Crysis (PC) Review

I finished this game on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 3:36:00 PM. This review was first published on GameSpot on June 3, 2009.

I believed that FPS genre has reached a point where there is not much room for innovation, especially after Portal. Crysis for me, took action FPS in a new direction.

Crysis is set in the year 2019. Us scientists have made some significant discoveries on one of Lingshan Islands. The North Korean government then goes on to seal the island and hold several American citizens in custody. Raptor Team, a US Army Special Forces unit is sent to rescue the scientists. This was not a war but a rescue mission. However, things turn nasty when they discover that they are not just fighting the Koreans, but extra terrestrial life as well.

As a part of the special forces unit, the player, i.e. Nomad, gets to use a nano suit. This suit gives the player the ability to use speed, stealth and strength. These functions are seamlessly integrated into the game. After a while, switching between different functions is so natural and intuitive. The suit changes the way the game is played. It can be used to employ different strategies to take out enemies. The semi sandbox nature of the game allows for a lot of freedom in the initial levels.

Combinations of abilities will lead to some very interesting gameplay moments. The same scenario can be played differently depending on the gameplay of choice, either use stealth throughout, or run and gun, or a little bit of both.

I would call a game immersive when I tend to keep playing and forget to quick save. This happened to me a lot in Crysis. I kept going and I never really saved. If I died, I was happy replaying from the last save point, and trying a different approach. Personally, I have not had that kind of immersion in a very long time.

Let me make this very clear, this is not Far Cry with better visuals. Far Cry is a good game, but this is way better. I played this game on hard difficulty, and I found it to be challenging and fun.

Visuals in this game are stunning. They are much talked about, and rightly so. In my opinion, this is the best looking game on the PC yet. I played the game on Core2Quad 2.66GHz, 4GB DDR 800, GeForce 260GTX and Acer 24" widescreen. The game ran quite smoothly on high settings at 1920x1200, with 2xFSAA. There were times when the framerate took a hit, but that was a very occasional snag. Overall, it was very satisfactory, and I am glad I waited for as long as I did to play it.

The game is not all about the visuals though. They play a huge part in the experience, but there are plenty of features which make it fun. I cannot recommend playing it on a machine which meets the minimum requirements, but to be honest, it can still be enjoyed on low settings.

Sound effects through out the game are solid. Weapons, vehicles sound effects are well done.

There are good number of weapons; assault rifles, sub-machine guns, pistols, LAWs, shotguns, miniguns, sniper rifles, gauss rifles, an Alien energy-based mini-gun. Most of the weapons can be customized with silencers, scopes, laser light etc.

Vehicle sections are also very well done. I didn't use a whole lot of vehicles except tanks, but when I did use them, they were smooth and easy to handle.

If I absolutely have to criticize this game, then yes, all is not perfect. I found the voice acting to be very inadequate, especially the repetitive taunts of the Korean soldiers. It was just…lame. The AI can be a little erratic at times, although this is really not a concern, just nitpicking.

The finals levels of the game are not as good as the rest. They are more confined, and do not offer a lot of freedom. Comparatively, I did not enjoy them as much.

The VTOL aircraft was hard to handle. That's not something I enjoyed. It could have been a lot better.

Now, that's out of the way.

I have to ask myself, is this the best single player game I played so far? Yes. Undoubtedly. I am so surprised to hear gamers complain about Far Cry being better. It makes me wonder if they even played the same game, because the improvements are so obvious that such a statement seems ludicrous.

I am glad PC gamers had a chance to play an exclusive, something that did not happen for a very long time.

Crysis gets two thumbs up.

+ Fantastic visuals
+ Great level design
+ Nano suit
+ Weapons
+ Vehicles
+ Sound effects
+ Made me forget to quick save

- Voice acting
- Weak story
- Final levels are not as good
- VTOL could have been better

Verdict – Fantastic, groundbreaking and an absolute must-have for all PC gamers.