2009
So what’s the big Crysis?
By: The Almightyly Impressed (and soon to be visited by the Jedireaper) Bobfish Category: Crysis, PC
GODS WHERE DO I even begin?
Crysis is one of those games that comes around sometimes. It gains masses of attention from both sides of the fence and leaves you wondering who to trust. Is it really that good? Can you judge a game entirely by it’s visuals (which are utterly amazing btw)? Is it all about the plot? Is it the game-play mechanics? Perhaps the enemy AI? Or the level design? Or could it be most important who has developed it and how much effort was put in?
Long story short , I honestly don’t care. I loved the game and I give my strongest recommendations for playing it. However, be warned. Though the listed specs are surprisingly low, they’re also massively inaccurate. Running even at recommended levels you will find yourself struggling with anything more than even low end settings. It’s a massive, swirling abyss of system drain that leaves you with a sense of having being violated in a most invasive, but nourishing and satisfying way. Much like a rather infamous moment at the end of a certain, pie oriented, teen comedy.
However, let it be said, Crysis is still some way from being the perfect game. It has a lot of strengths, but a few weaknesses as well. Some of which are elementary, though forgivable considering how relatively new Crytek are to the annals of video-game legend. Mark my words, the Cry Engine, if not Crytek as a whole, will be firmly entrenched in our memories for many years to come. Especially with the upcoming Cry3. It’s performance and visuals are, in my opinion, less pronounced than it’s first iteration, but considering it runs as efficiently on the two high definition consoles as well as the PC, and is only a little lower quality (High as opposed to Very High) this is something that could well be the next major breakthrough. But that is something to be decided by the release of Crysis 2, which is possibly due even as early as the middle of next year. Just remember to take that with a very large pinch of salt, because I will not lie to you, at this point, that release date is nothing more than fanciful speculation.
Anyway, to Crysis strengths I will list, of course, the visuals. I was only able to run on High with my rig, Very High requires DX10 or above which is not available to XP based operating systems. Though considering I was running at an average frame rate of 15, perhaps I should be glad of that. It removed the temptation to “crank it all the way up to 11” and fry my motherboard. I’ve done that in the past, and it’s not a pretty site I can assure you. But yes, the visuals are very, very good. Two years on and they’re still considered the man to beat. For a very good reason. They really are that good. I mean, just see for yourself.
But visuals alone are not enough to make a great game. All of those things listed above, well, to be honest, I think it needs all of them. Or rather, to be a great game it needs a strong showing from each. The plot, as it is, is a fairly straight forward sci-fi yarn. A quiet little island in the Phillipines has suddenly come under scrutiny by the North Korean Peoples Army, the KPA. As well as a team of American scientists (one of whom is voice by Claudia Black of Farscape fame) who are now being held hostage by the commanding officer, General Kyong. And this is where our intrepid (that means fearless by the way) band of heroes come into the mix. It is your job, along with your CO (Commanding Officer) Prophet, your NCO (None Commissioned Officer) Sergeant Psycho (a good old British lad) and two other lesser plebs who’s names I forget, to find the hostages and liberate them from their captivity.
But lo and behold, it isn’t that straightforward. Seems that, a few million years ago some Omlins (aliens, that’s my daughters word for aliens) crash landed on that very same island and have been sat in a dormant state, with their bio-organic technology, just waiting for a large enough energy source to wake them up again. From there, it doesn’t exactly fill you with confidence now does it? It’s far from an original idea, and it’s been done extremely well already. So it’s understandable if you’re somewhat dubious about how it all pans out. Fortunately, it pans out very well. And although the Omlins are revealed early on in the game, they only take a major role in events towards the very end. At least insofar as being the antagonist is concerned.
Crysis also features another, very nice, little addition which I appreciated immensely. On the highest difficulty, Delta, your usual aiming reticule is absent, meaning you have to judge your shots with more skill, or leave yourself vulnerable by bringing the sighting lenses to your eye and limiting your field of view. It serves as a very firm reminder that the game is designed far more around a black ops approach than rushing in guns blazing. Though your top secret nanosuit is well equipped to offer you a strong backing either way you go. With it’s Maximum Armour which soaks up gunfire extremely well, Maximum Strength which allows you to jump onto buildings, Maximum Speed which is far more useful for getting away than it may first seem, and Cloaking capabilities. I opted for the blending with nature and cloaking into the trees approach, but that doesn’t mean you have to.
You will also find yourself fiddling with your weapons as you progress and find new components such as a Sniping Scope, grenade launcher and the utterly invaluable laser sight. The latter, of course, makes you easier to spot by enemies, but gives you a much clearer idea of where your bullets are going to land. As well as this there are several different vehicles that you will have access too, many of them with a mounted light machine gun which tears through enemies, trees, and even most buildings with equal effect. Not to mention how much faster they make travelling. Though, again, it’s offset somewhat by how much more noticeable you are.
The AI is also solid, and not just the enemies either. There are several sections, especially later in the game, where you will be joined by the USMC. They’re far more effective in assisting you than in most games of this type. Though if there are more than about six or seven people around at a time their IQ seems to drop sharply, as demonstrated in my accompanying video. You’ll know what I mean when you see it. Still, inspite of this, they can give you a good challenge, and will often find you in the bushes even when cloaked because they’ve seen leaves moving, or your laser sight, or you just came too close.
So yes, to put it simply, Crysis is an amazing game. Extremely well crafted, solid, though system intensive, and stable. I look forward to more from Crytek in the years to come, and am already making some progress into Crysis WARHEAD, which seems to be at least as good so far.
Graphics: 9.5/10 (shocking huh?)
Gameplay: 9/10
Audio/Music: 9/10
Plot/Scripting: 8/10
Overall: 9/10
2008
Review of Crysis
By: Alexander Heddini Category: Crysis, PC
In the year 2020, a group of U.S. archaeologists working on the Lingshan Islands in the Philippines Sea get taken hostage by the North Korean army. It’s been one week since the distress call, which suggested the science team had stumbled onto something important. Since then, no one has heard from them. As a Delta Force Lieutenant code-named Nomad, you and your squad are sent in to find out exactly what’s going on.
The game opens impressively, with you and your team getting air-dropped over the Lingshan Islands. You are specialist soldiers, equipped with state-of-the-art nanosuits that can boost your strength and speed, harden to stop bullets, or even make you nigh-invisible for short periods of time. For you though, the mission could have started better.
As you are falling you see a bright light quickly flash by, before you realise that your parachute isn’t working. Fortunately, you manage to land in the water, but as your scattered team starts working on getting back together, it quickly becomes apparent that the situation is worse than anyone imagined.
Crysis is German developer Crytek’s second game, following the success of their 2004 hit Far Cry. Several of the features that made Far Cry popular also return here, such as stunning graphics, and a rather open, sandbox-style FPS adventure.
From the onset of the game you will be given objectives, and your map display will indicate where you should be heading, but the island is a big place, and in what manner you move around and from which direction you approach is up to you. This, coupled with the variety offered by the nanosuit, makes Crysis suitable for several playstyles.
When you are sent to investigate a North Korean-occupied village for instance, you can take your time and circle around towards the back while using your suit’s stealth function to try and slip in unnoticed; or you can drive a machine gun-equipped jeep up to the front barricade and let loose on everything that moves.
Your weaponry can also be modified on the fly to suit your approach. You can add silencers at the cost of reduced damage, or put on a flashlight that might help you make your way around, but will also more easily alert enemies to your presence.
The game will become somewhat more streamlined toward the second half, as the storyline comes more into focus. Still, a mission will rarely put a clock on you or tell you how you should accomplish a particular objective; and these are good things, especially early on, as there are a lot of great sights to see.
In fact, Crysis might well be the best-looking game ever made, on any platform, which would be no mean feat considering the level of competition. The island surroundings are inviting, borderline photorealistic, and seeing the Sun rise for the first time over lazily swaying palm trees can do a lot to put you in Nomad’s shoes. The game world also comes with a full physics system and day/night cycles.
The extremely advanced graphics can be something of a mixed blessing though. If you visit a Crysis forum, you will notice that almost all the threads concern one single topic: whether or not people’s hardware are up to the job.
The game’s features, story and action all get pushed to the side in favour of the worry that a certain computer might not be enough to deliver a satisfying game experience. To a certain extent, Crysis then becomes a way of showing off just how cool your rig is rather than a game admired and discussed for its own merits.
From another point of view, the large, seemingly-alive world of Crysis also appears full of untapped potential. You have a beautiful setting and a realistic physics system, but all you can do with it is blow things up and kill people. It can be satisfying to see palm trees crack and topple to your machinegun fire, or power-jump onto a shack only to have the roof collapse and drop you inside the building; but we find ourselves missing more immersive elements.
With a dose of, say, Metal Gear Solid added, you could be able to climb trees, utilize camouflage and hunt animals for your survival in the jungle. The world, rather than just a beautiful scene for destruction, would become an active part of the game mechanics.
Though it may not sound quite as spectacular as it looks, the audio of Crysis is by no means bad. Explosions and weapons fire are loud and satisfying, the jungle has a lot of ambient atmospheric sounds and noises; and from time to time the island itself will seem to groan and rumble, as if trying to warn you from pressing on. The soundtrack is also well designed, and makes the game sound and feel a lot like a Hollywood blockbuster.
The combat mechanics work well and feel mostly realistic. Enemies will use cover and support each other, often lobbing grenades and laying down suppressive fire while closing in on you. If you get spotted by a patrol that you can’t eliminate in a timely fashion, there’s also a high risk of them calling for backup; which usually means additional troops and vehicles heading your way very soon.
On the downside, the hit localization system is pretty basic for such an advanced game, divided into head and body shots. You can’t drop an enemy to the ground by shooting him in the leg, nor interfere with his shooting by aiming for the arms.
Virtually all enemy soldiers will also wear plenty of body armour, so a head shot can save you both time and ammunition; though many times you will find your first shot only serves to knock off a helmet, leaving your foe surprised but unharmed.
Completing Crysis takes around 10 hours if you play it straightforwardly, whereas going out of your way to be stealthy and eliminate every single enemy could make the game last a few hours more. As you progress through missions, the action will keep ramping up.
From the early goings-on of legging it through the jungle you will find yourself taking down enemy helicopters, blasting your way across a war-torn valley in a tank; and ultimately getting to the bottom of just what it was that the archaeological team discovered, something that will have dire consequences for everyone on the island.
The only real low point is a vehicular mission in the later part of the game, where you have to pilot an extremely unwieldy VTOL aircraft. Struggling even to stay off the ground, you are faced with enemies much faster and more maneuverable than yourself in a match-up that feels a lot like chasing fighter jets with a zeppelin.
Thus you will spend the majority of this mission at their mercy, to a point where we often felt that we only survived because of questionable AI and an uncharacteristic lack of enemy aggression. Fortunately, the action picks up in the very last chapter to deliver a truly epic, if yet incomplete, finale.
In the end, Crysis is a very ambitious and occasionally very good game. It can really shine in certain moments, but can as a whole also serve as a reminder of the old gaming adage that graphics aren’t everything; especially when they end up being the quality overshadowing everything else. If you have any kind of liking for shooters though, as well as a near top-of-the-line computer that can handle it, you should most definitely give Crysis a go.
External reviews of Crysis
2008
Crysis Reviewed
By: Danny Weltman Category: Crysis, PC
Crytek came out of nowhere and burst onto the scene in 2004 with Far Cry, beating Half-Life 2 and Doom 3 to the punch with a game that arguably looked even better than the two highly anticipated releases. With a lush jungle setting and fantastic draw distances, Far Cry still looks impressive today, but it pales in comparison to 2007’s Crysis.
Crysis, the spiritual sequel to Far Cry (the actual sequel is being developed by a different company, surpasses its predecessor in every way and vaults to the top of a crowded cadre of first person shooters. With amazing graphics and production values and innovative freeform gameplay, Crysis holds its own against competitors like Call of Duty 4, Rainbow 6: Vegas, and The Orange Box.
Crysis is a first person shooter set in the near future, where you play as a US Special Forces operative wearing armor that gives you all the good superpowers except for flying or looking good in spandex. Endowed with strength, armor, invisibility, and speed, you must infiltrate an island in the Pacific to stop the North Korean army from doing a bunch of stuff.
It is unlikely that you will care about the specifics, though, because the story in Crysis is about as gripping as an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie that only exists as an excuse to have him blow stuff up. Thankfully, instead of being forced to watch the Governator have all the fun, Crysis gives you the power. Even more than in Far Cry, and certainly more than in most shooters, you can choose your own adventure.
Stealthy players can sneak through bushes with a silenced gun, using their cloak to infiltrate enemy lines. More action oriented players might charge right in with a stolen vehicle and blow the place to pieces, pausing only to lift an explosive barrel over their head to hurl it into a shack. Cowards like me will just run away until an objective requires them to shoot something. Crysis allows you to play however you want to play, and the fun you can get from such an open canvas is hardly limited.
And what a canvas it is. Crysis excels technically, with graphics that easily exceed every other game and a destructible environment that one-ups Half-Life 2’s seesaw physics puzzles and turns the world into a constantly changing battlefield.
Trees topple under a hail of machinegun bullets, enemy grenades destroy the shack you were hiding in, and wheels blow out from under you as you commandeer enemy jeeps. The interactivity of Crysis’s environment 
is great, from a lack of barriers or invisible walls to indigenous wildlife (or Korean soldiers) that can be picked up and thrown into each other.
All this comes at a price, though. Crysis looks like it’s a game from at least a year in the future, and its system requirements approximate that. A fast CPU, lots of RAM, and a new video card will allow you to experience Crysis in (almost) all of its glory, but players with less powerful systems will have to make do with lowered graphics settings and resolutions. Crysis looks great, but if you have to run every game on the highest possible settings, you’ll need to pay for a rig that can do it.
Technical and story issues aside, Crysis offers freedom, graphics, and gameplay that set it apart from more linear shooters. With AI that often (but not always) manages to stand up to the challenge of fighting against a player who has almost no limits placed on him, Crysis has a place in every gamer’s collection as one of the best first person shooters to come out recently. As the first game in a planned trilogy, Crysis promises to be a fountain of graphical and interactive innovation for a long time to come.
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