"I'm a marine, son. I'll walk on water if I have to."
If you recently built a new rig, like I did, then you'll probably get Crysis not matter what you hear about the game, if only to see how much your machine can bench. It's a good thing, then, that Crysis is so much more than a benchmark, because spending 40 bucks on a stress test is not everyone's idea of a good investment, especially since you just spent over a grand to build the rig. But how much more is it? To figure that out, we'll have to see how much Crysis can bench, and the benchmark will be the game that spawned it, or, as it now fashionable to refer to such games out of licensing and trademark considerations - its "spiritual ancestor," Far Cry.
First benchmark, then: Graphics. A no-brainer really, and everyone knows it. Everything Far Cry - and every other game out there - did, Crysis does better. Jungle, water, snow, explosions, draw distances, destruction are all gorgeous, photo-realistic in places. Some of the effects are so good, Neo-like "whoa" is guaranteed to escape your lips. The character models are slightly less perfect, although by no means distractingly so. By less perfect I mean you actually recall, when looking at characters, that they are not real.
Moving on to Sound, including voices. Sounds are harder to compare and grade, especially if you played your fair share of shooters over the last few years. The score is decent, not terribly exciting, and sometimes a little too blunt, but it does the job. The weapon effects are up to modern shooter standards, although you'll soon notice the "target hit" sound being a little too accommodating as a gameplay tool. Where in BF2, for example, your crosshair would change to indicate that you're hitting your enemy, in Crysis you get a characteristic "bullet-sinking-into-flesh" sound, which is a bit of a headscratcher if your target is two hundred yards away. Still, it's an original way of doing the familiar, and I'm sure some people love it. But what Crysis truly excels in, sound-wise, are the grenades. Frags explode so violently, so abruptly, you'll catch yourself ducking. I often tossed nades away just to hear them go off. Awesome stuff.
Voiceovers integral to the story are generally much better than Far Cry's meat-handed exchanges, and so is the dialogue script, but in my opinion the enemy chatter is not as good as in the previous game. The North Korean foes don't discuss the latest happenings like the mercs of Far Cry did and are mostly limited to accented, and sometimes maniacal exclamations addressed at your person. The aliens (if this is still a spoiler to somebody out there, they probably deserve it ;) ) utter pretty generic "robotic wraith" sounds, mostly to let you know they're coming.
Gameplay. Crysis will seem very similar to Far Cry when you start the game on a tropical island with your trusty rifle, but you'll realize pretty soon that it's far from being an expansion pack with better graphics. The main new gameplay feature is your nanosuit, which may feel gimmicky at first to an FPS vet, but I think you'll eventually come to love it. All four functions of the suit - Strength, Speed, Armor and Stealth - come in handy depending on the situation and your style of play. And the ability to regenerate health rather than use medpacks is simply genius. Weapon add-ons, another new feature, is sadly not as useful. It's really more of the one-way upgrade system rather than modify-as-needed, which is what I'd assumed it was meant to be. Still, that's a minor flaw.
The enemies are pretty skilled if they see you, a bit less so when they don't, but you probably won't be mad at Crytek for that, because unless you get headshots on them, the North Koreans can absorb crazy number of bullets - sometimes it seems entire clips - before buying the farm. And there is whole bunch of them on that tiny god-forsaken rock. The aliens, with their rush tactics and devastating melee attacks, are actually a welcome sight, because the shottie likes it up close.
Aside from the Far Cry "alone in the jungle" style of gameplay in the first couple of levels, you will encounter many more different modes, including intense set-piece battles towards the end of the game. The quote above comes from one of these and it's one of the best moments in the game.
The story is pretty straightforward, which is slightly disappointing. If you read the first paragraph from any of the game's previews you pretty much know what it is about. Don't expect any of the Far Cry twists and revelations. There's one twist, to be fair, but it's not really explained in any way, so I don't count it. But the main flaw of the story, and indeed the game itself, is that it's too short. It's roughly half the size of Far Cry and ends on the lame, Dreamfall-esque "buy the sequel" note that makes you want to choke somebody.
Crysis multiplayer looks really good on paper, and there are probably servers out there where people were able to reach its potential and are having a kicking good time even as you read this, but I couldn't get into it myself. It might just be that the game is so different that it's hard for a CS/UT2004/BF2 player like me to adjust, but I did try, and after walking away three hours later with a tally of something like 5 and 40, had to admit that it probably wasn't for me. Check it out for yourself, though. Who knows.
All right. To wrap up, the verdict:
One of the best shooters ever made, while it lasts. Probably a must have, as long as you understand what it is and don't expect to spend a hundred hours on it.