Customer Reviews

Crysis

5 star:		(90)
4 star:		(75)
3 star:		(46)
2 star:		(26)
1 star:		(32)

 

 

This game is the long awaited follow up to 'Farcry' (one of the best FPSs of 2004). We now finally get a look at this newest offering.

Here are some of the things that I've liked in the single player mode...

1.)This is a FPS in which your nano armor gives you special 'skills"; these 'skills' include enhanced speed, strength, armor and invisibility; and you'll need them all to survive.

2.)Graphics that are smooth and flowing...plus excellent audio; both add a spooky, creepy ambiance to this jungle based horror game.

3.)The ability to use and control vehicles (on land, at sea and in the air), as well as the mounted weapons on these units.

4.)Generally good (but not great) enemy AI! Although some will just stand out in the open, there are some that will sneak up on you or hide behind cover; also they must reload empty weapons. Due to their larger numbers and the fact they're usually spread out, will necessitate your using your special 'skills' and the surrounding environment to defeat them. This is the basic, reoccurring challenge for this game.

5.)Easy, anytime save/loads with F5/F9 respectively, as well as game generated checkpoint saves.

6.)If your taking a beating (or find it too easy), you can change the degree of game difficulty anytime, as you play; you don't have to start a new game. This is a nice feature!

Cons:

1.)I've had a couple freeze ups, requiring reboot; also some minor video fragmentation (after extended periods of play).

2.)I found the controls on flying the VTOL (vertical take-off & landing) craft were difficult to operate (the plane just didn't seem to respond to commands quickly) with the result of frequent crashes.

3.)There was one extended section where you were floating (in either space or water), that I found confusing, tedious and boring. I was lucky it was very linear, or I might never have gotten out of there.

4.)A high end system is preferable. Although playable on XP, Vista can use Dx10, and combined with good hardware and a high end video card, it does make a difference in being able to run a lot of the 'extra' graphic details.


Conclusion:
All the pre-release hype made it sound as if this game would easily qualify for Game of the Year honors; I don't think so. Graphically it is beautiful and it is a good game, but it's not a great game! If you liked 'Farcry' then you'll probably like 'Crysis'. Was it worth the wait...probably, but somehow I was expecting something more. Over all, I liked 'Farcry' and its gameplay a little more. However, still worth a 4 1/2-5 Star rating.

In spite of having to run the game on med-low resolution settings I found the game to be excellent. The story flows very well and you never get bored with it. The graphics are excellent, characters are well played for the most part, and the final battle is epic. Even the escort mission (the achillies heal of most games) felt realistic and worked well.

So why 3 stars? I'm taking off .5 because for some reason it won't allow me to map the flight functions to my joystick (wingman extreme). Not that big of a deal since the mouse keyboard does actually work in the game but not very well.

Now for the big hit. I'm taking off 1.5 stars because of the length. I just don't get games these days. They make them with flashy graphics, hopefully a good story, and if it's a really good game it feels epic. However, they make them so short that it just leaves you feeling empty. After the final battle in Crysis I was sitting there waiting for the next section to load when the credits came up. I sat looking confused for a few minutes before I turned the monitor off in disgust.

It's like if they had released Deus Ex and it ended the game after you retrieved the virus or System Shock after you got to the second level of the station or Far Cry after find out about trigens. I brought the game home Friday, played from about 7pm-11pm. Got up the next morning and played from about noon-11PM. I finished the game just after 11PM and I was playing on the hardest difficulty level, took breaks for meals, and ran out to the store to pick up snacks.

It used to be that when you bought a game, you expected to get at least a week of play out of it. Are we now reduced to less than 24 hours? Personally, I'd give up the years worth of work on graphics flash that they spend, for more game time in the story. The multi-player doesn't make up for this either as that's a common excuse.

I loved the game (what little of it there was), but I can't go any higher than 3 stars.

I love this game, and mostly I agree with the high rating that the game has received. The other reviews have pretty much touched on all of the things I love about it and normally I wouldn't think of chiming in just to pile on more of the same, but I feel there are a few points that were missed . . . points that I think others should know before buying this game.
I have a dual boot computer that runs both Windows XP and Windows Vista Home Premium. (2 SLI linked Nvidia 8800 Ultras, 4GBs of RAM and an AMD Athlon 64 FX-62) I have run the game on both OS's and have found that, all things being equal--using the exact same settings on the same computer with only the OS being different--that the game runs significantly better on XP. I've tried this comparison with quite a few recent titles--titles that run both DX 9 and DX 10--and Crysis shows, by far, the biggest slow down when switching between the two OS's. (I've checked around and it seems that I'm not alone in this discovery) This seems a shame. I kind of expect some problems with Vista--that's the reason I kept XP on my system . . . But I guess I'm willing to cut Crysis a little slack because it IS such an ambitious game.
But then there's another bit of hanky-panky that isn't so forgivable: This is the fact that the game won't let you turn the video settings to "Very High" on XP. At first everyone thought, quite naturally, that this was due to some difference between the relative abilities of DirectX 9 on XP and DirectX 10 on Vista. But it turns out that the limitation is purely artificial. (For those who want to circumvent this, it's an easy fix; simply cutting and pasting a few lines in some config files allows those higher settings on XP. Look around on Google, it's out there . . . ) This isn't to say that there IS no difference between DX 9 and DX 10, only that someone tried to make the difference seem even greater than it really is by inserting an artificial limitation.

All is not lost, the Crysis people are coming out with their first patch in a week or so and I have no doubt that they'll have the game running well on Vista in no time. Maybe they'll even give up on the artificial limit in XP . . . but I wouldn't hold my breath on that one. Still, I give it four stars.

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. What kind of underhanded garbage is that? That should have happened in the first place! If it's not finished, don't sell it!

The audio is atrocious. It's just bad. 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.

There is no way to upgrade your suit or your character's attributes. This is not one of those kinds of games. One major beef I have with the AI is that they can see me through the thick vegetation that is all throughout the game, but I can't see them. Yes, there are more of them, but even when I move around, they keep shooting at me perfectly, regardless of how many trees there are between me and them. The only real way to hide in this game when you're close to the enemy is to use the stealth mode. When you so much as throw a grenade at them, the stealth mode is deactivated and you are exposed. I can understand the stealth mode deactivating itself when I open fire, but lobbing a grenade? Shouldn't there be a distinction?

The stealth mode is so incredibly useful when you're floating around in the alien ship. The faster you move, the quicker the stealth mode will expire, so when you remain still, it will last much longer than if you are sprinting. Using the stealth mode, I sneak up to the aliens and get close enough to grab them, then I blast them into smithereens, turn the stealth mode back on and do it again.

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).

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 developer 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!!!

Crysis has gotten plenty of lukewarm reviews on Amazon, and while I'm not ignoring the game's flaws, I think many of them are undeserved. First of all, Crysis has incredible graphics, probably the best so far of any game, and you therefore need a powerful computer to run the game. But this is relatively common knowledge, so don't buy the game if you don't meet the requirements. I can understand the frustration of not being to play Crysis even with a fairly powerful rig, but there are other games out there, so don't blame Crytek. If you do have a capable machine, however, then Crysis is a surprisingly good game.

To begin with, in my experience Crysis is very stable. I did not have a single crash. This is impressive, given the strain the game puts on your computer (particulary the RAM). The graphics will tax your system, as I've mentioned, but they are absolutely worth it. I found myself just wandering around looking at the rocks and water in the beginning. I have played pretty much every recent shooter, and I can tell you that they don't hold a candle to Crysis. Whoever said Half-Life 2 has comparable graphics hasn't played this game. I should mention that I care a lot about graphics. If you are more interested in a complex story or innovative gameplay, then Crysis may not be for you.

The gameplay of Crysis is not as bad as some people here would have you think. Since it was made by the same team who developed Far Cry (in my opinion the second best shooter ever behind Half-Life), the two games have a lot in common. The HUDs are similar, the radar is basically identical, the AI uses common tactics, you're in a jungle etc. Far Cry is a little more sophisticated and polished in terms of the diversity of play, but Crysis has its moments. Crysis is slightly more linear, but also offers more vehicles and more interactive environments. In addition, your character has a suit that enables him to increase speed, strength, armor - or make himself temporarily invisible. While these are not all quite as useful as they could be, they do allow for a variety of approaches. "Maximum strength" is especially fun as it allows you to jump insanely high and throw enemies to their death. There is good weapon variety, especially since all of the weapons are customizable.

I will acknowledge that the game is not perfect. But I also feel that it is being compared unfairly. Crysis and Far Cry don't pretend to compete with the Half-Life series in terms of immersion and story, yet these games are compared frequently. If you like beautiful, expansive, open-ended environments and lots of freedom, then play Crysis or Far Cry. If you like a more linear, more RPG type FPS, then play Half-Life. I will say that Crysis is hindered by its absurd plot, as the alien component is not polished or enjoyable enough (as reviewers have mentioned). But this is not a major flaw, and certainly should not prevent anyone from buying the game. The cutscenes and objectives are still good, and it's not like you're expecting another Deus Ex when you buy Crysis.

Crysis is fun. There is no denying that. You get to use all kinds of vehicles - including a mission where you have to fly a helicopter full of marines while battling aliens! The final bosses are challenging; think shooting Halo's vents while battling flood combined with Doom 3's enormous bosses. Also, this game is not short by any means. There are a lot of diverse levels - even more diverse than Far Cry, because other US soldiers drift in and out of the missions. Vehicles are well-integrated into the levels, and there is always plenty going on. There are mountainous levels, beach/water levels, jungle levels, ship levels, largely indoor levels, a wintery level, and even a level inside an alien ship (which I liked, even though some people didn't). There are objectives and missions (even at the end when you are fighting the final bosses, it tells you to destroy them - duh!), but you always have the freedom of how you want to approach them, and generally you get a lot of space with which to work. There is a lot of variety in weapons, which, combined with your nano-suit, allow you maximum use of your environment at nearly every stage. Crysis does a good job of mixing realistic firefights with fun, futuristic warfare. It is an extremely enjoyable game.

As you've probably gathered, I'm mostly writing this review in response to others because I don't want potential buyers to be misinformed. I want to reiterate that you should only buy Crysis if you know what you are getting into. It is not a game for everybody. But, if you have a high-end computer, and enjoyed Far Cry, then I highly recommend Crysis. It is a well made game that is beautiful and fun. Sure, the developers made a mistake by making its optimal setting only accessible to graphics cards that hadn't come out yet, but honestly this game looks better than any other on medium, and there are cards now that can run it on very high.

This is a comment and not a review. Here are my specs: 2.66 DuoCore2, 4gb ram, and 8600gt running overclocked with nTune. My video card is my weak link on my system no doubt, but I'm shocked I can only run this game on medium at the next to lowest screen resolution. Thats the only setting I can run the game smoothly with NO fullscreen AA or particles on. This game is a system beast so you better have a better card than mine to take advantage of the great effects and graphics because I don't see it. This is getting ridiculous that you have to have a $400 video card to fully enjoy playing a $50 game....crazy!

I tried out the demo for this game, as well as Call of Duty 4 and ended up spending my money on this one. Why? I think it's got way more to offer for the single player experience.

First, a little background. I like realistic, traditional shoot 'em up games. And the more realistic they are, the better I like them. Prior to this I had been playing lots of Call of Duty 2 and Battlefield 2, all single player mode. I liked these games because they're based on real guns that have imperfections. Guns have limited accuracy, you have to aim down the sights for precision, you have limited ammo, the bullets take time to travel and thus you have to compensate, etc.

Both Crysis and COD4 continue this, but what drew me to Crysis over COD4 is that you can play with tactics. The entire Call of Duty series is based on moving forward, with infinite amounts of enemies replacing the old ones until you move forward. Crysis allows far more sneaking around and taking out your enemies with skill. For me it's thrilling to use stealth and planning to eliminate an enemy crew without risking my own neck, rather than just running in guns ablaze. And when I mess up, they call for backup, but it's not the infinite number of reinforcements like in COD4. There's clearly a finite number of enemies per stage, and I get to decide how to deal with them.

Compare this to basically every other shooter today, where you it's basically run and gun the whole time, and Crysis offers a whole new level of game play. It really feels like I'm on an island where the enemies around me are a real threat, whereas with other games where everything feels fake, the enemy is brain-dead, and I'm just running around shooting at everything that moves. Besides, I don't think I'm good enough for the running and gunning stuff in this game- I tried that the first few times and just kept getting killed. In this regard, Crysis is the most realistic and close to real-life shooter that I've played.

Now the bad part. About 3/4 of the way through, it starts getting really tedious. For me it started with the mission where you're in a tank. The controls for these vehicles are totally unrefined. It's about as bad as the tank missions in Call of Duty 2, except the enemies are stronger and will kill you much faster. Compare this to Battlefield 2, where the tank/helicopter controls are spot on, and Crysis feels totally fake. If BF2 feels like driving a real car, then Crysis vehicles feel like those driving arcade games from the 90's: odd and disconnected. The same goes for the VTOL mission later. Also, one more thing- these levels lacked refinement. There were several times where my VTOL would plain crash after coming out of the cinematic transitions, controls totally unresponsive. Or my tank would end up stuck in a rut I couldn't get out of.

At about this point is where you start fighting the aliens. I won't reveal much more, but fighting the aliens just isn't much fun. It's a lot like the old shooting games where you just have to blast the hell out of them. It's repetitive and tedious. And until you reach the end, it just keeps getting more and more like this. So, first 3/4's of the game I really liked. Then, it got really boring and frustrating.

Finally, as others have mentioned, this game is a total bear on your system. Although I did experience some slowdown in the first parts of the game, it got ridiculously bad at the end. It was so bad I was getting nauseas with the lagging audio and poor frame rate. The last time I got nauseas from a game was when I tried playing a FPS on a projector screen from 2 feet away. My system plays Battlefield 2 (which was the benchmark a year or two ago) with flying colors: maximum quality and resolution with no problem. On Crysis and I'm on lower resolution and quality than I'm used to, and still it gets really slow. And it's not that my system is junk (yet, anyway..)- from what I've read, there isn't a graphics card out there that can play this game at high res and quality. The hardware just hasn't been invented yet.

So, the bad news is, unless you've got a really fast system, get ready for low resolution, quality and frame rates. The good news is, the bad performance doesn't really set in until the later levels, which suck anyway. The other good news is that the demo is a great way to see if you like the gameplay before you buy (and a great way to see if your system can handle the game..)

Ok, let's start with what you should have, minimum, to run this game. At least 2 gb RAM but 4 is MUCH better, a new 8800 GT or better video card (and the ones with at least 512 mb) and at least a 2.4 6600 dual core chip on board. Whew! Don't have that? Then wait until you do or you will miss out on the spectacular graphics and detail as you shoot away. This is one busy game, a lot going on and sometimes confusing controls if you are used to other FPSs. Once you get used to it, and you will, it is a cool blend of action and story. The vehicles are great, and you can interact with almost anything. And the AI is VERY good and makes the game VERY tough. An excellent game as long as you have the hardware.

If you just want to play the game and are not computer savvy I'd say stay away from this game and this company (EA) because if something goes wrong with your install or it's anti-pirating software messes with your computer you...are...screwed. If you think you know your stuff then go for it.

Securom 7 installs with Crysis warhead. This Securom is installed covertly, is unable to be uninstalled without advanced knowledge of your operating system (see first paragraph), its not worth the hassle and I personally wouldn't give my money to a company that puts malware on my computer 'for pirating protection'. Hackers who don't pay for the game get to play malware/Securom free.

Don't bother buying a game with either Steam or Securom (DRM). Reviewers that say this DRM is 'no big deal' sound suspiciously like EA employees. EA wants you to pay to rent this game as you cannot resell Crysis. If Crysis didn't have DRM I WOULD GLADLY HAVE PAID FULL PRICE FOR THIS--as it is, I will find a cracked version and bypass EA's 'pirate precautions' and I don't feel bad about it at all. I hate companies that try and F#<k with my computer...I'm looking at you Sony (I got burned back during the Mini-disk fiasco). I'd recommend this to others as well.