During my recent trip to NYC I was able to get some hands on time with Crysis 2 and a few minutes with one of the developers from Crytek. As I was playing the game I was trying to poke and prod with various questions. I received an unsuspected answer when I asked if Crysis 2 would have the “EA Online Pass” feature that game renters/used game buyers seem to despise. Crysis 2 will not require an EA Online Pass to play multiplayer.

Since Crytek is in the EA partner program, they were given the option to have the Online Pass. Instead they opted out of it for a couple of reasons. At the time it was offered, the online pass was still in its infancy stages and Crytek did not want Crysis 2 to be a testbed. Secondly; Crytek realizes that most console gamers have not experienced a Crysis game yet. They didn’t want to put a wall up to keep people away from the multiplayer and instead wanted to aim at sustaining its popularity even longer than most first person shooters who’s name doesn’t begin with “Call” or “Halo”.

In my eyes this is an extremely smart move on behalf of Crytek. The bigger the audience you open yourself up to, the more likely it is for something to stick. Look for my hands on impressions of the single player of Crysis 2 shortly.