Ares
November 17th, 2007, 04:52 PM
Crysis needs no introduction, but I'm going to go ahead and give one anyway:
In case you've been completely oblivious as to the happenings in the world of gaming for the past 20 or so months, Crysis is THE title which is supposed to set the new standard for this generation of PC games. About 18 or so months ago, screenshots were released showing off photorealistic graphics. Videos were released later showing life-like animations and AI reactions. Promises were made of inclusions of "sandbox" style free-play, letting the player go about the island where the game takes place completing objectives how they wished. Seriously, when shots like THIS (http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/12/Crysis.jpg) and THIS (http://www.tech2.com/media/photogallery/crysis_450x360.jpg) and THIS (http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/ve3d/image/article/745/745255/new-crysis-dx10-screenshot-20061110001326035.jpg) and were released 18 months ago, it was hard to not be impressed.
So here we are, 18 months later. Crysis has been released. Does it deliver? Well... yes and no. I'll be honest here, my friends and I wanted to despise Crysis. We really did. It had to be the game equivalent of a dumb blonde. All looks, no personality. It was decided one of us had to buckle down and make a scientific analysis of our hatred (aka play through the game), and that task fell to me. Turns out our preliminary idea of Crysis was completely wrong. I give credit where it's due, and Crysis does deserve plenty of credit.
I'll say the good right now just to make sure there are no misconceptions- I enjoyed playing through Crysis a lot! The graphics were stunning, the enemy soldier AI was 95% of the time stellar, the environments were beautiful, the plot cool and cliche (like any other action game), and the sandbox gameplay was a refreshing break from the tight path many other games lead you down. I can easily see why it's gotten glowing reviews from nearly every organization which looks at video games and is being heralded as a new standard for first person shooters, if not games in general.
Crysis is not just good, it's great. Here's where the worship ends though. Sorry PC Gamer, I'll be damned if Crysis is 2% away from being the perfect game. For every amazing feature in Crysis, there's a downside. Take the graphics. They look great at a distance, but sometimes if you take an up-close view, the textures look poorly done. If Crysis was released a few months ago, they could've gotten away with it, but when their competition is Call of Duty 4, Gears of War (for the PC), and (in a week), Unreal Tournament 3, all of which have textures crisper than freshly starched pants, it really shows. Obviously, Crysis is the bane of computers everywhere too. Running the game on "High" setting (1 tier below direct x 10 as I only have Windows XP), I hovered around 34 FPS, with frequent dips to 27-29 FPS, and the occasional drop to the equivalent of a high-speed slide show. I guess all those beautiful forested levels have a cost.
The AI for the most part is awesome, which makes the few quirks soldiers have, the outright stupidity of alien AI, and the stupid but x-ray vision wielding AI of helicopters that much more frustrating. Of these, the most frustrating is the AI of the choppers. Now, helicopters in a warzone are NOT fun places to be, especially zones where people on the ground can hide (i.e.: Jungles!). If you live in the States like I do, you can relate to this by the number of reports we get each week of how many helicopters crash in combat due to them getting peppered by small-arms fire. The North Korean helicopter AI's tactic to deal with this (since they're always in jungle environments in the game) is to hover directly over you and then fire with their rocket-propelled depleted uranium rounds that defy friction as they spot you through x-ray vision. Even when you're invisible, the chopper floats over you, no matter what. Cloaked and running through woods so thick they block 90% of the sunlight? He'll be right over you. 40 feet under murky water? He will be watching you AND shooting through the water. In a building the engine doesn't allow to be destroyed? He'll be shooting at the exact point where you are in the building, leaving a nice indicator of where you've been on the walls outside (in the form of a line of bullet holes). It doesn't revert to a seach pattern (by the way, the soldier AI DOES start to search, so it's not like the whole idea slipped their mind), it doesn't break off, worried it could get hit by small arms fire from the jungle, it just floats over you, like a satellite.
It's inconsistencies and let downs like this throughout the game which prevent it from being a masterpiece of computer entertainment. The nano-suit combined with combat in general is a good example of this. With the nano-suit, you can jump 5x or more the normal height you could, run at least 10x faster, batter open the watertight bulkhead doors in an aircraft carrier, and fall around 30-40 feet without too much harm. At the same time, even in max strength mode, it can take 3 punches to kill a normal North Korean soldier from behind, whereas he can kill me in one. It also seems that North Koreans wearing what's essentially a kevlar and ceramic version of roman legionary armor can take more hits than me in my multi-million dollar suit. Again, all minor inconsistencies, but in a game that's supposed to be the benchmark for the upcoming generation of video games, it seems a bit lazy to overlook things like this in game development. It's like they never really decided whether the suit would make you a one man army, or if it simply was supposed to enhance the survivability and combat effectiveness of a clever wielder.
The biggest letdown the whole game hits you with though is right after you emerge from the alien ship. For all of Crysis' faults, the game up to and including the interior of the alien ship is a tour-de-force. After that, the game looses a lot of its steam. The great sandbox style play which let you pick your fights and the spiffy AI which made the fights that much more interesting vanish, same with the ability to use the terrain to your advantage. Since most of your enemies fly and shoot with nearly perfect accuracy, the fights stop feeling intense and plausible (since you're strafing and bunny hopping for dear life in maximum speed mode instead of taking cover and sneaking to your enemy's flank) and start feeling like just about every twitch shooter ever made.There are no three way fights between US forces, NK forces, and aliens. Oh right, did I mention the final level is a boss fight? Yes, believe it or not, the end of the "future of first person shooters" is a BOSS FIGHT. It's not one of the newer types of boss fights either, requiring you to cleverly use some exploit you find to end it quickly, it's a standard one, meaning step one is to knock out this thing, then they loose a bit of their shields, you blow up the next part/weapon, etc, etc, etc. Hardly a suitable end to a game such as Crysis.
To sum things up, Crysis is a great game which would've been jaw-droppingly amazing had the development team not completely screwed over the game after you left the alien ship and was more consistent with quality control.
THE FINAL WORD:
The Good:
-Amazing Graphics, Sound, and Atmosphere
-(Mostly) Great AI
-Sandbox Gameplay
-Imaginative Design of Aliens
-Cool feel to the game
The Bad:
-Sandbox Gameplay and Great AI no longer apply for the last hour and a half of the game.
-HUGE demand on your PC
-Quirks here and there which should have been polished.
OVERALL GRADE: 86%
As cool as it can get, Crysis has some major issues and bugs that should have been stamped out or fixed on the drawing boards.
In case you've been completely oblivious as to the happenings in the world of gaming for the past 20 or so months, Crysis is THE title which is supposed to set the new standard for this generation of PC games. About 18 or so months ago, screenshots were released showing off photorealistic graphics. Videos were released later showing life-like animations and AI reactions. Promises were made of inclusions of "sandbox" style free-play, letting the player go about the island where the game takes place completing objectives how they wished. Seriously, when shots like THIS (http://cache.kotaku.com/assets/resources/2006/12/Crysis.jpg) and THIS (http://www.tech2.com/media/photogallery/crysis_450x360.jpg) and THIS (http://ve3dmedia.ign.com/ve3d/image/article/745/745255/new-crysis-dx10-screenshot-20061110001326035.jpg) and were released 18 months ago, it was hard to not be impressed.
So here we are, 18 months later. Crysis has been released. Does it deliver? Well... yes and no. I'll be honest here, my friends and I wanted to despise Crysis. We really did. It had to be the game equivalent of a dumb blonde. All looks, no personality. It was decided one of us had to buckle down and make a scientific analysis of our hatred (aka play through the game), and that task fell to me. Turns out our preliminary idea of Crysis was completely wrong. I give credit where it's due, and Crysis does deserve plenty of credit.
I'll say the good right now just to make sure there are no misconceptions- I enjoyed playing through Crysis a lot! The graphics were stunning, the enemy soldier AI was 95% of the time stellar, the environments were beautiful, the plot cool and cliche (like any other action game), and the sandbox gameplay was a refreshing break from the tight path many other games lead you down. I can easily see why it's gotten glowing reviews from nearly every organization which looks at video games and is being heralded as a new standard for first person shooters, if not games in general.
Crysis is not just good, it's great. Here's where the worship ends though. Sorry PC Gamer, I'll be damned if Crysis is 2% away from being the perfect game. For every amazing feature in Crysis, there's a downside. Take the graphics. They look great at a distance, but sometimes if you take an up-close view, the textures look poorly done. If Crysis was released a few months ago, they could've gotten away with it, but when their competition is Call of Duty 4, Gears of War (for the PC), and (in a week), Unreal Tournament 3, all of which have textures crisper than freshly starched pants, it really shows. Obviously, Crysis is the bane of computers everywhere too. Running the game on "High" setting (1 tier below direct x 10 as I only have Windows XP), I hovered around 34 FPS, with frequent dips to 27-29 FPS, and the occasional drop to the equivalent of a high-speed slide show. I guess all those beautiful forested levels have a cost.
The AI for the most part is awesome, which makes the few quirks soldiers have, the outright stupidity of alien AI, and the stupid but x-ray vision wielding AI of helicopters that much more frustrating. Of these, the most frustrating is the AI of the choppers. Now, helicopters in a warzone are NOT fun places to be, especially zones where people on the ground can hide (i.e.: Jungles!). If you live in the States like I do, you can relate to this by the number of reports we get each week of how many helicopters crash in combat due to them getting peppered by small-arms fire. The North Korean helicopter AI's tactic to deal with this (since they're always in jungle environments in the game) is to hover directly over you and then fire with their rocket-propelled depleted uranium rounds that defy friction as they spot you through x-ray vision. Even when you're invisible, the chopper floats over you, no matter what. Cloaked and running through woods so thick they block 90% of the sunlight? He'll be right over you. 40 feet under murky water? He will be watching you AND shooting through the water. In a building the engine doesn't allow to be destroyed? He'll be shooting at the exact point where you are in the building, leaving a nice indicator of where you've been on the walls outside (in the form of a line of bullet holes). It doesn't revert to a seach pattern (by the way, the soldier AI DOES start to search, so it's not like the whole idea slipped their mind), it doesn't break off, worried it could get hit by small arms fire from the jungle, it just floats over you, like a satellite.
It's inconsistencies and let downs like this throughout the game which prevent it from being a masterpiece of computer entertainment. The nano-suit combined with combat in general is a good example of this. With the nano-suit, you can jump 5x or more the normal height you could, run at least 10x faster, batter open the watertight bulkhead doors in an aircraft carrier, and fall around 30-40 feet without too much harm. At the same time, even in max strength mode, it can take 3 punches to kill a normal North Korean soldier from behind, whereas he can kill me in one. It also seems that North Koreans wearing what's essentially a kevlar and ceramic version of roman legionary armor can take more hits than me in my multi-million dollar suit. Again, all minor inconsistencies, but in a game that's supposed to be the benchmark for the upcoming generation of video games, it seems a bit lazy to overlook things like this in game development. It's like they never really decided whether the suit would make you a one man army, or if it simply was supposed to enhance the survivability and combat effectiveness of a clever wielder.
The biggest letdown the whole game hits you with though is right after you emerge from the alien ship. For all of Crysis' faults, the game up to and including the interior of the alien ship is a tour-de-force. After that, the game looses a lot of its steam. The great sandbox style play which let you pick your fights and the spiffy AI which made the fights that much more interesting vanish, same with the ability to use the terrain to your advantage. Since most of your enemies fly and shoot with nearly perfect accuracy, the fights stop feeling intense and plausible (since you're strafing and bunny hopping for dear life in maximum speed mode instead of taking cover and sneaking to your enemy's flank) and start feeling like just about every twitch shooter ever made.There are no three way fights between US forces, NK forces, and aliens. Oh right, did I mention the final level is a boss fight? Yes, believe it or not, the end of the "future of first person shooters" is a BOSS FIGHT. It's not one of the newer types of boss fights either, requiring you to cleverly use some exploit you find to end it quickly, it's a standard one, meaning step one is to knock out this thing, then they loose a bit of their shields, you blow up the next part/weapon, etc, etc, etc. Hardly a suitable end to a game such as Crysis.
To sum things up, Crysis is a great game which would've been jaw-droppingly amazing had the development team not completely screwed over the game after you left the alien ship and was more consistent with quality control.
THE FINAL WORD:
The Good:
-Amazing Graphics, Sound, and Atmosphere
-(Mostly) Great AI
-Sandbox Gameplay
-Imaginative Design of Aliens
-Cool feel to the game
The Bad:
-Sandbox Gameplay and Great AI no longer apply for the last hour and a half of the game.
-HUGE demand on your PC
-Quirks here and there which should have been polished.
OVERALL GRADE: 86%
As cool as it can get, Crysis has some major issues and bugs that should have been stamped out or fixed on the drawing boards.