Crysis 3

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Crysis 3 review
William Thompson

Review

Predator versus aliens

Back in New York


The Big Apple, the City that Never Sleeps, the Melting Pot. Whatever you call it, New York again plays host to Crysis, although it is a vastly different New York from the previous installment. 24 years after the events of Crysis 2, the city has become a jungle... and I don’t mean a concrete jungle. Crysis 3 takes place inside a large Nanodome, not dissimilar to the one Springfield was encased in the Simpsons Movie. Inside the dome, known as the Liberty Dome, is a rainforest complete with overgrown trees, swamps and dilapidated buildings that once were the pride of New York. The hero from Crysis 2, Prophet, reprises his role in this episode, on a quest to eradicate the Ceph (the aliens) intrusions and stop the CELL organisation and its troops from their evil, ulterior motives.

The original Crysis was famed for showing off the visual splendour available on the PC, and Crytek have done it again with Crysis 3. The lush rainforests look absolutely stunning and the environment looks as if it is alive. You can almost imagine that there are monkeys swinging from branches or small boars running through the undergrowth. Unfortunately, if there is something in the trees or something hiding in the long grass, it’s definitely not something you want to pet, so get ready with your weapons. It is so easy to get immersed in the atmosphere though, as Crytek has again made sure that even minute details are taken into account – from the movements of the tall blades of grass to the sun peering through the treetops and the sparkle off the water. It is somewhat difficult to believe a future where New York is a rainforest jungle, but from a visual standpoint, Crytek makes it feel like a realistic possibility.

Furthering the realism is the movement and look of the CELL agents. Although they look largely similar in their ‘work uniforms’, there are varied types such as infantry and snipers. Each has minor details that enable gamers to tell the difference and making it easy to select a form of attack. The same goes for the Ceph. Knowing who your enemy is, is vital to working out when to charge an enemy or when to sit back and wait for an appropriate moment to strike.

Predator versus aliens


Gamers will be familiar with a number of the weapons used in the Crysis world in past titles. Favourites such as the Scar and the Jaw (the rocket launcher) still make great partners. Each seems to handle differently, with a power and accuracy that is customised to each of the weapons. But with Crysis 3 comes some new and updated weaponry. The Typhoon (an assault rifle) is pretty cool, but the Predator bow is a new favourite of mine. The bow definitely gives the feeling of being a stalking hunter rather than just a high powered killing machine. As a player who prefers to play in stealthy way, the Predator Bow allowed me to possibly perform better than would otherwise be expected. The bow works great in addition to the stealth mode of the Nanosuit. Whilst in stealth mode, you are able to use the bow to take down a host of enemies before they’ve worked out what is going on.

Along with the weapons having a varied feel, they can be further enhanced with an array of customisations and upgrades. Special scopes, varied ammunition types and a range of muzzles all have varying effects on the weapons and gamers can customise the way they play by adding the upgrades that fit their playing style. And as with previous games in the series, weapons can be commandeered from vanquished foes, so you’re able to use some of the Ceph technology against their own.

8.3

fun score

Pros

Gorgeous visuals. Smooth gameplay

Cons

Somewhat linear, not as open world as the original but better than Crysis 2. The gorgeous visuals will be missed by those without a DirectX11 compatible GPU.