Crysis is everything that you thought it would be.
Playing Crysis's early iterations (Beta and Demo) left me with a worried feeling. The feeling that no matter how good I upgraded my machine, I would still not be able to run the game as it should be run, eye bleedingly beautiful. I made the decision to postpone my purchase of the final game until I was sure that I had the right machine for the job. Now here I am, 4 months after the world wide release, extremely pleased with myself for being patient. Crysis was well worth the wait...
If you're reading this review you probably already have a rough idea of the story so I won't waste time babbling on about it.
First and foremost lets talk about the gameplay. Thankfully Crytec stuck with the open-ended design of the game, as that's what really sets it apart from other modern titles. You could call it a true modern sandbox FPS purely based on the fact that you're left with no more than a mission and a set of "Tools". While most missions involve getting from point "A" to point "B", how you achieve that is completely up to you.
Run and gun, stealth or a mix of both, the only limits are set by you're skills as an FPS gamer. The flexibilty thrust upon you from the Nanosuit allows for limitless approaches to the same objective, you're never going to play the same sequence twice. The only real downside is that if you're playing on the hardest difficulty, then most often than not you will find yourself favoring stealth more than running and gunning, purely because the AI can be brutal in packs.
The pacing is another highlight of the game. By the time I had finished the game it had felt like I had played 3. Each shift in the storyline has you fighting different enemies, in different locales with different weapons. Combine this with the stellar score and voice acting and you are left with one of the most cinematic games since Call of Duty. While there isn't any shocking twists (ala Bioshock), the variation in the environments keeps the gameplay fresh.
Anyway, lets move onto the real show stopper, graphics. As I said at the beggining, it's everything you thought it would be, beautiful yet extremely taxing. There's rarely a moment when Crysis does not look drop dead gorgeous, the fantastic Crytek 2 engine literally makes everything it renders look amazing. Near photorealistic characters and vistas, hugely destructible yet extremely interactive environments all combine to create an atmosphere that rivals S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Loading up Assault for the first time, stepping out of the Vtol and walking into that huge battle is easily one of the most jaw dropping moments in gaming history. Soon followed by the assault on the Aircraft carrier at the end.
Cryteks attention to detail is oozing from every visual and audible aspect of the game. While the game still looks fine in Low-Medium settings, it does not put a dent into the experience of playing this game at near maximum quality, infact the difference is so large that it's like playing 2 different games.
Crysis was well worth the wait, it's easily one of the best FPS games ever conceived. To play this game the way it's mean to be played is the best excuse for spending the money on a true gaming machine, you'll never experience this on a console.
Buy this game.