This game is seriously overrated! 9.5, Gamespot? Yeah right!
So in this game, you get in the shoes of a US special unit, equipped with a high-tech device, called the nanosuit. Your real name, if I remember correctly, is not revealed. The others call you by your codename: Nomad. Unlike other FPSs, such as Doom 3 or S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or Half-Life, your character speaks, making him less mysterious than Doomguy, Strelok or Gordon Freeman for example. He will answer the ones that talk to him and he will express his thoughts concerning the situation on many occasions. However, unlike Half-Life 2 for instance, you will not be able to interact with people, talk to them and find out useful information. However, you won't need to do that, since the NPCs will talk to you directly. Unlike other FPS characters, this guy does have some super abilities, which are only available when the nanosuit is on.
The story of the game is good and quite interesting, although is nothing new or something you haven't heard before. It's the same "only one man can save the world" theme. And that is you obviously. Still, that is not a bad thing. So in the beginning of the game, you are parachuted in the Philippines, where you must deal with a North Korean invasion. But nothing goes as planned. In the first mission you find one of your mates torn to pieces and hanging in the forest. Someone or more likely something killed it. Later in the game, you take a glimpse at what kills other US marines and North Koreans as well: a big and loud alien, which looks a lot like the sentinels from The Matrix. Some scientists find a remote cave that reveals astonishing facts: these islands are invaded by aliens and their gigantic sphere that destroys anything between its range. It's now time for you to forget about the useless Koreans and prepare to prevent the alien troops from destroying Earth.
The whole game shouldn't take more than 10 hours to beat, and although it is said Crysis is very open to explore, the main course is actually quite linear. Still, if you want to admire the gorgeous landscapes, feel free to do so, but there are no optional quests like in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, which is truly an open-minded game.
One of the most important parts of a FPS is undoubtedly the weaponry. Crysis has good arsenal, including: pistols, shotgun, smg, rifles (SCAR = XM8, FY71 = AK-74, gauss rifle, precision rifle), minigun, grenades, flashbangs, missile launcher, an alien modified gun and TAC cannon, a gun you can only use in the last level. These guns are beautifully designed and have very nice shooting effects, but many of them take a lot of rounds to bring down enemies. Most of them can be modified, by adding scopes, flashlights, reflex sights and so on.
Other weapons you can use are the vehicle mounted machine-guns and you can also drive tanks and pilot the VTOL aircraft. The tank is fun to use, being able to fire high explosive rounds and use the mounted machine-gun as well. The VTOL, although it looks interesting and can fire small rounds and missiles at the same time, has very crappy controls. If you get down to much, you won't be able to get back up before you crash; if you accidentally land, you can't take off. Also there are some tornadoes which drag you down even if you don't go straight into them. The best thing about the VTOL is that its shield regenerates.
A major plus this game has is the nanosuit. You can boost different abilities with it. Only one at a time can be used. The abilities are: increased armor, increased speed, increased strength and cloak. Use them with caution, since they use the energy of the suit. Also, you can use different abilities depending on the situation you're in.
The graphics and sound effects Crysis offers are something you have never seen before. The whole world, enemies, weapons are outstanding, looking very life-like. Also, you can do a lot of things to the world, such as shooting trees until they fall down, shooting rocks and see them fall of the cliff and experience lots and lots of great visual and audio effects.
The AI is not very well done. Many of your enemies are behaving in a weird way. For instance, if you shoot a guy from a distance he will not realize where you are shooting from and will often turn his back at you and look for you in a total different direction. Also, many of your human enemies are quite stupid on some occasions. Aliens, on the other hand, are quite a challenge.
Like I said, this game is very overrated. Yes it has amazing graphics, a decent story and very cool effects. But to be honest, the gameplay has quite a few bugs. When you drive a vehicle, you can also fire the mounted machine-gun, which is kind of odd considering the fact you are the only man in the vehicle, the VTOL aircraft is very irritating to pilot, when you take down a helicopter the sound of its crash will last for minutes, cars can still be controlled even if one or two of their tires are broken, the AI is not near as sharp as you would have expected, on many occasions being quite dumb. When a soldier falls down, you can't pick him up or if you shoot at his body, it will stand still. That's not very impressive for such amazing graphics.
Also, you'll need a NASA computer to run this game on high details.
As a conclusion, Crysis is nothing as special as you heard it was. Although it has some really good parts, it also has serious flaws, story is nothing very special, AI is weird and it will get on your nerves on some occasions. Yes, it has the best graphics a game could have, but that is not enough to rate this game with a 9.5. You will also need an amazing computer to run it on high details, which means Crysis's requirements are way too big, considering it's just an average game.