The definitive PC-shooter

[This review was originally written 11/12/07]
 
First person shooters have slowly started to detract from the PC were the genre originated from, seeing it´s way towards consoles with thumbsticks in favour of a mouse and keyboard setup. This however isn´t the case with Crysis, an emergent and thrilling experience that is only possible on the PC. It may be one of the biggest system hogs to date and anyone with a beefed up computer might just be into Crysis for its amazing visuals but Crysis is regardless of its looks an amazing game to play and is easily one of the best shooters ever to grace the system.

What really makes Crysis standout is the nanosuit. The first few hours of the campaign will have you circling around an Island that is under the control of the Korean military where you are free to explore and use any terrain advantages to your disposal. Before you engage in combat, clicking on the mouse wheel will bring up a radio menu that beholds various options. You can outfit your weapons with different attachments and  scopes so your standard issue Assault rifle for example, can be tweaked out with a silencer, red dot sight and tranquillizer  darts, should you prefeer a more quiet, stealthy approach. But if going in guns blazing is your cup of tea, then you can tweak your arsenal to your hearts content. 

But it´s the abilities of your nanosuit that truly sets Crysis apart from any other shooter. There are four modes that you can toogle between at any time; Strenght allows you to jump incredible heights and grants you a damage bonus if you´re using melee attacks. Armor mode lets you absorb a lot more bullets than usually, Speed lets you cover a lot of ground quickly and lastly, Cloak turns you invisible and lets you sneak around the battlefield. These wide set of options makes for a dynamic shooter experience that really lets you harass enemies in a predator like fashion. While you wont gain any new abilities or upgrades to your suit during the course of the campaign, you will come across plenty of guns to shoot. The arsenal is fairly basic with

various assault rifles, handguns, shotguns, submachine guns, sniper rifles and rocket launchers along with some ´other-worldy´ additions. These guns do feel authentic andf satisfying to shoot as bullets tear up environments and every weapon handles believable. All of this makes the firefights feel intense and thrilling but that doesn´t mean that the game isnt challenging. The artificial intelligence is mostly very consistent and uses teamwork and efficiency to track you down. There are a few instances were the enemies tend to do some rather inhuman or braindead stuff but for the most part they put up a good fight.

The singleplayer campaign is split into two halfs. One will have you traversing the island and approaching objectives as you see fit in a sandbox fashion. The last hours of the game though, will have confronting an alien menace and fighting for your survival and there are plenty of setpiece moments spread across each mission. The pacing throughout the campaign is simply amazing. You ´ll engage in a full on gigantic tank assault, infiltrate enemy holdouts, make desperate standoffs, descend into the unknown, plan accordingly before proceeding to accomplish an objective and much more, and it makes putting the game down very hard. The lenght of the campaign is mostly governed by the difficulty setting but regardless, you can expect to get around seven hours of play. It feels just right as the frenetic pace manages to stay consistent throughout the entire game.

Crysis is set in the near future and tells the story from the perspective of a Delta force operative codenamed "Nomad". He and his squadmates make up Raptor team, who are sent in to extract a group of scientists that are being held against their will on a fictional island. However only moments after you deploy, its clear that your team is faced with a bigger task which is to save humanity from an unkown alien race and when its wrath is unleashed it turns the island into a frozen paradise and you are forced to battle all kinds of strange aliens that soar above you.  
 
The seven hour campaign may feel short but there is a suprisingly robust multiplayer mode, that despite only features two game modes still manages to feel fresh and exciting. This is largly due to the fact that the nanosuit and customisable weapons have made the transistion from singleplayer to multiplayer intact, and it makes for a lot of intense multiplayer sessions. The two modes are Powerstruggle and a standard fare deathmatch mode, both of which sports up to 32 players. In Powerstruggle, two teams vie for control and tries to conquer various outposts that will grant the lucky team better weapons, technology and vehicles. Once a team has assumed control of these outposts, they need to sabotage the enemy base which sees the attacking team as victorious. Its fun and pretty exciting and it also makes for some great moments, and the emphasis on teamwork makes it all  work very well. 
  
Enough cant be said about the presentation found in Crysis. The expansive levels, attention to detail, superb animation and characters that are bolstered by some very solid voice acting makes for an impressive audiovisual package and in one level in particular -- where you´ll float around in an enourmous mothership is quite a jawdropper and the soundtrack sets the tone but never feels intrusive. Top to bottom and the whole way through, Crysis never fails to amaze. 

As a whole, you´ll be hard pressed trying to find a more thrilling and engaging shooter for your PC. The campaign is exhilarating, albeit a little short and the multiplayer is just fun enough to hold your interest after you´re finished  so dont hesitate, because Crysis is way more than meets the eye.