November 2007 has been a tour de force for PC gaming and Crysis is one of those highly anticipated games that simply became a must-have. German developer Crytek has been famed for their FarCry shooter using the Cry Engine which sported at the time unseen drawing distance and lush vegetation. The game itself was not bad either, though one might argue that many shooters are similar. Well, they are and several years later, Crytek set out again to revolutionize how shooters look and interact. Crysis has been one of those highly anticipated games in 2007 that actually can take advantage of the latest DX10 hardware, though the demo made it clear that even top gear won't have an easy time with this mega game.
Note: Crysis is not the successor of FarCry, that would be FarCry 2 which is expected in late 2008. Same developer and vast nature scenes aside, Crysis' story stands by itself.
IN A NUTSHELL
So you're an elite soldier who is deployed to Korea to investigate an anomaly that apparently has the world wonder. Of course your team is being split up and occasionally find together, but this nevertheless a one-man-job. You and your Nanosuit are well equipped to do the job, though just like FarCry the enemies appear to be psychic and precise even in normal difficulty. Yes, this is a tough game to be beat ... especially if your hardware isn't fast.
Enthusiasts will rejoyce in light of the extensive DX10 support which really shows off what future gaming can/will look like. However, even the DX9 version is quite impressive. Neither PhysX (physics processor) nor X-Fi (sound processor) are used by Crysis, which shows that it can do very well without them. However the toll on the CPU is rather significant and frankly that's one of the justifications of either hardware: to take load off the CPU! The result stifles the gaming experience with stuttering sounds and other hickups despite my CPU rating of 5.1 under Vista or 0.1 points over Crysis' recommended hardware index.
Ignoring the demanding demeanor of this "Uebershooters" for a moment, Crysis is an amazing shooter which perfects elements of high-tech gadgets for super-human abilities via a "Nanosuit", one of the best software-based physics and excellent cinematography. Crysis resists the consolification of many games like "Gears of War" and does very well to utilize the PC strengths while emphasizing advantages from new technology. This glory comes with a big price tag in form of worthy computer hardware to experience all the greatness without significant hick-ups.
DETAILS
Game Play: [****-] Starting out in a team, you will be scattered quickly and return to the normal "lone wolf" being of most shooters. Sure you get to meet up, but typically not for long and often after a series of target changes. Despite virtually no ties to FarCry, you will find many parallels in how to work the terrain, of course with one little twist that enemies aren't all of earthly decent. Nevertheless, you get to fight plenty Koreans which may not make this game a messenger for peace and understanding. Blind Rambo style isn't getting you very far in Crysis despite your fancy Nanosuit (which enhances reflexes, strength or even provides a cloak mode for that tactical advantage). Overall, this is a well designed shooter with a story to match, though brain activities are limited to find cover and outsmart enemies (which is a full time job).
Graphics: [*****] Just like FarCry, Crysis raised the bar in recreating nature in vast landscapes and lush vegetation. The attention to detail is unbelievable, like layered water effects to simulate foam and other floating debris. Overall, at least on my HD2900XT, the looks of vegetation is easily the best I've seen in any game. It's easy to see why Crysis received an award on the last E3. Depth of Field (DOF) and High Dynamic Range (HDR) are cleverly integrated without being too obvious. The judgement comes from the DX10 version, the game can also be played in DX9 (i.e. XP). While not as detailed and with less postprocessing, the graphics are still impressive and might be considered the pinnacle of DX9 game engines (well at least alongside the Unreal III engine which performs faster).
Physics: [****-] Crysis relies completely on software emulation (instead of using PhysX), but still does a good job in faking real life with realistic responses of objects. (The level of physics calculations is adjustable, and the tax on the cpu is quite noticeable in extreme settings.) In short, Crysis provides impressive physics for interactive environments (partially due to DX10) and realism. Object handling is one of the most realistic in any game I have played. You won't have to solve any puzzles, other than how to overcome your enemies, and cloth or other complex physics isn't deployed anyway.
Controls: [*****] This is a PC game at heart andof course PC gamers will feel right at home. While the XBox controller is supported, it's still best played via mouse and keyboard since the accuracy of the mouse pointing is hard to beat in a shooter especially one that is so unforgiving. Of course beyond the typical checkpoints and game save, it also allows quicksave (F5/F8) at any time. I would like to extend my gratitude to Crytek for not forcing me to play like a console! One exception might be the control of the Nanosuit which happens via 3rd mouse button (middle) and especially with mice like the MX Revolution hard to actuate reliably due to the double function of the wheel.
Sound: [****-] Generally, sounds are well done and their software nature not noticeable in medium setting or higher. The toll on the cpu, however, appears to be significant on dual core systems (with limited parallel processing capabilities compared to quad core). Crytek like to think of it as the future since sounds can be better integrated in the 3D environment, but going cold turkey right from the beginning is a bit harsh especially when you have that shiny X-Fi hardware in your rig. Off-loading sound to the X-Fi might have helped average systems to cope better with Crysis' demand on the CPU and GPU. Anyway, environment sounds are well done, voice acting a bit stereotypical but otherwise of good quality.
Weapons: [****-] The arsenal appears rather conventional than futuristic, well aside from the hyper sweet Nanosuit which enhances ability beyond human limits (cloaking, strength, speed etc.). Weapons can be configured and adding a silencer, flashlight or tactical enhancement are basic modes of improvement. You will be handed a standard automatic rifle upon deployment as well as flashlight and silencer. The remainder you will have to collect in the typical hunter & gatherer mode. Precision of weapons is realistic and aiming often simply puts the gun in front of you. Unlike Gears of War the hip shooting still provides the traditional cross to improve accuracy, which of course isn't "real" but certainly necessary in Crysis.
Artificial Intelligence: [****-] So it's war and everybody is aggressive in light of the recent events. Enemies are clearly aware of the process and taking one out unnoticed a true challenge. In fact, everybody seems to be a bit psychic since you can be in the dark and hiding around a corner, and the guards still may recognize you and trigger the alarm. The cloak mode, on the other hand, lets you run right through the vegetation without anybody noticing. These small scripting issues aside, Crysis is very adaptive and carries over the idle behavior that made AI in FarCry famous.
MultiPlayer: [n/a] -- coming soon --
HARDWARE OBSERVATIONS
Load times are about average for this caliber and rather long than short, especially when first loading the game. Main contributor might be the incredible detail of the CryEngine2 and the associated data. I admittedly don't have the most powerful rig, but almost all components score a Vista Performance rating of 5.8 or 5.9 with the cpu being the only one to score "only" at 5.1 points. Reviewing the cpu chart shows that this may be the most critical bottle neck since it isn't rare to hit 100% load and the sound is the first tu suffer in form of stuttering. This is with most other settings to high and clearly the limit for my hardware. Setting everything to medium doesn't seem to have much impact on resolving this problem, but it also is a bit sporadic which is currently hard to identify the true cause. However, I am certain that utilizing the X-Fi sound processor would allow the cpu to breathe a bit easier.
Case:
Termaltake Tsunami VA3400SNA
Monitor:
Viewsonic VP201s
Motherboard:
ASUS A8N SLI Deluxe
Processor: AMD Opteron 185 (equiv. to FX60)
Memory: Kingston HyperX DDR400 (C2), 2 GByte
Graphics card: ATI/AMD Radeon HD2900 XT
Sound Card:
Creative Soundblaster X-Fi (not used)
Physics:
BFG Ageia PhysX 128MB (not used)
Hard drive:
Western Digital Raptor 74G SATA 10k
Operating System: Windows Vista Home Premium
DirectX: 9.21 & 10
Video Driver: Catalyst 7.10
Chipset: nVidia nForce 4
Resolution: 1600x1200, no AA
Some of the performance issues were resolved by a simple reboot. especially the sound appears to be very fragile in that regard. Further, disabling AA probably increased performance the most for me and made the game playable in all settings to High (except medium shadows) at 1600x1200 pixel resolution. There are moments when the game stutters for a brief time -- which result in a tactical disadvantage -- but overall Crysis is playable on my computer. For maximum settings only the best systems may apply with preferably a quad core cpu and SLI (or crossfire) gpu.
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