One of the biggest complains with last year’s overall great Crysis 2 was that it didn’t have the great sandbox gameplay that the original Crysis had back in 2007. Crytek says they’re bringing back the same sandbox style gameplay in Crysis 3 when it releases next year, and that fans need not worry.
“With Crysis 3, we looked at what people liked about Crysis 2 and what we could do to improve it,” said Crytek boxx Cevat Yerli. “One of the big things we heard was, ‘More of an open sandbox like Crysis.’ However, Crysis 2, it wasn’t that we couldn’t make it bigger; it was the realistic limitations of the city itself. Building blocks, like towers and things, naturally you’re moved into confined spaces. So we moved upwards into vertical spaces.
“n Crysis 3 we said, because now we can destroy them [buildings] in a way and a reason for the buildings to collapse and be destroyed and what not, we can make it open but also vertically open. So I think people are going to get a Crysis-esque sandbox, but still a different layer on top of it.”
[Source]