Beautiful, just beautiful!
I'll start with the most notable feature of Crysis - graphics. Everybody knows this game blows brains but this is unbelievable! The jungle feels alive with trees and grass swinging with the wind, crystal clear water, rare animals just running around, etc. There is even a day-night cycle but I couldn't determine whether it is scripted or not. Still, it felt like it is not...
There is one particular part which will leave even the most sceptic players speechless - the frozen jungle is like nothing anyone has ever seen in a game, I am sure of that. I... try to think of a way to describe it, but I can't. One really should see this ingame. Not even a screenshot would do.
However, the best part about this game (graphics) is its worst characteristic as well. As Gamespot mentioned (I think it was them), currently, a PC that can run the game smooth on highest is nonexistent. No, rich boys - boast about your quad SLI, quad core systems with 12 GB RAM somewhere else! They won't do either.
I got a decent rig that has Gears of War and Call of Duty 4 flying at maximum, 1280X1024 and Crysis recommended medium settings, WTF! I still set most of the settings to high and the game was still playable with fps somewhere between 18 and 25 but when I came to the above mentioned frozen jungle, I guess all the snow flakes dancing in the air and the wind blowing snow plus aliens coursing through the sky was just too much for my one-year old PC and it gave up several frames dropping to 10-12. I had to switch all to low in order to pass through this section.
Apart from heavy graphics, the game also suffers from some choke-ups even when it is running smoothly. It just freezes for a second then everything goes on normal. It even happens in cut-scenes and it is most notable in the end on the carrier. It is particularly annoying during firefights.
Still, if you have a computer that can squeeze out approximately 30 fps at high, then you are in for one of the most decent action experiences on the PC scene for years! Because Crysis is not just pretty graphics! It also features elaborate physics which combined with the very interactive and destructible environment, often leaves you wandering "did I do that?" One just has to see how a stray bullet, cutting through foliage, finally breaks a tree which falls and knocks out a building, killing hostiles inside.
There is also a great diversity in the gameplay of Crysis. At first, it feels just like Far Cry with huge environments and scattered objectives and the player is free to do them in different order as well as with a different approach. There is also a good deal of vehicles in that part which are often needed to cover huge distances on the island. The player fights an intelligent human enemy in this part who takes cover, calls for reinforcements, flanks and uses grenades. Then comes the alien ship with zero gravity where you are practically flying around. Then the levels become more straightforward. There is a great valley battle with tanks and even a portion which reminds of an arcade flight simulator. The only flaw here is that aliens are practically harmless. With Korean forces being much more threatening, I wonder what is so bad about this invasion???
Combine all this with constant switching between suit powers and there is no space left for anything else to ask from a shooter.