Amazing game, Few issues

User Rating: 9.5 | Crysis PC
Well, here is Crysis at last. It is one hell of a ride that deserves a play through, or many.

As far as the gameplay goes, this game is top notch. The big feature that's being touted here is the nanosuit, which actually works really well. It just adds one more layer to the already good fps standards. Not only does it add this dynamic, but it also adds replayability. Also, most of the levels (more on this later) are extremely open for a first person shooter. Probably, on average, a little more open than even Far Cry. All of the weapons feel powerful and satisfying as well.

The level design is really good as well. The first five or six levels pit you against the North Koreans, and this is by far the best part of the game. In you super-suit, you can play around with the, for the most part, exceptional AI. There are a few situations that the AI doesnt seem to react well to, such as cloaking when you are in the water. But the AI is very tactical, and always try to out-flank you. Almost always you will be up against hoards of enemies.

The graphics, needless to say, are amazing. There has been tons of complaining over the hardware requirements, and this is well earned. I don't think I would recommend this game for people who don't have at least the recommended specs. I have an AMD X2 4200+ @ 2.61Ghz, 4GB RAM, Vista, and an 8800GT. I played through the game on all high settings (0xAA, 1280x1024), and for the most part it was playable, with occasional stuttering. The snow levels later in the game really stress hardware, and you will probably have to turn the settings down for these stages.

People who say graphics don't mean good gameplay, for the most part I agree with them. But this game is an exception. The level of immersion the graphics bring are unprecedented in any videogame before this. I will not go on about this, since you can see screenshots and videos, but needless to say, its pushing the fringes of computing technology.

The Sound is great as well. All the guns have very powerful sounds, which is a very good thing. Sometimes, a great game is ruined by weak sounds (Quake Wars?). You will leap in glee as you dive behind a rock, and hear the bushes and trees swaying in the wind, while you hear the distant crackle of gunfire, and then bullets whizzing through the air, penetrating the dense foliage. Trust me, it's an experience like no other. The music is great too.

Multiplayer, however, is not as good as the rest of the game. Why is this? A number of things... One, the multiplayer, in it's current form, is too laggy to be enjoyed thoroughly. Hopefully a fix will be released soon, but it really is hard to play when people jump all over the place. There aren't enough maps (only 5 for power struggle, and Instant Action doesn't have enough longevity to it to really consider it as a strong multiplayer component.) There are also some glaring bugs in multiplayer, such as the Anti-Air tanks exploding when fired from. However, if these issues are ironed out, the multiplayer will be amazing. Power struggle is a very unique objective based game mode similar to BF-style games.

All in all, this game has an amazing single player campaign, and the multiplayer, in time, has a potential of being great. I would reccomend this game to anyone who has a high end rig, I am afraid anyone with anything less will be too frustrated by trying to get it to run and look good.