[Book Tip] Crysis: Legion by Peter Watts

Crysis: Legion is an adaptation of Crysis 2, which means it’s for the most part just a retelling of the plot line from the game. It’s not my favorite kind of gaming-related novel, since, well, you already know how it will play out and how it will finish. However, Crysis 2 is in a unique situation, as the lead in the game does not talk. Not exactly the best way to add characterization to the protagonist. Who even is Alcatraz? – might be asked a couple of times during the game. The story can also be hard to follow as little is explained, especially not how we went from the jungle fighting in first Crysis to now battling aliens and mercenaries in the heart of New York. Luckily, Crysis: Legion remedies this!

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Crysis: Warhead – Going Psycho

More tropical island fun in Crysis: Warhead can’t be a bad thing, right? Well, probably not, but it can be somewhat of a disappointing experience if the fundamentals of the game change too much. See, Crysis: Warhead is more of the same, but they dropped the more simulated and highly immersive feel of Crysis, for a more “high-octane” action adventure with guns. The problem with this is that there are just too many scripted moments and an overload of on-rails vehicle chases. Hope you like turret segments! They also ditched the immersive aspect of keeping you in first-person all the time, even for the cutscenes. Now, the game constantly jumps in and out of your body and displays the scenes in very awkward third-person acting.

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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.

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Abathor – Demo Impressions

As typically when it comes to demos, I stumbled over Abathor by pure chance, and once again, I’m glad that I did. Abathor is a cooperative action side-scroller, where you must slaughter strange foes in the masses. It has the typical tropes of these kinds of games that they are expected to contain, and overall, executes them well. Everything from the combat, finding secrets, big bosses, to the platforming.

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Hollowbody – Demo Impressions

Hollowbody is a futuristic dystopian take on the survival horror genre that takes place in England (I think). While the atmosphere sure is there with everything being gray and decayed, it hit me that some parts of the poorer areas of the British Isles already look like that. If it wasn’t for the shambling undead, it could have been set in our times! Jokes aside, the atmosphere is tight, and can probably be best compared to Silent Hill 4: The Room. It has the same kind of depressive aesthetics of a rotting urban sprawl of concrete and crushed dreams. A similar area that I myself have lived in once, so certain stuff hits close to home and makes things just a little more unsettling. I like.

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