Crysis 2 is a Halo killer

Akin to staring into the mirror and saying ‘Candyman’ three times, daring to label your product a ‘Halo killer’ has become a move only the brave or the stupid would dare to take – but that’s exactly how EA has chosen to describe upcoming shooter Crysis 2.

The term ‘Halo killer’ has become infamous having been used twice in the past. Firstly, Sony used it to describe Guerrilla’s PS2 shooter Killzone, which despite going on to become a triple-A franchise never reached the quality levels predicted in its debut outing.

In more recent years Free Radical’s PS3-only Haze was once described as a Master Chief toppler – that it turned out to be a critical and commercial flop has resulted in the term becoming somewhat of a poison chalice.

That hasn’t deterred EA Games label president Frank Gibeau, though.

We were trying to craft aHalo-killer,” Gibeau told Industry Gamers. You know, a product that would squarely go after what Bungie built with our partners at Crytek. So theCrysis 2product is spectacular, very high-end, and is going to be a multi-year franchise.”