With impressive visuals and great controls Crysis brings an impressive experience to the table
Let's just get this out of the way right off the bat, the visuals are extremely impressive. Crysis released at the end of 2007 and I'm impressed with it in 2011. My rig easily maxed the game out without any struggle and it was a feast for my eyes from start to finish. The environment is the true star of the show here with majority of the game taking place on an island, you're never short of impressive sights to gaze upon as you work your way from one area to the next. It's rare that I find myself in a game stopping to marvel at the visuals and Crysis was one of those games that constantly gave me reasons to stop and just take it all in.
From the opening sequence where you parachute onto the island after losing contact with a scientific exploration team due to Korean forces to a mountain collapsing in the distance and even being brought aboard an alien ship, Crysis almost never fails to impress in the visual department.
Stepping back from the visuals though I found a rather well designed game. Each area you come across acts as a mini sandbox, allowing you to attack your objectives in any way you see fit. Pair that up with your nanosuit's abilities and you've got a fair amount to work with. Your objectives range far and wide, from knocking out jamming equipment, gaining intel on certain characters or places, investigating areas, taking out AA guns, sabotaging enemy weapon stockpiles, and more. It is the standard affair here of what you are doing but with the ability to approach an objective however you want gives Crysis a sense of freedom other FPS games lack.
Whether you go in guns blazing, sneak around the back to try and slip in unnoticed, hop in a vehicle to cause some mayhem, or simply distract your enemies the choice is yours. As I said earlier your nanosuit plays a huge role here by accessing several useful modes. Speed, Cloak, Armor, and Power. Speed obviously has you running quicker normally and when sprinting you move extremely fast though your energy supply drains quickly. Cloak (again obviously) allows you to turn nearly invisible and slip past enemies undetected though be warned that if you are damage or attack while cloaked your energy is completely drained. Depending on how fast you move will also factor in how quickly your energy is depleted. Armor slows you down quite abit though it turns you into a walking tank and is great for when you're in a pinch. Last but not least Power not only boosts your strength by letting you pick up heavy objects and fling them with ease but also increases your jump height dramatically.
Crysis becomes extremely rewarding to play once you learn how to use the abilities together and manage your energy supply at the same time. Cloaking your way through an enemy camp, flipping over to Power mode to leap onto a roof before using sprint to leap to the next building via a long jump and cloaking while in mid air until your target is in sight where you turn Cloak off just long enough to fire before cloaking again is immensely satisfying. The better you get at using all of your suit's abilities the more rewarding the game becomes. It does take some getting used to, using abilities drains your energy quickly so timing is everything. Once you get the hang of it though the feeling of power you get is incredible.
The sound effects in Crysis are top notch as well. From the explosions, gun shots, to even hearing your character breath heavy as you sprint over a distance, it all works to draw you into the experience. You can even hear the nanosuit's motors, gears, and other parts working so you move along. Playing with a surround sound system only made this experience even better. Hearing bullets wiz by, tree branches snapping from gun fire, the thud from an explosion in the distance all really brought the experience home.
As for the story line, this definitely isn't going to be like Half-Life where you find yourself drawn in and becoming attached to characters and their plight. In fact you spend a vast majority of your time working alone and only hearing from characters over the radio. From the jump you are separated from your squad and then just as it seems like you're going to regroup they start getting killed of one by one. When the US rolls in you are still pretty much kept on your own, making contact with soldiers and the surviving members of your squad from time to time as you take on jobs deemed too risky for your average grunt.
At times I found myself abit lost about what to do next, especially during the final boss fight which was a visual treat but left me slightly frustrated. What Crysis wants you to do isn't always clearly communicated and there are points where you are left wondering if you're doing the right thing or simply hanging on by a thread for your life. This typically happens during boss like sequences or if you are attempting to hold a position while enemies attack from all sides.
One section in particular stands out in my mind where I was with a group of soldiers attempting to break through door by rigging C4 and aliens were pouring in to wipe us out. I kept getting updates from the soldiers from time to time, but they didn't feel like true progress., just a quick line about how things were going badly. I had taken to a mounted machine gun and during my multiple attempts would wander away from this spot wondering if I had missed something to trigger the door being breached. Instead I was just supposed to hold out for an extended time until the world's slowest special forces team setup the explosives and gave us a way out. This section took around 15 minutes of just defending this spot.
There were points where the story dragged though this was usually rewarded with a heart pounding set piece that brought me to the edge of my seat. The vehicle sections were fairly enjoyable for the most part, often putting you inside a tank or something else like that. The plane section I found to be a little dull and frustrating though, but it is only a minor drawback to a great experience.
Overall Crysis delivers a visually stunning game, even by today's standards, along with a great campaign that does alot to be different from most shooters on the market. I can't speak for the console version as I haven't played it but Crysis on PC is a definite must for any shooter fan wanting to test their rig.
I'm giving this a 9 out of 10.