EA Announces Crysis 3 Open Multiplayer Beta

Starting January 29, gamers will have the opportunity to hunt the most dangerous game (man, for those who didn’t pay attention in English class) in an open multiplayer beta for Crysis 3. The beta will be available for PC, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360, so it doesn’t matter what your preferred platform is—you can play in the beta.

The beta will have two of the eight multiplayer modes that the final version of Crysis 3will offer: “Crash Site” and “Hunter Mode.” Crash Site makes players “secure and defend specific locations, earning points along the way for kills and their ability to hold those locations.” Hunter Mode is an “asymmetrical, time based mode” that pits teams of two “cloaked hunters stalking 10 opposing CELL troopers.” That actually sounds amazingly bad-ass and cool. The cloaked hunters will be armed with enhanced Nanosuits and Predator bows, and can only win when all ten CELL operatives are neutralized. The CELL operative team can win by surviving. And that’s not all:

“The twist is that once a CELL trooper is killed, that player will then respawn as a hunter, joining the others in their attempt to eliminate the remaining CELL operatives before the clock strikes zero.”

Man. How cool is that?

Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli offered this statement on the forthcoming beta:

“With Crysis 3 we are delivering the deepest, most robust Crysis multiplayer experience yet. We have listened closely to our fans and have evolved the multiplayer in Crysis 3 by adding a host of new gameplay features including the unique Hunter mode, deadly new weapons like the Predator bow, deeper loadout and unlock options, enhanced upgrade systems and more social features like the New York Feed. Top it all off with the ultimate weapon in the Nanosuit and you have a multiplayer experience that is unlike anything else out there.”

The game drops officially on February 19 in North America, and on February 21 in Europe. I think I’ll be checking out that beta for sure…