Reviewed: December 14, 2007
Reviewed by: Jeff Gedgaud

Publisher
Electronic Arts

Developer
Crytek Studios

Released: November 16, 2007
Genre: FPS
Players: 1-32

10
10
9
10
9.8

System Requirements:

Whether your running through the underbrush with the sun slashing through the treetops or swimming in the sparkling aquamarine waters the game is visually stunning and a wonder to behold, I have never seen a game look this good on the PC.

The release of Far Cry many years ago was a wonder to be able to see clearly in the far distance better than any other game and they have only emphasized this in Crysis with even better scenery and graphics that are fantastic.

The entire appeal to the first game from the development team Crytek was the huge sandbox arena each objective is carried out in and it continues in the current game Crysis. You are given objectives in the first half of the game like infiltrate a village or get to a rendezvous point and it is totally up to you how you do it. Silence and stealth is a possibility even using the wide-open ocean, somewhat, as a possible avenue of approach.

The in your face kill everything that moves approach is another, and more fun, way to approach every objective and with your nanosuits abilities it makes for a totally doable scenario. Take an objective like overwhelming a guard post and destroying an objective there, you can sneak in easily with your cloaking nanosuit ability.

You can approach by stealth using your camouflage that turns you invisible just like the Predator cloaks, shimmering invisible light where you once were. Once you get at a nice spot take out the guards one or two at a time by shooting quickly which disables your cloak and then re-cloaking. Dead guys litter the ground as others join the fray only to not see who is the cause of all the ruckus. Even if they look directly at you they won’t see you but they know something is up and will stay on guard and even sometimes shoot first to ask questions later.

Using the cloaking, speed and jumping abilities the nanosuit gives you is great and a new and even deadlier way to dispatch the entire forces against you on any given island. But the enemy will not always be so easy to kill. About half way through the single player campaign you’re introduced to your new adversaries and how well they fight.

The North Korean soldiers you will be fighting against for much of the first section of the game use cover well, find chances to use grenades against you effectively and call for help using not only radios but flares and rockets well. The aliens are another story altogether as they use their speed against you like flanking behind you when you’re worried about the one in front.

One whole section is inside the alien ship, which tends to be a fight to dodge them instead of an all out firefight. Avoiding aliens is pretty easy to do but you still have to kill several to get the game to move on in sections, which is pretty tough. Even without their protective suits and machines they are really tough as well as incredibly fast. Inside the ship you’re at a definite disadvantage with no gravity, another great scenario of the game. You use your nanosuits small steadying jets to move and turn but weapons still shoot effectively, you just have to be able to hit something first.

Once back outside the alien ship that crash-landed on earth years ago you are treated to a running fight back to your convoy of naval vessels in the open ocean. You have to beat back the aliens who are obviously trying to take over our planet but first have to retreat back through a now frozen waste land the aliens are invading. There is an incredible looking and very tough boss fight at the end but the game also ends with a definite climactic stopping point ripe for a sequel.

The gameplay in Crysis is nothing less than totally awesome with plenty of chances to do things your own way and with such a fantastic open-ended feel. The AI is also a really formidable opponent not just with the aliens but the guards who are roaming all over the island that are not your typical dumb soldiers with a good gun. They will question what they saw and definitely call in support and help when they are suspicious of something. Support comes in the form of plenty of reinforcements at times but is just as likely to come in boats, cars or even tanks and an occasional helicopter.

Some of the game is ridiculously easy using your nanosuit and being able to just sit around a corner to have that couple of second drop on someone with your cloak on. Other sections are more of a figure out how to do things the right way and you can get through it easily with not one shot fired. They have included such a wide variety of routes to take in how to do things that the game seems fresh and new every time you repeat a section and try it a different way.

Crysis also continues the great gameplay into the multiplayer section in some unique and interesting ways. The main emphasis of the game is your nanosuit and the various ways to exploit the chances given with it. The multiplayer gaming is a mix of how to use the suit to keep you alive to accomplish goals or just how to give you a slight advantage in a close quarter’s battle.

The multiplayer section is divided into two areas, the Power Struggle and Deathmatch. Power struggle is probably the best idea for the use of the nanosuits and how you quickly regenerate health while in one. Your team must destroy the other teams base using weapons you need to construct and power by stations you need to control. It is not merely a fight to kill off the opposing team but a continuing battle for key positions that change at times during the game.

The use of your nanosuit means you are very tough and harder to kill at long ranges but defending also means you have a definite spot you need to be at and help your team control. The multiplayer was designed perfectly along with the use of the nanosuits and makes for a great game feel that goes beyond your typical deathmatch multiplayer games.

The instant action game that is your basic deathmatch is also interesting in how many times you have to actually hit your opponent to keep them down. Often this makes for some interesting close in shootouts with the winner being the luckiest or better at quick shooting in close quarters.

The multiplayer gaming is fast paced with plenty of chances to change things around and the power struggle type game is really ingenious. One word of advice, from personal experience, you need to run through the tutorial of the multiplayer section before jumping into a game with others. It is just too confusing if you don’t and trying to figure out what is going on and what you are supposed to be doing to help your team is important enough to take the time.

This is odd and probably the first game I have played where there actually is a tutorial for the multiplayer section but it is needed. It helps you know what you should be doing and how to do things like buy weapons and control your deployments and is a good thing to have added to the multiplayer gaming.

Crysis continues the fantastic gaming that was first introduced in Far Cry and continues on in Crysis. The gameplay offers so many different ways to accomplish your goals and a great opponent that uses cover, fights effectively with their fellows and just tries their best against an enemy they know nothing about. Sounds almost like they are real.

The graphics are realistic in that postcard picturesque way that recreates the best qualities of the paradise island theme. The alien structure when your jetting through the ship is equally great looking but in a way that makes sense as there is no gravity so no up and down where floors don’t really mean much.

They have made use of great looking textures and combined with the realistic looking weapons and effects created a world with lifelike qualities. So lifelike you will often just sit and marvel at your surroundings for a minute during the quieter scenes.

The effects like weapons heat is so real that it is scary and heat effects are one thing they have created that defies belief. Stand behind a tank in the exhaust and you can literally feel the hot and slightly acid fumes coming out of the pipes. Looking at the heat bloom from your weapon muzzle you can easily figure out why that machine gun does not fire.

The graphics are that perfect mix of some blood but not so much that it is too gory and the things like weapons detail and damage to vehicles is perfect. The game looks fantastic on the better visuals of DirectX 10 but is still very enjoyable on DirectX 9 even at lower settings.

The theme music is good but the various background sounds are even better and add the right touch of being there quality to your gaming. The weapons and machines all sound realistic with the right amount of alien other worldly noise to those weapons as well.

The audio is really good in Crysis but there were a few things that just did not add up to a totally perfect experience for me.

They let you roam where you want for most of the game but you are still hampered by unscaleable cliffs, deep water where you die off and of course the alien vessel only has so many places to dart around in. Crysis comes complete with a level editor so you can have fun with that and I am positive that people will be creating their own levels and content very soon. There is also the multiplayer with its great fast paced instant action and the better slower paced but with longer-term goals Power Struggle.

The multiplayer gives two totally different experiences in the same game and takes advantage of the nanosuits partial invulnerability to create a multiplayer game that is new and refreshing. The just kill everything game is now a thing of the past and game makers are going to have to get creative to keep up with Crytek and Crysis.