EA has one of its best E3 line-ups in years as it unveils Crysis 2 (video)

Electronic Arts has its mojo back. The company is one of the world’s biggest independent publishers of video games, but it has struggled in recent years thanks to a very expensive strategy of focusing on high-quality games.

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EA is unveiling an outstanding line-up of games today at its press conference at the E3 video game trade show in Los Angeles. And one of the best of the best is Crysis 2, a first-person shooter sci-fi game made by German studio Crytek. This game will be published by EA Partners. That’s a label within EA that distributes games made by others; it takes a smaller than typical fee, but the label allows EA to work with some of the finest developers, particularly those that want to remain independent.

There’s no disputing that EA’s quality push has been transformational. The company published 8 games in the past fiscal year with average Metacritic ratings of 80 or more (Metacritic aggregates review scores and is thus a good measure of what game reviewers think of a game). Three years ago, EA had only 3 titles ranked 80 or more. Now the question is whether these higher-quality games will drive bigger profits at EA.

Crysis 2 will be compatible with stereoscopic 3D glasses. But even in 2D, it delivers an eye-popping visual experience. It is set in a future New York city that has been devastated by an alien attack. The player has to stay alive in what has become a ruined urban jungle landscape. It’s the biggest game yet from Crytek, which also made the graphically arresting games Far Cry, Far Cry 2, and Crysis. Far Cry, published in 2004, was a pioneering game for its time because it enabled a player to see for miles through a tropical island paradise. That allowed players to do cool things like fly hang gliders and shoot sniper rifles at distant targets. It was dubbed a “sand box shooter” because it allowed players to choose many different paths through the terrain to fulfill a mission.

Cevat Yerli, chief executive of Crytek, said that the company’s team in Frankfurt, Germany, is busy “busting its ass” to work on the game and to make sure that this game has a good story to go with the visuals. He said the company tries to offer players as realistic an experience as possible and one that is full of options for fulfilling missions. You can sneak through terrain in a near-invisible state or rampage with a machine gun. You wear a “nanosuit” that can operate in armored or stealth modes as needed. This game will be published on the Xbox 360, the PC, and the PS 3.

“We always try to push the boundaries,” said Yerli, who founded Crytek with his two brothers, Avni and Faruk. For example, Crysis 2 is multiplatform, where past titles were published on the PC. It also uses stereoscopic 3D, and it employs the new CryEngine 3 for its graphics. Crytek is expected to license the CryEngine 3 technology to all comers. So other companies will be able to use it as well.

While this is just one game, it’s emblematic of EA’s new focus on quality. Among the other good-looking titles I’ve seen coming from EA are Bulletstorm, another EA Partners title developed by Epic Games’ People Can Fly division; Medal of Honor from EALA/EA Dice; and Dead Space 2 being developed by EA’s Visceral Studios in Redwood Shores, Calif. Even some of EA’s more routine games, such as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, look pretty good. EA is also publishing some interesting new massively multiplayer online games, including All Points Bulletin (created by David Jones, creator of Grand Theft Auto 1 and 2); and Star Wars: The Old Republic, being developed by EA’s BioWare division with LucasArts.

Check out the cinematic video from Star Wars: The Old Republic.