person who was dying for a new Crysis and I could, honestly, have been content without one.

But there's something about this game's bow and arrow. It was just about the most satisfying weapon to shoot of all the E3 games I played. Can one weapon alone make a game? I don't know, but it's something I can say got my attention and got me to care about what comes next for Crysis.

Crytek is building Warface, the studio's first freemium shooter, shown recently at E3. It's also going to deliver Crysis 3, a more traditional FPS, sometime in 2013. Whenever the studio finishes off its current committments, CEO Cevat Yerli told VideoGamer.com, it will be developing free-to-play games only.

Yerli considers DLC and premium gaming services, both of which Crysis 3 publisher Electronic Arts is very fond, to be "milking customers to death."

"Right now we are in the transitional phase of our company, transitioning from packaged goods games into an entirely free-to-play experience," he said to VideoGamer.com.

"I think this is a new breed of games that has to happen to change the landscape, and be the most user-friendly business model."

Yerli says top-flight games Crytek produces still require a $10 to $30 million budget, they'll just get an entry price point of, oh, zero dollars. Obviously, they'll be monetized through the sale of upgraded items. Is this really milking consumers any less? More of his thoughts on freemium model at the link below.

Crytek: All our future games will be free-to-play [VideoGamer.com]

Sorry if that sounds a little "glorious master race", but hey, when you look at what Crytek are able to do with the wet stuff in this DirectX 11 tech video, there's really no other way to describe it.

One thing though: that sort of chop would look at home somewhere in the North Atlantic. So close to shore? It's a little much.

Crytek's vision of a New York jungle is sadly not the same as the Wu-Tang Clan's. Once I'm over the disappointment of that fact, I'll probably be ready to enjoy all those lovely green trees a little more.

Here's a great trailer for Crysis 3, shown today at EA's E3 press conference. Crysis 3 is out next February for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

My, there certainly is a lot going on in this Crysis 3 shot. We've got those CELL dudes from Crysis 2 back, haplessly wandering around as usual, waiting to get killed.

But now, our nanosuit-wearing protagonist (Still Alcatraz? You know, I weirdly love Crysis 2 and I can't remember what happened to the dude in the end)… anyway, our nanosuit-wearing protagonist is ready to stick some arrows into 'em.

And hey, over there by a tree is one of his victims, stuck with an arrow like a chump.

Lookin' good, Crysis 3.

Crysis 2, an EA-published game that disappeared from the popular PC gaming service Steam last year, returned today.

Peace on Earth between Steam's team at Valve and EA? Not exactly.

EA pulled some of its games from Steam Steam pulled some of EA's games last year due to objections about how Steam handled downloadable content, something to do with whether it could be sold through in-game shops or not. A revised Crysis 2: Maximum Edition apparently addresses that, thanks to efforts by the game's creators at the not-owned-by-EA studio Crytek. Hence the return.

"Changes made by Crytek to Crysis 2: Maximum Edition have brought the game in compliance with Steam's terms of service," an EA spokesperson told Kotaku today. The game is also available at online retailer Origin, which is run by EA and is a Steam competitor (or at least is trying to be!)

EA continues to push Origin hard, requiring integration for key PC games like Battlefield 3 Star Wars: The Old Republic. It also appears to remain both unhappy about certain terms of service in Steam while being open to both putting Valve games on Origin and having its games on Steam. Many EA games are on the service.

Major internally-developed EA games including Mass Effect 3 and SW:TOR are still not on Steam.

Here's the official EA blurb on Crysis 2: Maximum Edition: "The Crysis 2: Maximum Edition features all the content found in the Crysis 2: Limited Edition plus two previously released DLC packs, Retaliation and Decimation, all for $39.99. The Crysis 2: Maximum Edition provides gamers with 9 additional multiplayer maps, 2 new weapons, bonus XP, weapon skins and attachments, and unique dog tags that were not included in the standard retail package for Crysis 2."

Check out these beautiful new pictures and concept art for Crysis 3, the upcoming sandbox shooter that will be released next year for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

There are aliens, a composite bow, and a whole bunch of rubble. It all looks pretty. Really pretty. Really really really pretty.

(We saw a few of these shots when they were leaked a few weeks ago, but most are new. And real official-like.)