Crysis

 

 

Developer: Crytek

Platform: PC

Release: 2007

When it comes to graphics in a first person shooter, nothing beats Crysis when it was first released late 2007. Actually, even till now 3 years later, only a handful of big budget titles are coming close to matching the fidelity of its graphics. 

Crysis is set in the near future and in the game you take on the role of one of the US special force operative. The story begins by having the character transported to a North Korean controlled tropical island on a secret mission to extract the US scientists who had uncovered alien artifacts. The story slowly expands along the way as you move from one objective to another.

What I really enjoyed was the first half of the game. There is really just one level in the game. The whole of the tropical island is the level and it is huge. It will take you hours just to get from one end to the other end of the island. The reason I enjoyed the first half of the game is because I am able to roam around the island anyway I want and can decide when I want to complete the objective of the game. Only when you meet the objective of the game does the story continue onwards.

Destruction is also what made this game really fun. Crysis features an advanced physics system and almost every object in the game can be interacted one way or another. As the game took place in a tropical island, there are shrubs and trees everywhere. Trees in the game broke off at the point where you shot it and even after they fell, they can still be further broken apart by shooting at it. It is possible to clear out an area of trees by wasting your bullets on them. Houses fall apart realistically if you decide to destroy the supporting beams, certain objects will float while others will sink depending on their mass, vehicles can be broken apart on different levels and the list goes on and on. It is always fun to fire at the gasoline tank of the jeep and then drives it down enemies’ path and jumping off before the whole vehicle explodes.

Vehicles are also very fun in the game and there are quite a few to choose from. Some vehicles sport mounted guns which allow you to fire and drive at the same time. The vehicles are found throughout the island and they are not limited to land vehicles only. There are boats that you can hijack if you decide to steer clear of heavily patrolled land. A couple of aircrafts are also found in the game though they are more limited in their usage.

The game plays similar to other first person shooters except for one special gameplay mechanic. In the game, you donned a special suit which allows you to have a temporary powerup for a limited time period before recharging takes place. It allows you to choose from having more strength to jump higher and have stronger melee attacks, more speed, more armour to take in more damage or a cloak feature whereby you turned invisible. The game balances this mechanics by making you extremely weak during the recharging period. There are plentiful of weapons to use in the game and they are customizable with different parts such as a silencer or a scope. The AI for the enemies in the game is also extremely clever. The enemies are able to coordinate with each other in groups and will hunt for you in the open world based on sight and sound.

Like I said earlier, I only enjoyed the first half of the game. The second half of the game became more linear in which the game would force you to move in one single path. You suddenly lose all the freedom you got used to in the first half and the whole game played like a generic shooter. The epic boss battle at the end did make up a little for it though.

The graphics for this game is breathtaking when played on a high spec pc. Some parts of the game look as good as TV quality CG. Performance though is a little flaky as even the top spec machines today will have trouble in certain areas. Sound is equally good for this game.

Crysis is still one of the most technological advanced pc game and despite that did not sacrifice the gameplay as it provides hours of enjoyment for me.

Rating: 9/10

Weiwen