Crysis – Living Nomad

After 17 years, I can finally run Crysis on the highest setting. Rejoice! Jokes aside, it’s actually still a fairly demanding game, as I got a few dips and crashes near the end when a billion things tried to kill me and each other at the same time. However, it’s a game that still impresses, considering its age, with how modern it feels – filled with tech that is not so common nowadays. For example, the incredible physics and the AI for the enemy. Another big plus is that it was made for PC, which comes through with its easy and smooth controls (remember using Q & E for leaning?). A few things are missing, like the option of making crouching a toggle. It would have made life a little easier, seeing how much crab-walking you will do to avoid detection. Then we have the story.

Freezing jungle
Let’s start by saying that I liked the story. It plays into classic sci-fi tropes that I love. The militaristic tone, hostile aliens that feel alien just enough (not too much, not too little), a cool near-future setting, and escalating events that last throughout the narration. It starts with you and your squad making a halo jump above a hostile island held by the wicked North Koreans. You are not only special forces, you are a step above, you are Raptor team! Equipped in the latest, which is a highly advanced power suit that can cloak and take a hell of a lot of damage before its user gets injured. As things go, stuff can never go smoothly, and you land far from the LZ, forcing you to find your way through the jungle to link up with your squad. Something is off with this island, however. While the North Koreans are your main enemy, they are fighting an unknown force in addition to you, and soon enough you come across bodies of both friendly squad members and Koreans killed by something other than bullets (It’s aliens).

It’s a plot told through radio coms, with a minimum of cutscenes outside the occasional first person view. It makes the experience very immersive and plays into the militaristic setting very well. You start by fighting North Koreans, and the further you make it into the island, the story slowly unravels about what has been going on here. The aspect of the escalating events feels very natural, and when the shit really hits the fan, it sure feels that you have unleashed something extremely harmful for mankind. Sadly, the final part of Crysis feels a bit lackluster. The main event of the story is still cool, but gameplay-wise it blunders into the most typical and boring ending possibly with having a giant annoying boss fight. Actually, you will be fighting two bosses in a row, making the frustration double. Beyond that, it’s a satisfactory tale of aliens and commies and the blasting of these things with a shotgun.

The squad
You don’t get to interact with your surviving squad mates that much, but I feel the main characters have to be mentioned since their characterization is maintained throughout Crysis, and future games in the franchise. First, you have the squad leader Prophet, who is a very enigmatic dude, a trait that will be a constant, and later elevated in the sequel. He is a no-nonsense team leader, and while he cares for this squad, he knows things. This makes the mission take priority. He understands that there is much more at stake than what the mission entails. Then we have Psycho, the English football hooligan of the team. A colorful character indeed. He might come off as brash, but he won’t leave a man behind, no matter what.

The rest of the squad more or less gets eliminated in the beginning, but you do pick up a scientist named Helena who provides some answers to the mysterious situation at hand. And last, there is you, Nomad. The hundred percent military man who does all orders thrown his way with no questions asked. This leads me to:

The comic
I will go into heavy spoilers about the ending of Crysis in this segment. If you don’t want anything spoiled, jump to the next section. Crysis ends on a heavy cliffhanger, implying that the next game will have us returning to the island. That is not to be. Crysis 2 does continue the storyline, but it takes place years later in New York – leaving the fate of the island and its characters in shadow. Here is where the comic comes in and bridges the events of Crysis and the sequel. The comic follows Prophet, and the crew from the Crysis ending, having them go back to the island to finish things. I will not go into exactly what happens, but I can say that the implications of the events are felt in the sequel. Helena, and the main protagonist of Crysis dies. This leaves Prophet to become the main character (somewhat). 

I found the comic by itself pretty entertaining, but what I enjoyed the most was the deep-dive of Prophet. It added a lot of important background lore to the character, and a few other characters of the sequel. What shocked me was the brutal death of Nomad. I have always wondered what happened to him, as he is rarely mentioned again in the series. Now I know his fate, and with that, I highly recommend giving it a read after finishing the game. It explains a lot of loose ends, and is a fun read to boot. You can find the comic here (alternative link).

Maximum power
The story is cool, but what makes Crysis stand out is the gameplay. It’s a PC-centric FPS at its heart, with a lot of cool tech functions that work well both narrative and gameplay-wise. Eating bullets is not an uncommon thing in first-person shooters, but in Crysis, it’s at least explained why you can take all this damage. The suit is a magical thing by technological standards. Beyond being able to take a beating, it can also turn the user invisible for small periods of time before it needs to recharge. The game has a damn robust stealth system on top of it all. It makes sneaking and crawling around bushes a joy even without the cloak. But with the invisibility toggled, it turns you from Solid Snake into a Yautja from the Predator movie. Well, except for the spine ripping and skull collecting.

The fun all comes back to the AI, and boy is it an enjoyment to fight against. They will investigate suspicious noises, they will flank, lob grenades your way, and man stationary machine guns all day to keep your face down in the dirt. They will also lean dynamically from cover, just the same way you do it in-game. It’s very impressive to watch and engage with. One great part of the AI is that their alert status is not a permanent thing. They will never go back to being fully relaxed if they notice danger, but if you hide they will lose sight of you, having them search the area instead of being all-knowing of your location. This makes the sneaking and stalking extra thrilling. Luring North Koreans into deadly traps never gets old, especially if you have the good old trusty shotgun in your possession. However, they do come with one issue. On range, they have a hard time deciding what to do, unless they got a sniper rifle. Then they will blast your brain right out of your skull from over two kilometers away.

The aliens are much more straightforward, but they also come with their own kind of quirks, like their erratic nature and fast movement. I never used stealth when fighting these bastards. It was all-in blasting from here on out. There are a couple of different segments in Crysis when it comes to the aliens, with the alien zero-gravity secret base being my favorite. Zero-gravity combat sure was interesting, but battling regular humans remains the most fun, even if the aliens feel unique in their own way. 

Vehicles
Not to forget the vehicles, which are a big part of the game as well. Most of the fighting will be on the ground, powered by your own two legs. But you will get the chance to drive and fly everything from jeeps and tanks to VTOL aircraft. Outside a few forced vehicle segments, the game lets you tackle the missions however you want. Sneak inside to whack dudes silently or go full guns blazing? Sure, pick whatever! Yet, you can also crash the party with a car with a mounted machine gun if you prefer. Crysis is not an open world, but the mission areas are big enough to allow you to play your way. I enjoy being the sneaky guy. To lie still in high grass, waiting for patrols to slowly wander past, and then slip away without them noticing me. Ah, professionalism!

What pisses me off is the helicopters. You can say goodbye to your sanity if you don’t have a rocket launcher. They will constantly harass you with machine gun fire, even when you are hiding like a scared child in a ditch behind a rock. If you try to escape with a vehicle, you can kiss your ass goodbye. They will send pinpoint hellfire missiles right into the engine block, turning you and the car to ash. Thankfully, you don’t have to fight them that often. You fight a lot more alien aircraft by far, but by then you have the firepower to take them down relatively easily.

The weapons
The shotgun is my favorite, hands down. It got a really meaty blast that will send enemies flying. If the blast doesn’t kill the soldier outright, it will knock him down on his ass, leaving him scrambling to get up. Talk about being dead meat. The shotgun even makes short work of the alien grunts, two blasts, and they go to alien heaven. Even the cheap knockoff power-armored suit guys get wrecked easily enough by this magnificent gun. The shotgun is all around a damn useful weapon. And if you switch the spread setting to closer shots, the range is pretty decent as well. My least favorite is the submachine gun. I just have a hard time finding a use for this weapon, when you have the shotgun, and the dual pistols for close range already.

The dual pistols feel awesome as well. On range, they are unsurprisingly useless, but in close quarters, they are almost as good as the shotgun at clearing rooms. It might take a few more rounds to kill, but it’s very satisfying to use, and you can feel each bullet slam into your victim – watching him stagger and scream in pain before getting to meet his friends in communist Valhalla. Then we have the assault rifle, a useful weapon in its own right, especially with the suppressor attached for tactical stealth take-downs. This weapon gets a bit iffy in a prolonged firefight. The armor on the soldiers is very tough, which makes even the most basic grunt resistant to torso shots. And I like shooting at the torso. It’s an issue with this rifle, as it feels like you have to empty a whole magazine to kill. Otherwise, it’s versatile since it comes with different attachments, like the fun grenade launcher.

We also have a high-powered sniper rifle, which comes in use, yet, I can’t say I used it that much. However, the shots will kill in one or two hits, even with armor hits. Last, but not least, we have the gauss rifle. It’s a great gun that sends men, aliens, and vehicles flying. Unfortunately, you don’t get to use it that much. It’s a brutal and fun weapon, though!

The jungle island look
For being a game from 2007, Crysis still holds up well, really well. The only thing missing from a modern title is having the screen smeared with a thousand different post-processing effects. With 4x antialiasing, it just looks very clean, making it easy to spot targets to light up with your machine gun. The only real noticeable thing about the graphics is that distant areas don’t look that great. The nice detail in the visuals tapers off rather quickly, but they have hidden it well. It didn’t bother me that much during my game time.

Crysis is also filled with cool technical marvels. Most things can be blown up, from buildings to every goddamn palm tree on the beach. The battlefield can get chaotic fast. That wall that just protected your ass can suddenly go up in flame with a well-placed grenade. But the same goes for the enemy. It adds a lot to the skirmishes. It was a great engine and still is.

The music is fitting and as bombastic as ever, appropriate for a sci-fi action flick. It works, but I can’t say the tunes were too memorable. The voice acting was good. There isn’t much, but the characters that do talk all feel very distinct, especially Nomad, Prophet, Psycho, and Major Strickland. The same goes for the ambient noises and general sound effects. They are all done well. The shotgun especially sounds beefy. You know you have pure power in your hands when you hear that thing bark at the enemy.

Conclusion
Before playing Crysis again, I had not played it in years. Last time, I remember my computer still struggled with the game somewhat, so I didn’t enjoy it as much as I should. This time it was smooth sailing all along, well, almost. The game didn’t want to start at first. After I downloaded these files from GitHub, it solved all my issues. Just download and replace, if you have any problems starting it. I think Crysis is a great game, a relic of the past, since these kinds of games don’t get made that often anymore. A typical sci-fi shooter that plays it straight with its military themes. Sadly, everything has to be goofy nowadays, which is a major pet peeve of mine.

As you might expect, I highly recommend Crysis to anyone that wants something serious in the way of sci-fi, and military themes. If you have never played it, and come to like it, you have three more titles to experience and enjoy in the series. The two sequels are a bit different in setting, but still great games with a good story. So, a lot to look forward to!

Thanks for reading.

/Thomas