Don't Expect a challenge in Prophet's journey in saving the world but it's one worth taking
Developer: Crytek
Publisher: EA
Platform(s): Xbox 360, PS3, PC
Genre: First-person shooter
Release Date: February 19, 2013
(This review was written after playing the Xbox 360 version of Crysis 3 and not the PC edition)
What are you prepared to sacrifice? This question is at the center of Crysis 3 as you take control of Prophet as he attempts to become the most powerful weapon on the planet to prevent the end of the world. Throughout his journey his humanity will be question by everyone around him as they also attempt to come to grip with their own dilemmas. It's a moving tale that centers in an beautiful city that houses the of the most dangerous threat to the planet, The Alpha Ceph, and Prophet is willing to give everything he has left to destroy it.
When you first see the world through the eyes of Prophet you'll be in shock of the amount of detail put into each setting. The mixture of nature and destruction highlights a sense of realism as if New York City was the battlefield between aliens and humans. However it's clear that the people are Crytek attempted to push to Xbox 360 to the limit, during some portions of the game I found myself experiencing a drop in the sound quality during hectic moments in the game. But the elaborate details within each environment were still phenomenal, especially in the character models, allowing me to overlook these annoyances mostly. You can see each character properly express their emotional reactions through Prophet's view. Combined with incredible voice-acting and dialogue and you have a formula for some intense moments between Prophet and his allies.
Crysis 3 tells a more personal story than it's pervious games and focuses on three characters: Prophet; the former leader of Raptor Team for Crysis 1; former Raptor Team member Michael "Psycho" Sykes; and finally Claire, Pyscho's girlfriend and communication expert for a group of rebel freedom fighters who want to remove the energy monopoly, CELL, from global power. CELL has ripped the nanosuits from everyone who had one except Prophet. With the help of Psycho and the rebels Prophet was able to escape CELL's custody before the surgery could happen.
Since the events of Crysis 2 CELL has become a global power through a unknown energy supply and monopolized the power market through generators known as domes that cover certain cities around the world. CELL now controls the world through debt, those unable to pay are forced into slavery leaving 2 options, join CELL or fight back. While toppling CELL is the primary objective each character has a personal issue to overcome. Psycho wants revenge for losing his nanosuit and the death of his comrades while Claire, who hates nanosuits, sees Prophet as a piece of hardware because of his nanosuit his link to various forms of experimental technology that originate from both human and aliens. If you played Crysis 2 you'll understand what she's talking about, are they talking to a man or a machine? It doesn't help that Prophet intercept's communications, in the form of visions, from the Alpha Ceph, a powerful Ceph hive-mind, that shows him how the world will end. The struggle between Prophet attempting to cling to any trace of his remaining humanity and Psycho coming to terms with his own limits remain the highlights of the story, especially when both of them address each issue.
While the story has been refined the gameplay hasn't changed much. Your ultimate tool is still the billion dollar nanosuit created by the CELL corporation. A legendary weapon constructed from alien technology that improves the wearers strength, agility, defense, hack into systems, and bend light to make the user appear to be invisible. Unlike Crysis 2 nanosuit upgrades are no longer obtained by killing Ceph and absorbing spores, instead CELL has hidden special packs containing nanosuit upgrades that can be used to unlock certain abilities. These powers can further increase by completing objectives after unlocking them, however you're limited to four powers in four of the categories that can be saved into quick slots for easier access. You can easily adapt to any given situation throughout the game regardless of how you choose to play.
While the nanosuit offers an array of tools to play around with Prophet will still need other weapons to accomplish his goal. If want to remain in the shadows the newly added Predator bow makes this much easier. This one-shot kill weapon allows Prophet to eliminate targets without exposing his position and although you're limited to 9 regular arrows these can be picked up after being used. The bow also has 3 special type of arrows that include electric, termite-tipped, and anti-personal that cannot be reused or picked up afterwards. Although this new piece of weaponry does make the game a lot easier it's best weapon to play around with.
When on the battlefield you have to think quickly and change tactics based on the current threat. Crysis 3's combat system allows for quickly changing between weapons, attachments, and powers easily. You cannot pause to alter any equipment you must prepare before entering a combat situation. Each weapon has a specific selection of attachments that can be easily tailored for all out fire fights or silent takedowns. If you find humans weapons boring you can use the Ceph weapons. However alien weapons cannot be altered or swapped for later use, instead you must find them on the field. When picking up these death dealers requires you to either exhaust all the ammo or abandon the weapon all together.
But what is the point of having a lush environment and amazing weapons without enemies to kill? Crysis 3 has two primary opponents: the soldiers from the CELL corporation consisting of people indebted to CELL energy monopoly; A deadly alien race known as the Ceph that want the total annihilation of the human race. The CELL corporation has a large assortment of armed troops, helicopters, and nanosuit disabling equipment that prove formidable but easily conquered. The Ceph have four type of enemies, each with it's own specific weapon and combat. Both sides have there own strengths and weakness but they eventually can't compare to the might of Prophet.
Prophet is an unstoppable juggernaut when fully committed to a certain style and can easily overcome any challenge or adversary. While some may find this lack of challenge vexing the level design should overshadow this minor annoyance. Crysis 3 doesn't attempt to be a linear shooter or an open-world shooter, instead your able to choose to go in guns blazing to tackle the situation entirely different and still feel like a super soldier. Your nanosuit encourages you to travel throughout the environment and test different things to reach your goal.
It's a shame that Prophet's quest to topple CELL and eliminate the Alpha Ceph is shorter than Crysis 2 but the large multi-tier levels add a lot of replay value. Exploring the various options is a joy, especially for those who like to experiment. Experience Crysis players will be able to rush through the harder difficulties easily but within each stage has an assortment of collectables, some are simple posters but the black boxes offer great insight into actions of Prophet and the lives of the people who lived under the dome.
Once you've conquered the single-player campaign you'll want to test your super soldier skills against human players. Crysis 3 host a large amount of multiplayer options such as traditional Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, and Capture the Flag or known in Crysis 3 as Capture the Relay. Old favorites like Crash Site, a King of the Hill variant, has you hunting a Ceph drop-pod that changes location throughout the game. The newest addition is called Hunter where a team of permanently cloaked nanosuit hunters attempt to kill CELL soldiers. The CELL players pick from three predetermined load-outs and attempt to survive for 2 minutes, each CELL player that is killed becomes a hunter and after five rounds the person with the most points win. It a simple list of modes, don't expect anything to stray from traditional concepts.
Speaking of points, as you complete matches and challenges you earn experience towards new equipment, weapons, perks, dog-tags, and skins. It follows the Call of Duty progression system, perk setting, and load-out system but adds a new variable, nanosuit energy. Your energy decreases as you cloak, jump higher, and increase armor but unlike the single-player both armor and stealth have a separate meters. It keeps you constantly alert because those who don't manage that energy will find themselves dying a lot. Unfortunately the multiplayer doesn't gain the same momentum are other titles due to graphical glitches and sound clipping. I found myself going through the same problems I had when playing Crysis 2 such as being unable to load my weapon or the environment not loading quickly enough.
Crysis 3 is an excellent game despite the moderate multiplayer experience. With an excellent array of characters that encompass a story that includes sensitive themes such as betrayal, humanity, and sacrifice makes single-player campaign a worth while experience that surpasses pervious games in the franchise. While it starts off with a lot of potential the final chapters fall short due to dull mission design and tawdry final boss that fails to compare to any of the boss fights in Crysis 2, but ending does offer a sense of closure. Prophet's journey to prevent the end of the world is definitely worth taking but don't expect much of a challenge, after all he's more than human.