Crysis for Windows

Crysis, widely regarded as the most demanding PC game on the market today, is an absolutely stunning game visually. The leaves sway in the wind, light hits them perfectly almost making you believe that YOU are the one running around in a forest. The thing is, you pay the price for it with the specs required to even run the game. I currently am running an AMD Athlon 64 X2 6000+ dual core processor, 2 GB of G.Skill DDR2-800 memory, and an ASUS Radeon HD 4870 with 512 MB of video memory. In case you're not up on hardware, it's a pretty good system. I am able to run Crysis on high without too much trouble. Alright, let's get into the actual game.

Backstory:
The year is 2020, and a broken up radio transmission comes in from a group of scientists on a remote island. Korea has taken control of the island and are taking everyone captive. Right before the transmission cuts out you hear them say "The Koreans have no idea what they're dealing with." Flash forward seven days. You are awoken on a plane flying over the island, and your vision focuses on 4 men in specialized armor, with you having the same armor. They explain the situation and you skydive down to the island, one of the most visually impressive parts of the early game.

Without revealing too much of the plot, I can say that unless you've read some things about the first level of the game, you'll have your work cut out for you trying to find your way to checkpoints. While the game allows you to roam nearly free around the island, it is a very linear progression to where you need to get. You traverse the island, finding moderate Korean resistance already there. But there is something more on this island, and you will find it soon.

Your Character:
The suit you are equipped with is absolutely incredible, and a short introduction to what the suit can do is played before loading the first level, so be sure to pay attention to that. Basically the suit can release nanodes into your bloodstream, giving you super speed, armor, strength, or a cloak allowing you to sneak around nearly undetected. A last option allows you to customize your weapons with silencers, flashlights, addons, and sights.

Gameplay:
As I mentioned, while the game is beautiful, I wish they had either added more ways to get to your destination or had guided you better, especially on easy, on where to go. It took a few attempts, full of accidentally sprinting into enemy camps, to actually hit a checkpoint and continue. Ammo isn't freely available, so you must conserve your stock so you don't run out. It happened to me, it wasn't fun heh.

Sound:
The sound further immerses you into the world, working together with the graphics to really make it seem like you're there. This game will definitely benefit from a high end sound card such as the Creative X-Fi series.

Overall:
Overall, despite the slight gameplay setbacks, this game is absolutely amazing. It's rare where you see a well made game with incredible visuals which also has a great backstory and storyline progression. Crysis managed to do it though. If you have the system for it, don't question yourself, just go out and get Crysis. You'll really be glad you did.