Crysis follows the main character, call-sign "Nomad", and his team as they are sent to an island in the East Philippines in response to a distress call sent out by an American archeology team. According to the team, North Korean forces had taken control of the island and that they had found an important discovery which could change the world which the North Koreans sought to capture for their own. Decked out in their "Nanosuits", special suits with the power to enhance a normal soldier's abilities in many ways, Raptor Team parachutes onto the island to mount their rescue attempt. It takes little time at all for the team to realize that something is amiss on the island as one-by-one their teammates are attacked and killed by a mysterious force. Nomad, separated from his group by a parachute malfunction, must complete objectives given to him by his commanders while attempting to link up with his missing teammates.
Nomad quickly realizes that it is not North Korean troopers which are killing his team as many Korean bodies are found throughout the jungle as well as those of his comrades. Working on his own to quickly and quietly secure data from the Koreans' computers and to find the missing archaeologists, Nomad finds himself falling deep into a mystery thousands of years in the making.
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| Uhm, did somebody order a bullet pizza? |
At its core, Crysis is a standard First Person Shooter. Nomad collects various weapons throughout his missions which each have a number of attachments that can be used to customize each gun for the current situation. Firefights are fast and intense, with Nomad often being outnumbered by Korean soldiers. What makes things even worse for Nomad is that enemies in Crysis are smart. When attacked, enemies will do one of two things depending on their situation. If there are only a small number of soldiers being attacked, one will often fire a signal flare into the sky to call for backup, making things exponentially tougher for Nomad. If there is a sufficient body of soldiers in the general vicinity of the firefight, soldiers will begin to flank the player and work together to flush out and kill their enemy.
Luckily for Nomad, what makes Crysis stand out against the multitude of other FPS games on the market is the inclusion of his Nanosuit. Nomad's Nanosuit allows him to fight with increased strength, both in attacking and in mobility. Nanosuits come with various modes, each of which gives huge augmentations to Nomad's combat abilities. When in need of a burst of speed, the Nanosuit allows Nomad to run extremely fast. If there is something heavy in the way the Nanosuit can allow Nomad to lift it with added physical strength, or to jump clear over the obstacle with an augmented power jump. More importantly, the Nanosuit allows Nomad to go into two different combat modes. In armor mode, the Nanosuit works as a shield, absorbing much more damage than an un-suited soldier would be able to handle. When the mission calls for more of a stealthy approach, the Nanosuit has a built-in cloaking device. Each of the suit's powers consumes energy while it is being used. Once the energy is depleted, the suit's enhancements are lost until the wearer lies low and waits for the power to recharge. This power management keeps the suit's powers from making Nomad an unbalanced, invincible force and adds challenging strategy to what would otherwise be run-and-gun gameplay.
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| Be very quiet, I'm hunting Kore... Eww! Is he doing what I think he's doing? Not cool man, not cool. |
Levels in Crysis are actually stretches of the island which can be roamed freely by the player. Mission objectives are highlighted on an in-game map. How to accomplish these objectives falls completely onto the player. Maybe you feel like sneaking around to the more lightly guarded rear side of an enemy encampment and move stealthily from building to building using the Nanosuit's cloaking device. It is very possible to complete most objectives in the game without resorting to killing any Korean soldiers. If subtlety isn't your thing, switching the Nanosuit into armor mode, grabbing a rocket launcher, and kicking the Koreans' front gate open is also an option. What gives Crysis so much re-playability is the fact that there are numerous ways to complete each mission.
Since most levels are wide-open playing fields, a number of enemy vehicles can be utilized to get around the island. These can all be driven by the player and really aid in getting where you need to go quickly. I had an amusing experience in one level where I was driving a Humvee at high-speeds dodging bullets by driving between a rock embankment and two enemy driven semi-trucks. I was screaming Indiana Jones quotes the whole time (like this). In addition to the added mobility, vehicles often also come with heavier weapons which can greatly help in getting past enemy fortified checkpoints along the roads.
While crazy hijinks like this are extremely fun, they also make one of Crysis's flaws quite apparent. Checkpoints in the game seem to be based solely on physical location. As you move closer to your objective, new checkpoints are reached. Unfortunately, if you are charging in like a psycho you can run into the problem of having a checkpoint save your game in a horrible spot, such as in a Humvee with no health left and surrounded by 30 enemies shooting your car. Every time you load that checkpoint you will have almost no chance of surviving, causing you to have to restart the level and lose all progress you had made so far to that point.
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| Bad checkpoints, meet tank. |
Crysis offers some beautiful landscapes throughout the game. The island's tropical paradise makes for a peaceful backdrop for the fiery explosions and chaos of battle. As previously mentioned, Crysis on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 looks nowhere near as good as it would on a high-end gaming computer, but it is still quite nice to look at. The island is alive with wildlife roaming the beaches, forests, and even waters; keeping traveling around the missions interesting.
There is quite a lot of mystery around the island about the find discovered by the archaeologist team. I'm not going to spoil the surprise, but I will mention that I thought that the reveal was well handled in the game. Once the find has been revealed, the free-roam gameplay of the first half or so of the game is replaced by more linear, shoot everything that moves gameplay, which was kind of disappointing, but understandable from the side of storytelling. Overall the game took me around 8 hours to complete on its hardest setting. I would recommend playing on a medium-difficulty setting to get the most enjoyment out of the game, however. I found that on the hardest level, pretty much my only viable option in each level was stealth. If you're wanting to go in guns blazing an easier difficulty would be better.
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| Shh! You don't see me! |
The achievements in Crysis are mostly all story based. Each level has an achievement for completion, as well as an achievement for every three or so missions completed on the hardest difficulty. The remaining achievements are unlocked by using the Nanosuit to complete a random task a certain number of times (for instance, killing 20 enemies by picking them up with your super-strength and throwing them), and completing secondary objectives. Overall everything on the list is very fair and doable.
Crysis was an enjoyable gaming experience overall. The only other real problem I had with the game was that there seems to be some major sound issues with it. Tense music plays any time you are sneaking and becomes louder as you approach enemies. At one point in the game the music was getting louder and louder for no reason and just continued to increase in volume well past the point that I didn't think it could get any louder. It also seemed (I suppose it could be a "feature" of the super-suit?) that when you zoomed in on enemies, either using a scope or binoculars, that you could hear them walking around and talking extremely loudly as if you were as close in physical proximity to them as you were seeing them through your lens. Other than the weird volume issues, the game's sound effects and voice acting are all quite excellent.
If you have played the second Crysis game on the PS3 or Xbox 360 and have not had a chance to experience the first chapter of the series, I would highly recommend that you do. I have not played the second game yet (I was waiting to play this one first), but I have heard that most people enjoy this release more so than the second game.
Amulets and Ale Rating:
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