Crysis Review
The day of reckoning is upon us. The game that so many have hailed as the savior of PC gaming, a new game for PC gamers to rally behind has finally arrived a few years after the first footage of the amazing tech demo was shown. It quite possibly one of the most anticipated games of the last few years on any platform. One that has sparked many debates over the technology needed to produce the visuals. It is a game that has been the cause of many heated debates over what is the best gaming platform. On its surface Crysis is a pretty game and it promises us a wonderful, unique, and fun experience. So does it have the substance to back up the beautiful visuals? Or is Crysis nothing more than a pretty face?
STORY
In Crysis you find yourself playing as a US army Delta special ops soldier nicknamed ‘Nomad’. For most of the game you are joined by a squad of other Delta soldiers. The story takes you to a small island off the coast of China/Asia. Your mission is to rescue a group of American scientists trapped on the island. They are being held down by North Korean soldiers. You are on a covert mission to find and rescue the scientists, and to leave the island without being detected at all. You soon find out that you are not alone on the island and it’s not just the NKA you need to worry about. The game introduces tantalizing hints into the beginning of the story about what is making people disappear and what made your mission go awry. At its heart Crysis’s themes have been played out numerous times before in the FPS genre. However Crytek’s masterful storytelling breathes new life into the age old “aliens take over special ops team sent in” theme and instead of feeling stale or boring, it whisks you along and draws you in with every twist and turn.
DESIGN
Crysis promises a huge wide open landscape for you to explore and your only restrictions being geological barriers and objectives. It delivers on its promise for the most part. The map is huge and needs to be seen and experienced to believe (not just by watching videos). You can travel almost anywhere. The only restrictions feel like natural structures not developer place restrictions. This opens up the whole world for you to explore. The huge map isn’t the only thing that helps the world feel open. Crysis allows you to complete objectives when you want and how you want, for the most part. There are a few missions where you HAVE to complete an objective in order to progress the story. Crysis defiantly is one of the biggest games in existence. Crysis difficulty allows for some serious replayability. The difficulty settings change everything, including enemy AI and even replaces the enemy’s dialogue with Korean. Now onto the Multiplayer. When Crysis was being developed many people thought that Crytek would focus too much on the single player and that multiplayer would simply be tacked on. When the beta MP was released people were pleasantly surprised by it. Under all the bugs and heavy toll on the system, it was a fun and mostly unique experience. Crysis’s multiplayer has several modes, one being the unique power struggle mode and another being the standard deathmatch. Both allow you to purchase weapons, use your nanosuits abilities and create tactics of your own. While it is not revolutionary it is far from tacked on and boring. The biggest bonus to the Crysis gamer is the map editor. The map editor was released with the demo and we have already seen what a little determination and tweaking can do to the game. User created mods and maps are sure to keep the game fresh for as long as the engine keeps looking pretty.
GAMEPLAY
We all know that a game can look pretty but end of having horrible gameplay. Many people thought that Crytek’s focus on the graphics would result in poor gameplay for Crysis. But hey these are the guys who brought us Farcry. The gameplay however, is a far cry from Crytek’s previous game. You quickly learn to relay more on your nanosuits powers and on your tactics than on your guns alone. Crysis does not take lightly to gamers who are used to running and gunning. While it is possible to temporarily run and gun, you’ll soon find yourself facing death after death. Crysis forces you to use stealth tactics and to use your nanosuits to survive. Unlike what many gamers thought about the nanosuits, it does not make you a walking ‘god’. At no time while playing the game, do you feel overly powerful. The game balances its self very well. Crysis physics also open up a whole new world of tactics for a player. You can shoot out an individual tire which instantly disables a vehicle. You can disable a vehicle not in use taking away an escape root for enemies. You can bring a house down on a group of soldiers taking many out with a few bullets. You can bring trees down upon enemies destroying cover and even killing them. On top of that the destruction is just plain fun. There’s nothing like standing in the middle of a forest and just mowing down tree after tree.
PRESENTATION
From the beginning everyone knew Crysis was going to be a pretty game. Even though the visuals are not quite what was promised by the original tech demo, at least not right out of the box, they are still not only impressive but the best in the industry. On max settings Crysis is a sight to behold. The island is rendered in beautiful detail even at miles distances. The shadows and the lighting bring a wonderful atmosphere to the game and truly make it feel real and alive. We have been hearing the phrase “Pixar quality graphics” for a while now. Crysis however, delivers on that claim. It has the best animations and visuals seen outside of a prerendered CGI film. The water is also a wonder on its own. It is the best rendered ocean I have seen in a game ever. It is not necessarily the best water in general but no game can match its visuals on its scale. While most gamers do not own a machine that can run it on max even with the XP DX10 hack, most gamers do own a machine that can handle it on mediumhigh settings which still looks better than any game on the market and that is besides the fact that it maintains the visual quality indoors and out, and on massive scale throughout.
Crysis made some pretty big promises and drew a tantalizing line with its tech demo last year. It has managed to succeed for the most part in delivering on these claims. Graphics don’t make a game; luckily Crysis has the gameplay and value to make it worth the price of admission. Believe me once you get on the ride that is Crysis you won’t want to get off. It is a game gamers can be proud to call a PC exclusive and a game that the systems users can rally behind. Crysis proves that PC gaming is far from dead.
SCORE
STORY: 9
DESIGN: 9.6
GAMEPLAY: 9.8
PRESENTATION: 9.6
TOTAL: 9.8
PC gaming vs 360
so i always hear this crap about how the 360 is so much better than the PC and how its also cheaper and im here to disprove at the very least the cost issue and value. maybe you only like the 360 game sidk then go ahead and enjoy them but dont every mention that PC gaming is more expensive cause youll look like a noobtard
lets compare the cost of owning a 360 verses the cost of a gaming PC over 5 years. lets start from scratch.
360
360 premium - $350
LIVE - $250 ($50 a year x 5 years)
10 games - $600
extra periphirals - $100 (controllers, sound system, ect)
HDTV - $1000 37" Samsung 720p HDTV
TOTAL - $2300
PC
Componants - a PC that can play crysis on high
Proc - AMD 64 X2 4800+ Brisbane 2.5ghz
Mem - Corsair 2gb XMS2 DDR2 RAM
Mobo - Foxconn AM2 microATX mobo
VidCard - 8800GTX 768mb
Case - Cooler Master Elite
PSU - Cooler Master 550watt
HDD - Seagate 250gb 7200rpm
M&KB - logitec G5 , rosewill black keyboard
DVD - sony NEC DVD-R/RW
cooling - zalman CPU cooler
Total - $820
monitor - $280 22" Samsung WS LCD monitor 1680x1050
10 games - $500
upgrade budget - $500
TOTAL - $2100
thats a PC that can play crysis on high (a freaking 8800gtx on newegg for $400!!!) and has a $500 budget for upgrades for 5 years. i coulda gobe even cheaper and went with a 8800gt but i didnt i went all out, the moniter and hdtv are also very comparable. and i dont wanna hear how most people who buy a console already have an hdtv caus ei could just say well most of the Parts of the PC people already have which would take about $300 off of that and i could say most already have a monitor and take another $280 off so dont try and argue that.
so there you have it proof that PC gaming is cheaper than console gaming
