Not your generic first person shooter
In Crysis, you are part of an elite U.S. special operations unit where your whole team has high tech nano suits. It takes place in the year 2020, and is a futuristic, alien invasion game. The game starts out in an airplane where you jump out and parachute down to the Lingshan Islands. Your mission is to rescue a group of researchers who have been captured by the KPA( Korean's People Army) of North Korea. Along the way, you discover that you and the KPA are not the only ones on the island.
The graphics of Crysis, as almost every PC gamer knows, are god-like. The game has immense amounts of details put into its environments, character models, and weapons. The textures of the plants and trees make the jungle come to life. Life can be seen everywhere from birds flying around at the top of trees to crabs crawling in the water. The detail of the dirt on the ground to green grass is truly amazing. The majestic sight of waterfalls and lakes demonstrate the crispness of the water. The detail lighting is also truly superb as every shadow looks almost exactly as it would in real life. Shadows and light are exceptionally rendered on characters' body and face. Every facial expression and wrinkle of the characters helps bring them to life. The textures on the weapons make you feel like you are actually holding a legit AK-47 or a futuristic alien laser gun. The cut scenes are well-executed and further help to convey the story.
All these nice graphics comes with a price. To play this game, you need a decent gaming computer to have a truly enjoyable experience. When the game first came out, the average computer was not advanced enough to run Crysis at a smooth playable rate. Thus the meme "Can It Run Crysis?" was created. This meme made fun of how only expensive, gaming computers could run Crysis at max settings due to its high system requirements. Today, a mid-range gaming should be able to run Crysis at max settings with little problems. I was able to run Crysis on an Nvidia GTX 460 with an i7 processor with little lag and an average of 60 fps.
While graphics is one of the pinnacles of Crysis, it is the gameplay that makes Crysis an exclusive experience in comparison to other generic shooters. While the story is linear as other generic shooters, you are able to have more freedom in the way you approach different objectives. Crysis has a more sandbox feel to it, having large maps where you can take different routes to achieve your goal. The powers that come with your nano suit are an unique twist that makes this game even more enjoyable and fun. There are four powers of your nano suit: speed, strength, armor, and invisibility. Speed allows you to charge up to enemies super-fast, enabling you to take them out quickly. It can also be used as a valid retreat option. The strength power allows you to jump higher and just punch people to death. The armor power allows you to absorb more bullet damage since it doubles your health bar. Each of these powers use up your suit's energy so you are not overpowered. These different powers allow you to have a certain style of play. Because of all the different powers, you can approach a level in many different ways. One mission you could choose to just use stealth and try to sneak past all your enemies. Another mission you could try going brute strength killing everyone in sight. This allows the game to have good replay value.
The handling of the weapons is also pretty realistic. The guns have more recoil and are less accurate than the ones in the average generic shooter adding a more realistic feel to the game. The AI is also pretty smart compared to the AI of other generic shooters. Instead of just clumping up trying to kill you, they actually try to spread out and hunt you and flank you. Even though you have nano suit powers, it does not scare them away. They will still call their allies and try to kill you. Playing on the hardest difficulty Delta makes you even more immersed in the game since the soldiers do not speak English but they actually talk in Korean. Unless you know Korean, it makes it harder to predict what the AI is going to do.
Crysis multiplayer gives a unique twist of the Battlefield series and Counterstrike. In one game mode, Power Struggle, there are several objectives on the map. Like in Counterstrike, players have to purchase weapons; vehicles can be purchased too. The maps are pretty big like in the Battlefield series, thus a good working team is necessarily to win. Without a coordinated and united team, it can be pretty hard to win a game. Coordinating and working together with your team is a key aspect of this gameplay mode similar to conquest in the Battlefield series. Another game mode is Instant Action which is basically a free for all deathmatch mode. All you have to do is basically kill all the other players and you get to use your nano suit powers. The maps are decently sized, but this game mode is more similar to the Call of Duty multiplayer than the Battlefield multiplayer. It's a wonder why there is no team deathmatch though as that is a typical gameplay mode in most generic shooters.
All in all, Crysis is an exceptional shooter that stands out from the crowd. The campaign is fun and enjoyable to play, and is not terribly short like in other generic shooters. The enormous detail put into the graphics and physics of the game make the game a glorious sight to ponder at. The gameplay gives a unique and refreshing feel of the first person genre that is now becoming lackluster and bland. While it might have not been optimized as well in the past for computers, you should have no trouble running it on a decent gaming computer today. Costing only $20 bucks on Origin, Crysis is definitely a steal! There is no reason why you should not experience of the best shooters of all time today.