What a revolutionary game! Visuals, gameplay, story...everything here has been improved to a level that is shocking.
First, the visuals. Striking with detail, the DirectX10 lighting effects look really good and give an even better sense of realism than Far Cry did. From the sun's rays through the trees and water, to the snowy, cold environment near the end of the game, Crysis looks pretty damn good. The detail in the weapons, characters, aliens and more has improved and gotten better from the Far Cry days. I am still playing it, and despite a lot of other shooters coming out, Crysis is still at the top of my list of the best-looking.
Second, is the gameplay. Crysis has an even better AI system than Far Cry did. Enemies will do their best to find and kill you, and on the harder difficuly settings, it will take a lot of wise nanosuit usage to outsmart them. The nanosuit plays a big part in the game, and is very powerful, making you feel like a supersoldier and a badass more than any other game out there to date. It also gives you many different options on how to approach any situation in the game: you can chose stealth over guns-ablazing and use the suit's cloak mode to sneak up to enemies and take them out swiftly and silently, without drawing too much attention to yourself. Or, you can chose to go guns-ablazing and use the suit's armor mode to harden your skin so you can take a lickin' and keep on kickin.'
Thirdly, is the story, and what a story it is! From the start of the game, when you first land on the island, to the very end when you fight the final enemy on the aircraft carrier, the story stays strong and never has a dull moment. The main characters Prophet, Psycho, Nomad and Jester all have their own personalities, and they all seem very real and alive. The story is epic, and concludes with a climax that leaves you sitting in your seat watching the screen like you just saw the coolest action movie ever made. The story of Crysis is worthy enough of being made into a major motion picture, and can go down in history as one of the best stories a video game has ever told.
Fourthly, is the multiplayer. Multiplayer in Crysis contains two modes: instant action and power struggle. Instant action is your basic deathmatch type with everyone against each other. Power struggle is a more in-depth mode that requires each side to destroy the other's HQ through weapons of mass destruction which can only be obtained by capturing a prototype facility that makes those weapons. The multiplayer supports up to 32 players at once, and is extremely fun with both sides(US and North Koreans) using nanosuits, every weapon in the game, and every vehicle as well. It will definitely keep anyone engaged for many years to come.
Lastly, and not least, is the game's overall lasting appeal. Crysis comes with a powerful map editor that allows you to create your very own maps for multiplayer, and to even tweak the singleplayer part itself. This allows for extreme diversity in the multiplayer part of the game, and even for the singleplayer part(if you are so inclined to change it). There are enough difficulty levels and ways to play the singleplayer to keep you coming back for more, and that is what I like to see in any shooter.
Crysis, in all it's good and bad(some minor AI glitches and pop-in), is an excellent breed of video game. It is revolutionary on all fronts, and makes me want to keep playing shooters, despite so many being released. I haven't found a good, pure shooter since Crysis was released back in '07, and probably never will in a long time. Congratulations and a tip of my hat go Crytek for making another masterpiece of a video game to add to the many that are out there.