2009.01.13 - Crysis
By KnightsofRound 14 Comments
WARNING: COMPLETELY UNSTRUCTURED CRYSIS-RELATED RAMBLING BELOW.
So yeah, I beat Crysis at around 3-4 AM on the 12th. Crysis is an absolutely AMAZING game, really, really good. You may be wondering if this is actually Crysis displayed in the screenshots, rest assured that it is indeed Crysis. I almost had a hard time believing it myself after having all of those screenshots and video clips of lush tropical scenery crammed into my face for so long. The shift in scenery throughout Crysis is stunning - even though the majority of the game does take place in the tropical areas. It took me about 15 hours to complete crysis, and I'd say that it probably changed drastically at maybe somewhere around the 10 hour mark. So the last few hours of the game at least are in some vastly different areas. I was surprised by the short length of the snow-covered island area though, the frozen paradise that was heavily emphasized in reviews is actually a very small section of the game, maybe an hour long max. Regardless it was still one of the coolest parts of the game, but I can't feel like wishing it lasted a lot longer than it did. I mostly blame it on the reviewers making it sound like the frozen jungle part of Crysis was half of the game, but it really isn't, at all. Regardless I still fully enjoyed that section of the game, as well as everything after that too. I actually almost felt like I was playing a completely different game during the later levels of Crysis just because of the massive shift in gameplay styles too. The first 2 thirds of the game takes place in these almost sandbox type areas where you can take any path you want to your objective by a variety of means, fighting against endless hordes of Korean soldiers. After a certain event that takes place you spend the rest of the game fighting against a bunch of robotic aliens that look like they came straight out of The Matrix.
At first Crysis kind of feels like Far Cry 2.0, but that is essentially what it is. Crytek took the core concepts from Far Cry that they liked and threw out everything else. The main progression of the games is quite similar in that you are fighting against hordes of soldiers in open-ended environments which eventually winds up with you fighting against something totally different in the later levels. I haven't finished Far Cry yet but I've advanced far enough in that game to know about some of the enemies you'll face and they are pretty messed up. That being said, Crysis completely ditches the immense cheese value of Far Cry's storyline and overall concept. So Crysis is basically taking the core concepts of Far Cr and applying them to a much more serious, mature, and cinematic gaming experience - which is a good thing since it goes to show that they are making great strides as a developement studio, regardless of the fact that Far Cry is an incredibly good game, Crysis is vastly superior in pretty much every conceivable way. (Note: I am not referring to any of the console versions of Far Cry in any way, shape, or form. Crytek had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of those Far Cry games and if you have not played the original Far Cry but have played the console versions, well Crysis is absolutely NOTHING like those versions at ALL. I only mention this because I have see numerous people confuse the PC and console Far Cry games assuming they are the same and created by the same developers).
Gameplay wise Crysis is absolutely phenomenal, the amount of things you wind up doing in this game is just absurdely, ridiculously, amazingly... awesome. In the later levels a bunch of really random twists and turns are thrown at you and there's just like unexpected thing after unexpected thing and you're just like WHAT? NO WAY! I don't even really want to talk about them because it completely spoils the surprise value. One moment that I really enjoyed was finally being able to just sit on the machine gun in the back of an APC and not have to do any driving. There was a section after the snow-covered section where you're on the run from a bunch of aliens sitting on the machine gun pumping them full of lead while they give chase. May not sound like anything but the standard on-rails shooter section, but definitely a very entertaining and cinematic experience regardless.
But like I have said, the ending is just amazing gameplay wise. One of my biggest complaints throughout the game was that there was a noticeable lack of character development which wasn't really that big of a deal but it was pretty much like the only thing that wasn't really explored that much. In the last couple hours there is this relatively long section where you are wandering around a ship without any weapons and people will talk to you as you walk by them, feels almost RPG-ish despite the complete lack of RPG elements. This additional character interaction and development with the other central NPCs is appreciated, but it would have been nice to have more of it since it came so late. In retrospect though there wasnt really much opportunity to have it before during the first 50% of the game.
Anyways, like I have stated the final moments of Crysis are absolutely unbelievable and pretty much had me completely absorbed and sitting there with my mouth hanging open - Crysis easily has one of the most memorable if not best final battles, as well as boss fight in first-person shooter history. This entire set-piece battle is just absolutely insane. (See: the last screenshot out of the ones I posted). There's just like aliens flying all over the place, a giant hulking walker, explosions going off all around you, soldiers yelling and screaming while they fire their guns, and something even more menacing than I can even describe that appears at the very end that you literally have to see for yourself because I could never explain it and do it justice in this blog post, but I guess I will attempt anyways. It's basically like a combination of that giant alien thing in the old Gears of War 1 commercial with the sad music playing and the mothership from Independance Day. Yeah.
This leads me to my biggest complaint of the entire game: the ending. Seriously, what the fuck? I know Crysis was planned as a trilogy from the start, but seriously? Come on. The ending to Crysis is LAME. If you've played God of War 2 or Halo 2 then you've seen the ending to Crysis. And if you don't know what I'm talking about it's basically one of those "OMG THIS BATTLE JUST GOTTEN STARTED LETS GO KICK SOME ASS HELLS YEAH!!!" *guys fly off* and you're like "SWEET! wait... what?" CREDITS. The biggest problem with the ending isn't even that it is a cliffhanger, but there is just absolutely no resolution or sense of closure or anything, it's just like FINAL BOSS FIGHT, 3 LINES OF DIALOGUE EXCHANGED BETWEEN CHARACTERS THAT JUST TALKS ABOUT TAKING THE FIGHT TO THE ENEMY, MAIN CHARACTER AND FRIENDS FLY OFF TOGETHER, CREDITS. Basically all I'm trying to say is that I was a little disappointed because the game was so good and had this massive build up of cinematic moments that just kind of amounted to nothing but a really brief ending that just kind of ended out of nowhere.
So yeah, that's pretty much my final impressions of Crysis, totally amazing game and I'm currently debating to myself the numerical score I will give it. I've mainly focused on 1 score for this game that probably stands the biggest chance of being awarded. There is another score I have been tempted to give this game but I feel like there are a few really minor nagging things about Crysis that are making me second guess that choice, and thus I keep going back to the other one. It will be a long hard thought process before any review and score turns up though. Just let it be said that gameplay wise, Crysis is probably the best first person shooter I have ever played, and is easily one of the best first person shooters ever created.
I was also going to talk about some other stuff in this blog like music of 2008 and whatnot but it's already gone on long enough so I suppose I'll save that for next time. That being said, this blog was brought to you courtesy of a massive In Flames binge.