Eric Lagel: The main lesson we learned was to make sure there will be community support from the beginning. It's essential in order to meet gamers' expectations in online multiplayer.

Lagel: The announced multiplayer modes are Instant Action, Team Action and Power Struggle.

Lagel: In its core, the Power Struggle mode is an open-ended team game where each team's goal is to destroy the fortified enemy base. In order to achieve this, players will have to earn access to extremely powerful weapons (i.e. the XM102 rocket launcher or the EM70 EMP rifle). That is enabled by the capture of specialized factories, where players can buy weapons, equipment and vehicles to support their team effort.

Lagel: The nano-suit will work in multiplayer the same way it works in single-player: it grants players instant and decisive means to overcome opponents. There are various ways of using the suit in multiplayer, and once you've tried it, you won't want to go back to standard modes.

Vehicles full of super soldiers equals multiplayer hotness

Lagel: Actually the nano-suit balances itself very well, since every user has the same capabilities. It can match every player's play-style. In team play, it really translates into some interesting possibilities, for example some players activate speed mode and draw attention away from cloaked teammates who can then unleash a surprise attack. Honestly, there are so many possibilities that we haven't even seen them all and we're sure gamers are going to come up with some creative strategies once the game is out.

Lagel: There are definitely vehicles, and they are serious investments for players who choose to utilize them. They are not meant to be disposable, but part of your achievement in the game.

Lagel: That will definitely be the case; we are working on some really cool things that we'll be able to tell you more about at a later date.

Lagel: The vast majority of the maps are multiplayer-only, with only a handful having been converted from single-player areas.

Lagel: To get a portion of a map from the single-player game to multiplayer, there are a few selected changes that include the suppression of Instant Action, and then the addition of the multiplayer rule set. The choice of these maps is based on an extremely simple assessment: "That would be a very nice environment for multiplayer."

Lagel: Indeed, the power of the CryEngine 2 allows us to create some really interesting level designs, with the destructible vegetation being the most obvious one. You'll definitely be able to take advantage of these, either to help you hide, or to help you clear a path to your opponent.

Two bad dudes about to take on a jeep full of other bad dudes

Lagel: There already is a pre-SDK that is available for selected mod teams. Due to their feedback on its content it assures that we can provide all the things the mod community needs to build outstanding mods. The final SDK will be available at the release of Crysis and together with the fully functional Sandbox2 Editor, we have very powerful tools for the modders out there.

Lagel: Each match will be stand-alone. The decision as to why we don't have persistent statistics is simple: many, if not all, of the open PC statistics can be cheated in one way or the other. We are very aware of how cheating happens in PC online games, and do not want to provide a feature until we can figure how it can be deemed reliable and trusted.