Customer Reviews

Crysis Collector's Edition

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

FAR CRY was one of the best FPS games ever sold. It created such a following that can only be compared to that of UNREAL and the original HALF-LIFE. CRYTEK, the publisher of both FAR CRY and CRYSIS, clearly did not rest on its laurels. CRYSIS is an *EVEN BETTER GAME* in many aspects.
And toping FAR CRY is NOT an easy task...

Graphically the game is GORGEOUS! (Both DX10 and DX9 compatible). Moving in the jungle is just unbelievable: the natural foliage, the game of light and shadow, the clear flowing water...The weapons are exceptionally well designed (familiar shapes but mostly futuristic) and their muzzle flashes add to the game realism. Replenishing your ammo is almost never a problem, provided you are frugal with your snipper bullets. A nice cross-genre touch: most weapons are enhanceable with targeting-lasers, sniper-sights and silencers.
The "weapon" you will enjoy more is, of course, the nanite-muscle-suit, a kind of augmenting exoskeleton that serves as both armor and turning you into a super-human. Throwing your enemies over the tree tops can be really fun - and their limp movements and shouted insults are totally realistic! Speaking of realism, wait to reach the zero-gravity levels: the weapons' kick will propel you backwards - as it should! And, very important, all these great graphics with steep yet not exorbitant system requirements! CRYSIS is much more stable than, say, FEAR-PERSEUS MANDATE or BIOSHOCK, although graphically clearly superior.

The sound has also been well worked on. There are a number of moments where sound clues are the warning you will get. The sound of an enemy crawling towards you is not a good omen...So get rid of those old headphones and plug in a good set of speakers.

The levels are beautifully designed and the AI PHENOMENAL! I had a group of enemies flank me as I was engaged with their comrade who was left as bait! Shoot an enemy from cover only to watch him seek cover as well - until he or one of his comrades spot your position!
Overall, the gameplay controls is very similar to that of FAR CRY (and most FPS nowadays). I do have to point out that movement is precise and effective. Running is fast whereas crouching is stealthy. For longer distances, vehicles become available.
The game also sports a multiplayer - although it may require lowering the video specs to avoid lagging.

Now, this game (being an EA release) sports ...SecuROM. Usually I subtract at least two stars from games burdening us with such dangerous security routines. However, I liked the game so much I felt torn - and decided to make an exception. So, if you are boycotting SecuROM games, be warned, otherwise:

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!

The Collector's Edition of Crysis comes with a nice game case sleeve, three (3) discs and a Special Edition art booklet. The first disc is the game disc. The second is the game soundtrack (which is probably worth the extra ten bucks alone), and the third disc is the bonus features disc. The bonus features are the "Making of Crysis", Storyboards, Screenshots, Concept Artwork and Videos. It is not a standard DVD, so unfortunately, it won't work on a regular DVD player. You'll need to run it in Windows.

This game feels more like a long demo rather than a complete title. Just when you think the game is going to move onto the next chapter, the soundtrack builds to a crescendo and the credits start rolling. The game abruptly ends after a few hours of gameplay. It seems to me that this game was more of an experiment with the new CryEngine 2 and DirectX 10 support rather than an actual game. As in "The Empire Strikes Back", the storyline in Crysis leaves you hanging. It does not end when the game does! The game ends with your squad leader going AWOL and you have to find him. You know they're going to charge you more money later on to find out what happens when you meet up with him. If people pay the full retail price for a game, shouldn't they get the full game all at once up front? Pay $50 now and wait a year to spend another $40 on an "expansion pack" just to finish the game. That should have happened in the first place! What kind of underhanded garbage is that?! If it's not finished, don't sell it!

The audio is atrocious. It's just bad. The audio alone may be a good reason to wait on buying the game until they release a patch for it. I mean, the audio in this game is so unsynchronized with the rest of the game that during an in-game movie, the computer *appeared* to freeze, but was just trying to sync the game up with the dialogue. It took about 30 long seconds of waiting to see if the problem was with my computer or not. This is a recurring problem on many other peoples' computers, even with the latest Sound Blaster cards. There have been many times during an intense battle where the sound of the guns has dropped out altogether, and the dialogue is extremely choppy. EA needs to work on a patch for this audio problem. I ran the game with the -DX9 command line parameter to play the game in DirectX 9 mode, and the audio was *STILL* choppy and full of delays.

Please, please wait until the price on this game has gone down. I know you want to see how the game looks with DirectX 10 graphics, but there is a demo of this game available for free online. Crysis is yet another expensive big-name game you can complete over the weekend on the most difficult setting without any cheating (which I did - unless you consider using the quicksave and quickload feature cheating).

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[Now onto the good stuff - yes, there are good things about this game....]

I really liked the motion blur, and the shading in DX10 is out of this world. I have not seen a more beautifully rendered computer or video game on the market. Even BioShock, which is supposed to support DirectX 10, doesn't come close to the realism of the graphics in this game. The close-ups with the enemy are breathtaking. If you have all the video settings to "Very High" and are running on DX10, when you go toe-to-toe with a bad guy in the middle of the day while on the beach, and decide to melee attack him, it looks so incredibly real that you might forget you are playing a game. The facial expressions are very detailed and well put together. It's just scary real. There was a time in computer/video gaming where you were doing a great job if you used three triangles to make a nose. This is by far light years ahead of those days (and the rest of the competition, for that matter).

The gameplay is good. I love the quick save/quick load feature. I hate when games don't have it. The different abilities of the character's suit are fun, too. Too many bad guys flanking you? Turn the cloak on and retreat. Can't jump high enough to reach that ledge? Use the maximum strength setting and try it now. Need more info on gameplay? Download the demo.

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All in all, a very good half of a game, but we'll have to wait a while to pick up where this game leaves off. Good gameplay, engaging storyline, outstanding graphics, way too short. It'll be a while before we see a Crysis 2. The big wigs are going to milk Crysis by putting out expansion packs, when they should have just made the complete product and sold it all at once. I guess the days of buying a complete game are over (as are the days of getting gas for 89 cents a gallon).

This game really is as good as advertised. Well, almost...

It's not perfect. Don't expect a deep story. Don't expect superb voice acting, scripting or characters you can relate to. This is a gamer's game; it's meant to be played again and again, not so much experienced as a storytelling masterpiece. Throughout the game, I used one main gun and a few other guns here and there, but the emphasis in this game is on planning and survival.

But holy butter, Batman, the gameplay is something else. The super suit is an awesome device, and how you prefer to use it will entirely change your strategy. The weapon attatchments are a nice addition, but don't do much to change the way you play as the suit does. The human enemies are very intelligent, but the aliens are dumb as rocks. Still, it was a lot of fun to fight in zero-G.

The reason I give it four stars and not five is because I found it slightly buggy. The last level in particular was frustrating, as I kept falling through one specific part of the level. This may be particular to my video card (nVidia 8600m), but it did detract from the fun during the final battle. The screenshots speak for the graphics far better than words can, so I'll leave that to your own eyes.

All in all, this is one of those games that makes you glad to be a PC gamer.

The game deserves 5 stars. I would more specifically give the game a 4.75 if amazon had that. The reason for the deduction is the cry engine for the game is so demanding. I have played other games just as graphically appealing with less demanding from my system.

Other than that, don't expect to just rush into a villiage and kill all the enemies with your supersuit. I did that a few times and got my arse handed to me. Now I have to plan out my attack and actually use the binoculars, ect.

To give this game 3 stars for not supporting multi-monitor is immature at the least. How many games actually support multimonitor?

There are so many mixed reviews about this game out there, but one thing is for sure, it has set a new standard for gaming graphics. I tried playing Half Life 2 after a few hours of this and the graphics on that game were not so superb anymore. Crysis Rocks....

Let me talk about this collector's edition. It has 3 dvds... one is the game dvd with all the installation files. Another has the soundtrack for the game. If you are into instrumental music then good for you. The final one is the bonus features. this dvd gives you some screenshots, 4 videos includign the making of crysis and some story boards used in the initial development and finally some concept artwork. 2 Booklets are included, one with art that is mostly avilable on the bonus disc, and the other is the standard booklet showing settings etc. i was not terribly impressed with this special edition over the normal but i got it as a gift so i won't complain.

the game itself had a few bugs in it. A couple time si was not sure what to do. for example i was given a mission to destroy 2 tanks and when i completed it there was nothing for me to do. I ran around like a headless chicken killing everything i saw until finally i loaded the game a little earlier and played again only to realise i was supposed to have gone to a house to get some intelligence before i got the mission to destroy the tanks. Another time i was supposed to rescue someone from a crashed VTOL but when i reached i could not open the door that was jammed. After loading the game a little eariler and tried again i noticed i was not the one to rescue the person but a team member who in the previous occasion decided not to follow me any further to the crash site. besides those and a few occasions where stuff seemed to be floating in zero gravity..the game was really great. My GF, who gave me the game, said that it was very much like FarCry but what does she know?

The graphics is stunning but at a price. Your computer has to be well endowed. I am running core 2 duo E6600, 4GB RAM, GeForce 8800GTX, Vista Home Premium. I set game resolution at 1280x768 with AA at x4. All advanced features are set at very high. I have smooth game play except one one occasion where alot of enemies were in the frame and several cars were on fire. That time it got a little slow.

This game is alot of fun and it gets very intense as it progresses. Don't be a wuss...play it on DELTA mode.

wow,.. it is really REAL.. the nature around you and the way you play or fight ,.. you can feel it,.. you can smell the beach, the trees.. You can feel the power.

If you have the horsepower, I don't think you can find a better game, or a more realistic 1st Person Shooter this year. You need a good graphics card. I have used this on my old system with an Nvidia 6800 Ultra card and it played fine, but it screams in my new home built PC with an Nvidia 8800 GTS OC (640 MB onboard) By the way, I am running this thing on XP and using DirectX 9.

Great story, plenty of new features, a fantastic on-the-fly reconfigurable suit to enhance your abilities, and really intelligent battle-savvy foes, whether N. Koreans or Aliens... Believe me, you really have to think your way through this... run and gun won't save the day.

Far Cry on steroids, this game is head and shoulders above its competition. You'll have no regrets.

I really enjoy this game so far. I like the mechanics of the game, the graphics, the mission system, all of it. Its a very well done game.

Having loved Far Cry I was well looking forward to Crysis coming out, but I knew that it would need a strong PC. Crysis is the game that I upgraded my machine for and it was well worth it. Having previously played the demo on my older PC (P4 2.8 Prescott w/7800GS, 2GB RAM & Vista32) I could only play on medium settings, and thought that the game was so so. Having now upgraded to a Q6600, 4GB RAM and 2x 8800GT in SLI on Vista64 I can play the game with all settings on Very High and the game is amazing. Easily one of the best games that I ever played.

Stability: Stable, did not experience any crashes. Only hickup was getting SLI to work which required a beta nVidia driver, otherwise it is a stable piece of software (at least running on my new PC with Vista64).
Graphics: The best available - not much more to really say, sets the bar.
Sound: Well done with a sound track included in collectors edition. Gun sounds give the approriate feel of weightedness and the jungle effects are realistic enough.
Gameplay: Very well balanced, the suit's powerups work for the appropriate level of time (any longer and the game would be too easy). These powerups let you play the game from a multitude of perspectives and aids in replayability. The enemy AI is terrific and you will need to think about how you are going to fight. A head shot almost always results in a kill, but mostly I found myself able to take them down in a few shots on strength mode and crouched, but there are numerous ways of achieving it. The weapon upgrades are also a nice addition and you will find yourself using all of them at some stage or another. In a similar vein to FarCry you get to use multiple vehicles and the like, however there is far less time in boats compared to the original and far less time in the water, but it is a different game.
Length: I finished the single player over the course of about two weeks, which I think is reasonable - especially compared to COD4 which I finished in about 4 hours on hardened level. All in all, the length of Crysis seems comparative to similar titles.

Crytek has clearly put a ton of work into this and it shows. My only concern is that it become like FarCry and there are no other games using its engine, or any expansions - because a game of this quality begs for one.

Verdict: Outstanding, sell the family car and upgrade - its worth it and easily deserving of its five stars.

My current FPS Ranking (of recent shooters that I have played):

1: Crysis
2: Rainbow Six Vegas
3: F.E.A.R.
4: Halflife 2
5: Bioshock
6: Call of Duty 4

I already gave a 5 star review for the game Crysis. But as I have the collectors edition, I thought I'd comment on that specifically here.

The sturdy plastic case is 1" thick making it able to stand upright as a display item. Comes with the game disk, music disk and a 3rd disk that has the graphics artists explaining a bit about the making of the game. The video about the game is in low resolution. The CD is interactive and if your online you can click to download a higher resolution version of the video, and some screen shots. The art booklet is no big deal as its fairly small. About 4 and 1/2 by 6 and 1/2". I think it's worth the difference in price mainly for the music CD.