There’s a moment in Crysis 2 whenever a massive explosion separates you against the Marine unit you have been assisting. The fight continues, but, unusually for any video game, it continues without you. In the the distance you hear gunshots echoing from the skyscrapers, the thumping artillery occluded by steel and concrete. The smoke has drifted in to the air above you, and also the reflection of the streetlights casts an orange veil within the street. If not for that barely perceptible sounds of battle, you may think you were the last part of New York left alive.

Unreality intrudes. A goal pops up onscreen. REJOIN THE MARINES.* A blue arrow in your HUD leaves no question about where they’re. And your surroundings, that are nothing more than a long, narrow street without any doorways, leave without doubt about how to get there. You’d no control over the explosion that stranded you here, and you’ve got barely more control over how you can return to the action. You’ll need only to hold on the left stick within the right direction.
This really is standard videogame stuff. You are able to bemoan the lack of player agency, particularly in a game whose stated goal would be to let you choose your tactics for each scenario. You can resist such heavy-handed design, and play in circles, jump down and up, fire your weapon in to the air. You know that you’ll hear exactly the same faint sounds of combat provided you stand still, which the battle isn’t actually happening. The Marines will live or die based on whether you appear, yes — but, like Schrodinger’s cat, they’ll be alive and dead, firing at their enemies in perpetuity, before you cross the invisible checkpoint that springs open this area.

Ironically, though, you have a choice here. You are able to engage the game because it asks you to do. You are able to play with urgency. You are able to run toward the firefight. Should you choose this — if you watch the way the smoke intensifies the closer you receive, and listen to the way the gunfire and shouts grow ever louder and much more desperate — then you will find something very strange happening. You will notice that you are sprinting with the streets of New York, going to throw yourself at risk, because you know you’re the only one who can help.

Crysis 2 has its own issues. But for that certain moment at least, after i wasn’t blowing up helicopters, wasn’t skulking around invisibly, wasn’t even firing my gun, it grabbed me and said: You’re here. And I believed it.

*Or something of that nature.