Crysis - PC from EA
We Like Explosions

Patrick "The Baum"

As any true first-person-shooter gamer will tell you, we like explosions. If you made a game of just stuff you could blow up, we would buy it. Put a beautiful backdrop to those explosions, a little international conflict and add an alien invasion into the mix, we might be in heaven. As it turns out, Crysis brings us darn close.

Crysis is, for all intents and purposes, a combination of two common game themes. An opening infiltration and extraction mission sets the tone, as you are thrust into a top secret operation to save US citizens from a North Korean take over of the island. Of course, it wouldn’t be a Crytek game if everything doesn’t go as planned. As it turns out there is something else on the island, which mankind just had to go and wake up. It is at this point the game takes on a War of the Worlds alien invasion sort of atmosphere.

The story is good, but not great, and can at times seem a little too straight forward. The themes present in the game are fairly cliché, but that doesn’t necessarily make them bad. The characters and dialogue will seem very familiar to any action film fan, not really unique enough to be memorable. The storyline, however, is not what makes Crysis great, and is arguable one of the weaker points of the game.

What really makes Crysis so intriguing is the freedom you have in the game. Each objective can be approached in multiple ways, from almost any angle or any style the player wishes. Want to charge in, guns-a-blazing, in a way that would make even Rambo proud?  Go for it! Want to Sneak in to the enemy base undetected, silently plant the explosives, and be a mile a way when you press the detonator? Go for it! And what if you just want to avoid that little encampment of North Korean soldiers, and take the long way around? Go for it! Although towards the end of the game things start to get more linear, there are still plenty of choices for the player. This freedom allows the gamer to tailor the game to his style, pick his weapons and attachments, and use the right powers to get the job done.

Powers you ask? Yes, powers. Your character in the game dons the ultimate in military hardware, a Nanosuit that not only gives you a truly sinister look, but special “Nanosuit Customization” options to get the job done. These powers include Speed, Strength, Armor and Cloak. Effectively, you have the ability to run faster than Olympian Usan Bolt, leap buildings better than Superman, wear armor like Ironman, or turn invisible like the Predator. Switching between these on the fly turns out to be fairly easy with the right type of mouse with a solid middle button.

Crysis unabashedly caters to the high end gamer. In order to run this game in full detail, you will need an incredible machine. Hell, all of the current high-end video cards use this game as a benchmark. And even though the minimum system specs seem attainable, the game does not scale graphics down gracefully. When I first attempted to play this game on a lower end system, just a hair above the system specifications, it was much like looking at a very blurry slide-show. However, if you are one of the lucky ones who has a computer worth as much as a Honda Civic, you are in for a treat.

The graphics in Crysis alone should push you to build that higher end system. The lush island vegetation, the stunning vistas, and the incredible attention to details makes this more than a game, it is an experience. The goal of the game designers was to transport you to a far off tropical island, and in these they succeed and exceed all expectations. We are gamers though, and it wouldn’t be a game if we couldn’t blow the crap out of everything on this island. And to that end, Crysis does not disappoint. The physics modeling allows for you to truly feel the impact of each explosion and bullet. Houses blast apart at them seams with a well placed rocket, trees break realistically as you saw them in half with machine gun fire, and vehicles turn to burnt chassis’ with bits flying every which way with the toss of a grenade. Cinematic quality is the only way to describe it.

With “Crysis: Warhead,” the much anticipated standalone expansion, on the horizon it is well worth it to take a look at the original Crysis. Granted, you will want to find out if your system even stands a chance of running the game first. If you can, you will not be disappointed, and if you can’t, start saving. With more and more DirectX 10 quality games coming out in the coming months, and compatible video cards starting to drop in price, it is definitely time to upgrade.

Crysis is currently a steal at $39.99 at most retailers. You can learn more about Crysis, download the demo, and find out if your system has what it takes to run it at www.ea.com/crysis/. 

--"The Baum"--

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