Crysis
Review
Courtesy of PSN
by Kiran Sury
reviewed on PS3
Courtesy of PSN
I hated Crysis when it came out. I had a decade-old PC that would stutter while playing Minesweeper, while my best friend had a top of the line build and the latest GeForce graphics card. He would wax poetic about the graphics and taunt me, reminding me that consoles would never be powerful enough to run it. Then Crysis 2 came out cross-platform. Now Crysis is here, courtesy of PSN and XBLA - Marcin, eat your heart out.
Gameplay
At just under three gigabytes, Crysis was the largest game I ever downloaded, and it shows in the graphics. Though not as impressive as it was on its release, Crysis is definitely the best-looking game with realistic graphics I have downloaded through PSN. Other retail titles like Uncharted 2 and God of War 3 are better, to be sure, but Crysis holds its own quite well for a four-year-old game.
The story and gameplay remain intact, so don’t expect anything new if you have already played the original. You play as a member of an elite U.S. Special Forces team sent to investigate a seismological disturbance on a small island off the coast of Korea. The North Korean army is there, but your team has been outfitted with high tech nanosuits to even the odds. The plot is fairly standard until you get to the aliens (of course there are aliens). Then I’m not entirely sure what happens, but it was fun to watch.
Crytek did an extremely good job of mapping the nanosuit options to a controller. In the PC version, this was handled by a circular wheel that paused the action. This would obviously not work with a controller, so Crytek took away some of the control in favor of making it more intuitive. Sprinting automatically activates speed, double jumping activates strength (as does pressing the throw button twice), and shield and stealth are on different triggers. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do you can switch between options hassle-free.
Shooting
Unfortunately, though the nanosuit has been optimized, the shooting hasn’t. The gunplay clearly shows that this was a PC game first. Headshots from afar are really hard to pull off, and I had difficulty shooting enemies even on easy with auto-aim on. This could just be because I suck hard, but I think the game still requires the accuracy of a mouse and keyboard. I’ve played Call of Duty on Veteran, so I can handle more difficult shooters, but more effective targeting help is needed for us poor console gamers who can’t make point-and-click headshots.
This adds an extra layer of difficulty to a game that I found to be pretty hard. Enemies can see you (and hit you) from far away, and can spot you hidden in the jungle the moment you turn off stealth. Your health drains quickly (shield mode doesn’t last forever), and I often felt like my nanosuit was more for running away quickly than it was for domination. Gamers who adapt to the gunplay and don’t mind a more challenging experience will love it all the same.
The sound is the same sound you would expect in a game like Crysis: lots of gunfire, ethereal noises in the alien levels, and appropriate dramatic music when called for. The voice acting is well done, and having the enemy soldiers communicate in Korean on the hardest difficulty is a nice touch.
Exactly the same
Crytek has removed the multiplayer component, but I doubt many players would have played it even if it had been offered, so that was probably a smart move. Other than that, Crysis is exactly what it was four years ago, for better or for worse. The nanosuit is just as easy to play with, but the shooting is definitely more suited for PC controls. Gamers who missed it the first time and enjoyed Crysis 2 or those who have been waiting to play this before picking up the sequel should definitely give it a try. Similarly, if you love shooters and don’t mind the difficulty, Crysis is up your alley. Though a re-release, it has an open-worldness many modern shooters lack.
7.0
fun score
Pros
Still looks good, nanosuit works well, more variety than most shooters.
Cons
Aiming mechanics feel like they are still for PC, pretty darn difficult because of it.
