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I remember back in 2007 when i had just bought my new gaming rig (It wasn't top of the line, but it was up there). I heard about this massive new game called Crysis that made the greatest PCs stutter and hiccup, and was 12 GB big (which was something back then. But i think it was wrong.. it's 6 GB big i think)
I went online to read about it, and found a lot of people who haven't tried it, or who have played the first couple of levels, criticize the game and claim it was a boring tech demo.
So i believed them for some reason, but then after a couple of months I had the cash to buy it, so I did.
I almost gave myself a beating that night, for listening to some random internet residents and passing on that game. I was amazed and stunned, dazzled and blown away by this beastly game.
Sure, the visuals were fucking mindblowing, something i've never seen before in my life, but i'm not even gonna discuss the graphics because A) My PC still can't run it on high (something i shall do when i upgrade this August) so i haven't seen the magic first hand, and B) Because people are usually put off by too much praising of visuals, because they're not everything in a game, something i completely agree with.
So i'm gonna ignore the graphics completely, knowing that i have much more else to praise :
The Setting/Scenery/Environment:
The first thing that captured me when i booted up Crysis for the first time was the unique and completely immersing setting Crytek chose for their game. I had been playing games like Call of Duty 4 / Gears of War / Hitman: Blood Money / MOH: Airborne / NFS Carbon / Frontlines: Fuel of War / Kane& Lynch: Dead Men / Timeshift back then, and with all those shooters/action games that felt similar one way or another, Crysis was the knight on a white steed that blew everything else out of the water with its breathtaking tropical scenery, with great looking water, jungle, mountains and fields.. It truly was something else.Even today, in 2011, if i had to pick one game where the environment really immersed me and made me feel like i'm standing there, Crysis is the only answer.
Shooter&Open-World Fusion:
The first time i played Crysis, i was very confused. Do i roam about and explore? But i have a gun sticking out of the screen, so i must be going somewhere to shoot someone.. What do I do?And what comes after the confusion? You either get it, or don't. A lot of people didn't, and mistook the game for a boring nothing-to-do waste of time, something that saddens me deeply .. Fortunately i kept at it and i kept trying to understand how the game was designed, and boy did it blow my mind when i realized how brilliant it is!
Crysis is an outstanding shooter/openworld hybrid where the world around you feels infinite, you can walk for miles and discover locations and interact with objects in the world, yet at the same time when it was time for business, the game seamlessly converted into an intense FPS where you had big actiony shootouts, embellished with all the cool stuff you can do using your nano suit, and the environment around you.
Gameplay Innovation:
I won't say much here, because you simply have to experience the game yourself in order to feel all the little unique aspects that blend together to create a truly innovative experience. You have your nano suit with its many powers, something Crytek prioritized because the game was all about you controlling the suit and using it to survive and accomplish missions, and not you being a powerful soldier.In addition to many other innovations that i won't go into their details.
Mission Diversity & Design:
The lead designer of Crysis took the "I come, I see, I conquer" concept that all video games revolve around, and amplified it.The game truly allows you to come to a new unique location, to camp and see (observe the area, mark some key locations/persons), and then literally conquer the entire base, using whichever method you prefer. You wanna go assault? you can raze the entire place to the ground. You wanna go stealth? engage your cloak and turn this shooter into a full-blown stealth game.
Then when you're done with the place, you move on and never look back, looking for the next unique location to go to, see and conquer.
In addition to that, there was the diversity in the mission system itself. There's almost anything you can think of, from going to investigate a location, to blowing up/sabotaging equipment, to saving hostages and retrieving data.
Not to mention all the vehicular-warfare segments. There's an entire level dedicated to a TANK BATTLE.
Controls:
This is another point that can't be fully described. The best way for you to see how tight the controls are in this game, is for you to try it yourself.Being a PC exclusive, this game controls better than any other shooter in the market today. Several KB keys assigned to the many gadgets the player can use, in addition to the movement controls being very fluid to match the speed and power of the nanosuit.
Seamless, Strategical and Multi-Path Combat:
After the first few shootouts, i got the hang of the game and was ready to try out multiple approaches mashed in one shootout. I remember walking along a road inside the jungle and coming across a patrol of tangos walking beside a big army truck. I think i used C4 or an AT mine, or maybe a grenade, to blow up the truck from afar, which went up in flames in one of the best looking explosions i had ever seen at that point.After blowing it up and alarming the 10-man patrol, i quickly engaged speed mode and ran across the road, shooting 2 men dead and injuring a third. I hid between the bushes on the little hill across the road and engaged cloak mode, waiting for them to come after me. they did ofcourse appraoch me, so i moved back slowly and went after the last guy in the bunch. I quickly grabbed him by the neck and threw him off the little cliff/hill there, and i proceeded to shoot two other guys in the balls.
Then i ran away and camped 20 meters away from the patrol. When they realized i wasn't around, they spread out across the area looking for me. I put on my silencer and started taking them out one after the other, then i shot one of the last guys with a tranquilizer dart and waited for his two remaining buddies to come inspect him, only to throw a grenade their way and blow up the three of them in one hit.
Shifting between stealth and assault is one of the most memorable aspects of Crysis, because if you had the patience and the strategical thinking to pull it off, you could come up with amazing and extremely satisfying results, where EVERY confrontation plays out differently.
Enemy/Terrain Diversity:
Last but not least, the sheer amount of different unique terrains. At first you have your beach and tropical jungle, moving on to big forests with rivers and waterfalls, some swamps and agriculture fields, then in the second half of the game you move on to rocky mountain areas, underground caves, snow mountains and the last mission which takes place aboard a big carrier a few kilometers into the sea.
I'm not exaggerating when i tell you that Crysis is the definition of a game that is ahead of its time in so many ways. Technically and visually, it still is thee most stupendous powerhouse around, and when it comes to the gameplay itself, and all the other stuff i listed above, it executed everything so well and created an entire never-seen-before world of shooter freedom that is all about explosive fun.
It's a shame that when something is too great for us to keep up with, we simply call it shitty for being too excellent.
If you appreciate Crysis enough, post here and express it!
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