Crysis is still an incredible shooter 4 years after its pc release, and this console port is well worth your time.
Enter: CryEngine 3. Crytek's brand new game engine (made for Crysis 2) with all the features of CryEngine 2, plus more scalability to run on lower spec machines -- including consoles. Through the magic of Cry Engine 3, some talented developers and a long 4 year wait, Crysis has finally been brought to the consoles in (nearly) all its glory, and it remains a fantastic game.
The setting: The Lingshan Islands, a fictional area located near the Phillipines. Something has been found on one of the islands, and North Korea decides to cordon off the area and assume command. You are Nomad, an elite member of a special forces team sent in to investigate what's happening. Along with your buddies Jester, Aztec, Psycho, and Prophet, you discover that things aren't what they seemed, and your soon at war with an alien menace that could take over the world.
It would be remiss to talk about Crysis without first mentioning its beautiful graphics, since this is what the game is most known for. On the pc, Crysis was (and still is) a stunning looking game. Ultra realistic water effects, massively detailed environments, fantastic physics and particle effects pushed this game several steps ahead of anything on the market. It was a game that was future proofed by its amazing tech. Only now, 4 years later is age just starting to catch up with Crysis, which is a testament to the team at Crytek.
So, the big question remains: How does Crysis look on console? It's beautiful, and still among the best looking games on either the Xbox 360 or PS3. Foliage detail and density are impressive, lighting and water effects convincing, and the fantastic physics (such as being able to shoot down trees section by section) have all made the transition to the 360 and PS3 intact. No, it's obviously not in the same class as a high end pc. No one expected it to be. There is the random blah texture here and there, the post processing effects aren't as nice, and the frame rate (though still solid) can't come close to a high spec pc. But on the whole, Crysis still looks terrific, and it's amazing what Crytek was able to do on console hardware that is 6 years old. No pc made the same time could even run this game on the lowest settings. There were many times I just stopped playing and wandered around admiring the gorgeous landscape.
But only discussing Crysis's graphics wouldn't be doing it justice, because it offers some of the most unique and engaging gameplay seen in a first person shooter the last several years. You and your squadmates are all equipped with top secret "nanosuits", which enhance your speed and strength, and give you a cloaking ability and shields to reduce damage from enemy firepower. The nano suit, along with the games sandbox, jungle environments, offer an incredible amount of possibilities to plan your attacks. You can dart from cover in stealth (cloak) mode, and take out your foes with a gunshot to the head or melee strength attack. You can go in guns blazing, or you can commandeer any nearby vehicle and run them over, or use its mounted weapons. It was much like the feeling I got a decade ago when first playing Halo on the Xbox. No battles replayed ever feel exactly the same. One of the most fun things to do is grab your North Korean foes by the throat with a nano suit strength choke, and throw them against a wall or off a cliff. Or you can pick up some of the animals like the birds, crabs or giant tortoises, and throw them at the soldiers like a weapon, and it will kill them! That's Crysis's biggest strength; an amazing amount of replay value.
Another of Crysis's achievements is the extremely advanced artificial intelligence. When played on hard or Delta difficulty, these are some of the most challenging enemies I've ever gone up against in a shooter. They take cover behind terrain, flush you out with grenades, flank you, and traverse long distances if they spot you from far away. And on the harder modes they'll speak in Korean, so you can't understand their next move.
The weapons in Crysis are all fun shoot, and several of the guns have optional attachments you can add or remove, like scopes, sights, silencers and ammo variants. There is the usual assortment of assault rifles, smg's, pistols and rocket launchers, but the attachments make it interesting . If you want to go stealthy, add a silencer. Or attach a long range scope and take them out from far away before they get a chance to flank you. The game sounds superb too, thanks to Dolby 5.1 effects. Explosions are booming, gunfire sounds realistic and the eerie shrill sounds of the aliens will drive a chill up your spine. Even if you don't have the greatest audio set up, Crysis sounds great.
There are a few knocks, however. There is no multiplayer mode in the console version. Crytek wanted to focus on making the single player campaign as high quality as possible for console owners, and they achieved that. They even went as far as to remove the least liked level of the game, Ascension. The final few levels of the campaign do drag a bit , and become more linear and focused compared with the stunning first half. But most of Crysis's single player offers a great deal of replayability, and it's priced at only twenty dollars. It would have been fun to be able to play deathmatch and snipe human players from several yards across the huge maps, though.
Anyone who is a fan of first person shooters and never got to experience the greatness of Crysis should immediately purchase this game. It's a great looking, and even better playing game that stands out thanks to the excellent amount of replay value. Its held up remarkably well the past 4 years, and it's definitely worth your time.