It's true that these games all are sort of showcases for the Cryengine. Still it could become a fun game - we have to see about that although I'm not too much into that kind of shooter so I probably won't like it...

The engine upgrades look great although I don't think we'll see anything like the frog in the game. I guess it eats quite some performance and the level of detail isn't suitable for being all around the scene. It already is sad enough that e.g. the textures of that tesselated roots that are shown are very low in resolution. It even nearly looks like they put the additional geometry detail in there to hide that...

Usually i would agree - gameplay over graphics - but every once in a while i like to simply get amazed by gfx and atmosphere. Crysis did that job pretty well for me , although i must admit i very rarely play FPS.
I bought it just for the thrill and got more than what i had expected - the gameplay was actually quite nice and the story felt impressively real right from the start(but then again i rarely play modern shoter)

I will definitely buy Crysis 3 - it seems to combine exactly the things i liked about the previous parts...yeah and i love to explore the world and then research how they did the effects - not only gfx - the sound mixup of crysis 2 is definitely comparable to high class movies.
I remember being at my parents playing Crysis 2 (they got a THX Ultra 7.1 System hooked up to the TV) when the part came where this freeway collapses right in front of you...f***king amazing!
Might notve been the most sensual experience in gaming - like when you find out Sarevok is your brother(Baldurs Gate) - but still one of the best gaming moments i recall.