Not your everyday small scale war on a tropical island.
The story is your average Hollywood cliche - in very near future a group of archaeologists find some odd artifacts on a tropical island, which belongs to now superpowerful North Korea. No doubt Uncle Sam would let it slip, so, in order to "free the archeologists" and "find out what koreans are up to", a group of five übersoldiers are sent to the island. These übersoldiers are not the usual übersoldiers - these particular sons of America are equipped with the most advanced technology yet - nanosuit, what makes them practically invincible. But as soon the operation starts, it`s clear - this mission will be more than it seems like.
Ha, ha, ha. I should write scenarios myself. No, my dear friends, don`t expect something spectacular. However it is interesting to follow the plot, the characters say and do exactly what you expect and overall there is no brain effort necessary. We are put in shoes of (or rather I say - "nanosuit"?) one of the übersoldiers - Nomad. And he will have the pleasure to experience the dangers of lush jungle and outerworldy powers.
As you might have guessed, nanosuit is the main feature of Cryisis. It can act as a shield, boost your speed or strenght or make you invisible. In order to keep gameplay balance right, amount of energy is strictly limited, but regenerates with time. However "Predator - esque" invisibility mode is almost useless - a single shot from any gun disables it, and it won`t work longer than 8-9 seconds simply walking. While the armor can take only 4-5 pistol shots before turning into 2 billion dollar worth radioactive trash, the game doesn`t seem hard at all. Even on Hard, it`s like a walk in a park. Two paragraphs below the question "why?" is answered.
A nice feature is modifying weapons. No, not upgrading. You can add laser sight, flashlight and silencer, change weapon sight and bullet types and the like. Bu ti is still not upgrading. Shotgun won`t become more accurate if you add assault scope to it. Silencer won`t increase weapon force. You can only modify the gun for your comfort and liking. Also, it seems rather odd that even while proning, sniper scope is still trembling as standing tall.
Weapon variation is another flaw of Crysis. A handgun, 2 types of assault rifles, shotgun, sniper rifle, sub-machine gun, minigun, portable rocket launcher - sounds poor doesn`t it? Oh, yes, there`s also Gauss Rifle - shotgun type of weapon with epic kickback. Watching Koreans fly in entertaining quite a bit, but the maximum ammount of shots would be only 40! Why? Because Koreans carry only assault rifles and shotguns with rare exceptions.
But how about 3 types of grenades? Shouldn`t it add some strategical feel to the game? No, my dear folks, "strategical maneuvers" doesn`t work here. AI is RETARDED! Incredibly retarded! Koreans can do nothing but stand in front of you and open fire. Sneaking is useless, every battle ends in massive Asian genocide. No squad tactics, no tactical maneuvers, no ambushes - nothing! Y`know Crytek developed Far Cry, what was celebrated by it`s superb artificial intelligence. But this, it`s something abysmal.
Free roaming? What a stupid joke. Every level is restricted by sea and unpassable mountains. Near end, Crysis turns into highly scripted tunnel. Yes, there are various ways how to get into korean base, but as I mentioned earlier, eventually everything will turn into a slaughterhouse.
But it`s not like we kill koreans all the time. Cryisis is separated in three different parts - war against North Korea, inside of alien ship and aliens in frozen jungle. Alien ship level sucks. We``re put in anti- gravitation tunnel, shooting incredibly agile, green things. Uninspired, is it the word? Oh, yes, there is no anti-gravitation. It`s just like being underwater. No uncontrollable spinning around, no pushbacks after shooting from shotgun. Frozen jungle is a little better, yet all we have to do is to move down a valley. Aliens can`t be proud of AI, but their unfair agility and endurance makes fights rather annoying. But we get to shoot one of their guns for a change.
And then there comes the flying futuristic helicopter (VTOL) sequence. Formula "slow, awkward controls + almost-impossible-to-defeat enemies = frustration and annoyment".
Now to the most unimportant point - graphics. Yeah, yeah, photo-realistic games are now a reality. Of course if you play on high settings. However even medium is quite stunning. But the ridiculous system reqs will make game playable for masses no earlier than 2012.
Now to the small stuff. Destructible environments, explosions like no other, amazing facial animations - oh, the greatness. But wait! How about God-awful physics, absolutely intolerable corpse poses and terrible optimization? No, my friends, CRYEngine is NOT finished. Lots of small, annoying things, what are really disturbing are waiting to be patched.
Crysis is fairly average on sound. While most of the music is unnoticeable, in dramatic moments it succeeds. Voice acting is great, no doubt a benefit of a big budget. Unless you listen to quickly annoying korean soldier screams. Seriously, why should anyone say "GRENEED OOOUT!!!" or "WEEERE UNDAR ATAAAKK!!!!" Kinda remind me of guys on crack trying to write something.
What can I say? People are stupid. "OMG CRYZIS IZ THA BEZT GAIM IN THA WORLD CUZ IT HAZ GUD GRAPHIKS" is the strongest argument for it`s protection. All I can say is, that Cryisis is a flawed tech demo what will sell millions of copies worldwide. Yes, it has some really memorable moments, but overall, the game doesn`t deserve neither the massive amount of attention paid to it, nor the high ratings from game journalists.