Crysis

2:09am - 16 November 2007 - 252 views -
Posted in: Computer Gaming

Crysis is undoubtedly one of the most hyped games of 2007. As well as 2006. It has been in development by Crytek for quite a while, occasionally having its videos and images shown in game expos and published on the net which often resulted in anxious gamers having to pick their jaws up from the floor.

At first, I was worried that it would end up a turkey. Nothing more than a graphical powerhouse and a showcase of technology. I did play the demo, it thoroughly impressed me with its technical accomplishment but the gameplay found in demo was only the tip of the iceberg. I wanted more.

And I got more. A whole lot more. Having completed the demo several times, including on Delta mode (hardest difficulty), I got cocky and thought that I could handle Hard mode throughout the game. Oh boy, I was in for bumpy ride. I got my ass kicked by Korean soldiers and some mean-looking aliens.

Sure you have the awesome Nanosuit which looks uber cool, lets you jump onto rooftops, gives you strength to punch jeeps away, lets you run faster than a speeding bullet (not really), allows you to cloak yourself and stalk people like the Predator and stops bullets with your chest. It sounds all cool. It IS cool.

But when you take into account that the Korean soldiers in the game seem to be able to absorb a few bullets too many before they would bite the dust and that they too have the Nanosuit (albeit the Petaling Street version), your own suit doesn’t seem so cool anymore. Powerful, but definitely not invincible, as I’ve been reminded so many times by the not-so-friendly soldiers. And tanks. And gunship helicopters. And screechy aliens. And freeze-ray-spouting flying-robotic-octopuses.

The flow of the game was amazing. I was constantly on the edge of my seat (sometimes out of frustration from dying too many times) and you just feel like going on and on to find out what’s going to happen next. Gameplay is based on quite standard mechanics but brilliantly executed. Not one scene or task felt repetitive and there’s always just enough of gunfights to keep things exciting, but not too many that it felt like Serious Sam. New weaponry are introduced at appropriate intervals to keep gun battles fresh with something new to try. Enemies are varied enough to not make you think that there’s a cloning farm somewhere.

The technical aspects of the game is nothing short of mind-blowing. That’s where Crysis got all the hype in the first place. Featuring the next-gen CryEngine2 which eats graphics cards and processors for breakfast, it produces almost photo-realistic graphics. If you have a machine Spartan enough to handle it, that is. To date, I suppose no practical consumer-level machines can handle it in its full glory. If you don’t have a garden, the jungle in Crysis is the next best thing you can have.

If you do, however, have a garden please go out and enjoy it once in a while. Catch some caterpillars or something.

All the technical excellence aside, I suppose the next best thing Crysis has to offer is its open-ended gameplay. Often, you’ll come across First-Person Shooters which would tell you precisely what to do, where to go, and how you going about doing it. In Crysis, the storyline remains linear, but the how you achieve the given objectives may vary greatly depending on how you prefer to do it. Asked to disable a GPS Jammer? You can either switch on your cloak mode and sneak into the enemy base, turn off the device, and sneak out. Not a single bullet fired - objective achieved. Or, you could go into with guns ablazing, mowing down everything you see, and then turn it off. Still all good. OR, you could just climb up a hill, hide in the bushes, and fire a laser-guided rocket at the device and be done with it. OR, you could switch to Speedy Gonzales mode, run into the base, hack the device, and run off leaving your enemies dumbfounded. Such a variety of ways to tackle a mission opens up for great replayability as sometimes you wouldn’t mind dying as you get to try different tactics the next time.

Overall, I’d say Crysis has met, and even exceeded all my expectations. A simply remarkable game which has definitely earned its place among the greatest games ever made.