Crysis took a little longer than usual to reach Philippine shores, but once it did, I grabbed a copy off the shelf. My wallet tightly shut, but when I saw Crysis’ price at Datablitz, I just had to active Strength Mode and pry it open. At P1395 (~$31), Crysis was a bargain! Usual prices in North America reach $45 to $50.
When I played the demo, all I could say was, “Wow.”
But now I have the (standard ed.) retail version, all I could say is, “WOOOOOOW!“
The graphics are amazing. It’s like nothing that has ever been done before. Like Far Cry, Crysis is another technological and gameplay marvel.
The shadows and textures of the game are so deep they look so realistic. Even far away, the trees, water and mountains look photographic. HDR is lovely as well. It adds to the overall quality of the scenery. Post-effects are OK, but the motion blur gives me a headache after a while of playing. The advantage with motion blur, however is that I get more frames. Go figure!
As expected, I’m not looking for Crysis to run at > 40FPS. The bleeding-edge gaming rigs today bow down to Crysis and I set my standards to a very tolerant level. I grew up appreciating games in 25 to 30FPS at best, and I can do just that with Crysis. I’m fine with an average of 20FPS. As I wrote in my demo entry, I’m very optimistic in my frame rates because the 20FPS average is achieved with a single HD2600XT. And there’s a twist. I play Crysis in Very High (Very High DX9 Hack), except for shadows and shaders. They both take a toll on my system the most, but the rest are maxed out. Hopefully, Crytek and ATI improve Crossfire support for Crysis and we can start seeing better performance. In two weeks, Crysis will release a patch.
In my demo entry, I also mentioned that the weapons feel weak. I would like to rephrase myself. Weapons overall are weak with silencers equipped. They are good at close ranges, but in mid to long range, you need more than 1 clip to kill an armored Korean. Without the silencer, the weapons are entirely new beasts. Either way, the best way to use the weapons is still through headshots.
The nanosuit is a nice addition. I’m played up to the Relic level, and I noticed that throughout the game, cloak mode is used the best. You are greatly outnumbered and outgunned in Crysis, so there are countless times when it’s best to sneak past the guards and take the path of least resistance. Taking on a checkpoint, base or patrol head-on is a suicide mission. You will die in a moment’s notice, even with Armor Mode on. The few seconds it takes to reload is enough to drain your suit’s energy. If you’re lucky to still be alive, you better be in Speed Mode and running away.
This brings me to Armor Mode. One of the hosts in the ExtremeTech podcast raises a point that Armor Mode is, to an extent, useless. And I somewhat agree. Even with Armor Mode on, you will still get mowed down… fast! If you were to compare the damage and life you and the Koreans can take, the Koreans can take more damage than you can even with Armor Mode on. That’s simply unfair. Yes, Armor Mode does give you a “second life”, but not a long one. When you run out of suit energy and you only have your bare skin to protect yourself, there is a strong urge to flee. You are out of suit energy, your life drains fast and you are outnumbered so you fall back. That sounds like a very good and logical idea, but the problem is, when you run out of energy and you switch to speed mode, there’s no more energy to help you! You’re as good as an unenhanced human and you’re as good as meat. Dead. Fried. Steamed. Roasted. Get ready to load another saved game.
Speed Mode is a fun, yet dangerous feature. Normal running under Speed Mode doesn’t tax your suit energy, but some energy is still required to make it work. The speed boost is considerable, and Speed Mode shines when you sprint. Sprinting, unfortunately, drains your suit energy fast. And I mean FAST! The danger with Speed Mode, though is that it makes you much more vulnerable to enemy presence. You make louder footsteps, make louder brushes with trees and you make a louder target. If you’re not careful with Speed Mode, you may end up in the middle of a forest patrol and you’ve been hosed even before you’ve reached the nearest cover.
Strength Mode is… not that useful. Well, at least for my playing style. Loyd Case of ExtremeTech.com plays the game “…like Crackdown! You gotta jump high up in the air and land on top of them and stuff like that (laughs).” But Brett Todd from Gamespot.com thinks otherwise. He says,
“Maximum strength is cooler in theory than it is in reality. Sure, it sounds awesome to be able to dial up super strength and choke the life out of North Koreans. But in reality, you’re generally taking on so many enemies in firefights that getting up close and personal with one leaves a half-dozen or more with clear shots at your back.”
I actually agree with Brett. Strength Mode takes up so much energy. Firing a rifle takes up energy, throwing an enemy costs energy and jumping costs energy. It is very difficult to do something useful with Strength Mode in a hot gun fight. The things you can do with it, however, are cool. You can grab a Korean, throw him at a slum house and you can watch the house collapse. Alternatively, you can jump on the roof a house with Koreans in it and literally bring the house down by punching the roof! This would definitely stir the Koreans and catch them off guard. If you’re lucky, the falling debris will knock them hard on the head. Sorry Loyd! I still love your PC hardware geekery.
Cloak mode is the most useful and is the backbone of staying alive in Crysis. As far as my playing style and experience go, there are a lot of sneaking around in Crysis. I often avoid gun fights, but if the fights are inevitable, then I’d love to punctuate my gaming experience with explosions and gun sounds. The energy consumption of Cloak mode is reasonable. It’s such a powerful tool, and you should use it as much as you can.
On a more technical note, what concerns me is the Crysis disc itself. When I placed it in my drive, it started making a clicking noise that gave me a scare. Apparently, this is a very common problem in standard and special editions. It’s a relief that I’m not alone. There are valid concerns–that includes me–that the clicking may damage a PC’s disc drive. Some think that this is Crysis’ copy protection method. Some say that it’s because of poorly manufactured discs. The discs’ weight is unbalanced, so when it spins, it wobbles and causes damage. Either way, Crytek should resolve this problem, because when damaged CD-Drives do appear, they have a class-action lawsuit in their hands. I personally worked around the problem by using a no-CD crack. The game loads faster and there’s less risk of a damaged drive.
Despite some shortcomings in game play and its unsatiable hardware fetish, Crysis is all in all an outstanding game. It’s truly a marvel and a milestone in the gaming industry and is definitely one of the best releases of 2007. It looks great, it sounds great and it plays great. I only took Crysis seriously a few months ago (it was announced 3 years ago), but the wait and the money are all worth it. Crysis has me in its grip and I can’t wait to get it finished. It’s an addictive title and it’s so difficult to put down. Before writing this entry, I was playing Crysis and I only realized that I’ve been playing for at least 3 hours. With college getting in the way, I’m having a time management crysis.
If you haven’t gotten your copy of Crysis, you’re missing a lot. It’s a great game with great gameplay and visual value. You just gotta’ love it.
9.5 out of 10
