With a lineup of upcoming Battlefield 3 DLC content coming over the next year, surrounding the release this fall's Medal of Honor: Warfighter, shooters are top of mind for Electronic Arts in the near future. Kicking off EA's shooter slate of 2013 will be Crysis 3.

Crytek's been making a splash with the CryENGINE 3, which alongside DICE's Frostbite 2, gives EA a pair of next-gen-ready gaming engines to build their core shooter franchises from. To see that Crytek is able to deliver in terms of graphics in Crysis 3, we have a brand new interactive gameplay trailer and several new screenshots.

The interactive trailer using gameplay footage from the pre-alpha build of the game, presenting viewers with two decision points where they can pick the stealth route or the armored/guns a' blazing path. The gameplay showcases weapon customization and the variety of ways to take down opponents using stealth, melee attacks and the environment.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2LX8bEmhDc

Take control of Prophet, and decide the best strategy to take care of your objective. Whether you decide to silently stalk soldiers through the swamp with Stealth, or transform into an immovable object that cannot be stopped by conventional firepower with Armor -- Crysis 3 allows you to become the Hunter.

Like its predecessors, everything we've seen from Crysis 3 so is visually stunning with large, epic set pieces. Our only questions relate to linearity in level design and the story, both of which Crysis 2 was lacking.

Prior to this summer's E3, EA released a set of pretty Crysis 3 screenshots and concept art, and to add to that, we have new (leaked) screenshots shared on the NeoGAF forums. Click to enlarge and take note on how detailed the environments are.

[gallery order="DESC" columns="2"]

With Crysis 3 coming to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360, a frequent question thrown at Crytek ever since promising support for Wii U is whether or not the franchise could finally move to a Nintendo platform. Crytek’s Director of Creative Development Rasmus Hoejengaard previously indicated back in April that it wasn't very likely:

"Not a fat chance. (laughs)… I don’t think so. I don’t think it’s going to be possible. Right now the launch platforms are PC, the Xbox and the PS3, and I don’t think it’s in the cards to do a Wii U version."

At the time, I explained how and why it still may happen and now, according to Crysis 3 producer Mike Read, we can lend more credence to that theory:

"I wouldn't say there's no chance," he said. "I wouldn't say no chance. I mean the Wii U still doesn't have any kind of release [date] attached to it at this point. Who knows what the future will bring with it. I can definitely say that we are working with Nintendo, and that's about all I can say on that front.

"I wouldn't rule it out, but there has really been no official releases associated with the Wii U yet, and given that we're releasing Crysis in an eight month time period in February of 2013, we can't play off of what their schedules are. I wouldn't rule it out, but you know, it is a possibility."

If Crytek was working on games for the Wii U, why wouldn't they port the game to that console as well and open the franchise up to a larger potential player base. It would also be a great opportunity for package deals with the first two Crysis games as well. I can already picture the weapon customization in-game using the tablet controller.

Crysis 3 releases February 2013 for the PC, PS3 and Xbox 360.

-

Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Sources: CVG, NeoGAF