The wait is finally over: Electronic Arts and Crytek have jointly announced that the jewel of the crown for the PC gaming, aka Crysis, will hit stores shelves on November 16!

Recently declared the best PC game at E3 by a congregation of industry insiders and fans, Crysis is the spiritual successor of Crytek’s Far Cry game, from 2004 (which, by the way, will have its own separate sequel in 2008, but from Ubisoft, who bought the license from the Germans). However, while Far Cry 2’s plot is relocating from tropical, lush islands to Africa’s savannahs, Crysis’ action remains true to Crytek’s original idea of greenish and open environments.

An exclusive to the PC platform, Crysis is powered by the astounding CryENGINE 2 and will be available for Vista’s DirectX 10 or XP’s DirectX 9, featuring “adapt-to-survive” gameplay and up to 32 players for multiplayer module.

The game’s plot revolves around an alien invasion that takes place in 2019, and follows the footsteps of Jake Dunn, a member of a US special operations unit sent to investigate a mysterious asteroid crash. Something goes terribly wrong during the “infiltrate-reckon-execute” mission and Dunn finds himself in the situation of becoming the human kind’s ultimate savior. Players will experience the advantages and challenges of the futuristic nano-suit that “accompanies” Dunn and his squad, and will have an impressive arsenal of customizable weapons, including the freezing weapons belonging to the “super-intelligent” alien race (these will apparently be included in the multiplayer module too). For the first time in a next-generation FPS game, players will fight in zero-gravity environments, and will have to learn how to harness the nano-suit’s energy in order to eliminate the enemies.

“Crytek is constantly striving to push the boundaries of both game design and technology, while maintaining quality at the highest bar,” said Cevat Yerli, CEO and President of Crytek. “We’re thankful to our fans for their support and patience, and we’re excited to bring them Crysis this year. It’s going to be worth the wait.”

Crysis also breaks new ground in multiplayer with the introduction of PowerStruggle – a unique team-based strategic mode for up to 32 players, where opposing sides battle for control of advanced weaponry and vehicles to overcome their enemies. For those who prefer the pulse-pounding action of deathmatch, Crysis will also feature an Instant Action mode, with the highly adaptive Nanosuit serving as the ultimate tool to outwit your opponents.