Crysis and the current CryEngine 2 is one of the most powerful landscape based game engines available. Complete with ‘Sandbox’ mode it allows landscapes to be imported and populated with geographic features in realtime with the addition of advanced weather and lighting components. Crytek, the developers of the engine have released a preview of the next generation, the CryEngine 3.

If the toolkit is anywhere near as good as the current version then the CryEngine 3 has the potential to be the first choice for those involved in the landscape generation and visualization.