A first-person shooter set on a tropical island. No wait!
Presentation: 8/10 Giving this generations premiere FPS console, a version of the game that set the benchmark for visual engineering in 2007. This version of the game is "achieved with CryEngine 3" and while it's looks are on par with it's PC origins, the story is an acquired taste that leaves you wanting more while at the same time, has you breathing a sigh of relief that the craziness is over. Your a super soldier on a tropical island full of bad guys, but there is a twist... you know where this is going. Spoiler! You fight aliens in the later parts of the game.
Gameplay: 9/10 The gun play itself is a hybrid of many popular FPS games. Your nano suit will have you running, jumping, and swimming better than any soldier in the field. Driving handles well with vehicles controlling the way you would expect from a racing game and feels very natural which is worth mentioning when you consider the clunky first-person driving found in most shooters. Every weapon is customizable on the spot with suppressors, sights, launchers, etc. Most have a secondary firing mode and they all feel unique. Speaking of unique, your suit has an armor mode, and invisibility mode that allow you to choose your play style, and for the first half of the game, this makes for some very fun and unique experiences as you stealthily take out Korean solders or rush in to play Rambo for a bit.
Graphics: 9/10 The best graphics anyone had ever seen in 2007 still impress today. For the most part. This game was built for a high spec PC in 2007 and Crytek had to retro-fit the entire game with CryEngine 3 to make it playable on consoles. What this means is that some spots of the game look dated at best, but in-motion, this is one of the better looking FPS games on the Xbox 360. The sunlight shining through the foliage is still impressive the first time you see it and the fact that everything from palm trees to small huts to bushes can be leveled by explosives or a few well placed bullets really adds to the immersion. I can never stress enough how important it is for a game world to not just look the part, but act the part. Crysis does this in spades without ever feeling forced like in other shooters where total destruction seems to be part of the objective as a whole. The explosions are some of the best I've seen in years.
Sound: 8/10 This is your typical albeit, solid shooter template. Footsteps, water, foliage, vehicles, everything sounds appropriate, and present. The music is on par with what you hear in most modern shooters. It's suspenseful if not forgettable and fades in and out depending on what your doing. The gun effects are something to talk about though. Far off gun shots sound different than when the shooter is near by, and depending on where you shoot, your shots can echo off the cannon sides for seconds at a time which is remarkable.
Value: 6/10 As I write this, Crysis sits on the Xbox Live Marketplace with a price tag of $19.99. This game is worth half that, no more. What your getting is a tropical island FPS sandbox that allows your inner ten-year-old to kill bad guys in an incredibly realized environment where everything looks and acts like it should. After the 8-hour campaign, you can go back and play your favorite parts of the game but there isn't much else to do. As I said in the beginning, it leaves you wanting more. Right when it starts to get good in dumping tons of guns and ammo into your lap and sending you to save the world, it's over. I guess that's where the sequels come in.
Overall: 9/10 Crysis is a top tier first-person shooter. It blends elements from Call of Duty, Halo, and Far Cry to make something unique. It's style might be old hat today, but if it's been awhile since you've played a really solid FPS and still have the patience to take in a few digital sunsets on a tropical island, Crysis shouldn't be missed.