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Presentation and Graphics: You can't deny the beauty of Crysis. Every bit of the game is meticulously detailed, from the characters to every bit of the fully interactive environment. Trees and bushes move as you go by, buildings crumble when you drive into them, and trees fall over if you shoot them enough. The level of detail here is just astonishing. However, the game requires such a massive amount of hardware that a good majority of people won't see this detail for maybe another two years. Even with a good setup, you might not be able to run Crysis in Medium mode. Recent tests show even a triple SLI setup with Nvidia 8800 cards can't max the game out. Crysis would have received a 5 here if everyone didn't have to spend thousands of dollars to see the game as it's meant to be. 4.5 of 5
Sound and Music: Crysis sports an amazing array of sounds to complement the complex environments. Weapons sound amazing, and every piece of the environment has it's own sounds as you bump into it, shoot it, or blow it up. There isn't much of a soundtrack, as expected in an FPS game. What is presented flows very well with the gameplay. The part that amazed me the most is in the hardest difficulty setting of the game, the enemies speak only in Korean. Unless you're fluent, you won't know what kind of instructions they're throwing around to fellow soldiers. 5 of 5
Gameplay: If you've ever wanted super powers but didn't want to get some genetic alterations done, the Nano Suit in Crysis might be for you. The Suit is your biggest ally in Crysis, as it gives you abilities to increase your strength and speed as well as become invisible. You can't get through the game without then, and who would want to? One of the best things is grabbing an enemy with increased strength enabled and hurling them hundreds of feet to their death. Once you get past the suit's features though, Crysis is just your standard FPS game. You start off battling Korean soldiers, but begin to realize something has gone wrong on the island. You go between fighting human solders, to aliens, to a combination of the two. The changes really balance the game and make it so you don't get sick of one particular style of play. The controls are very fluid, as expected in any PC first person shooter. The Crytek engine does a great job of handling everything in the environment and makes the gameplay a lot of fun. Like the graphics though, you need a beefy setup to get the most out of the game. 4.5 of 5
Multiplayer: Unfortunately, there aren't a bevy of multiplayer modes available with Crysis. You have your standard Deathmatch, which has been done to death in the genre. It still holds up, but if you're looking for me, there isn't too much. The only other mode offered is Power Struggle, a team mode where everyone starts out with stripped down Nano Suits and pistols. You frag your way into Suit upgrades and better weapons. The mode provides a bit more fun than Deathmatch, but not enough if you're looking for CTF or other in depth multiplayer modes. 3.75 of 5
Lasting Appeal: The interactivity of the environment and multiple ways to go about completing objectives will give you plenty of reason to go through the single player campaign more than once. The story isn't the best, but it will keep you drawn in enough. With only two multiplayer modes, you might find yourself switching to other games to get your fill of objective-based games. 4.5 of 5
Final Word: Crysis is a very good PC first person shooter. But honestly, I expected more. The innovation for the genre just isn't there as much as games as BioShock. But that's not to say you won't have fun with Crysis, because you definitely will. If your PC can handle it, that is.