Cory's Game Reviews

The Story…

The story is based on a squad of US Special Forces who are air-dropped onto an island called Lingshan to extract some hostages taken by a group Koreans. However, they soon find out everything is not as it seems… As you fight your way around the island, you will soon discover the secrets of what lies beneath the island itself. And it isn’t friendly. My only criticism in regards to the story is that it felt like it was cut short, with some content being exclusive to the original PC version of the game. But it worked well enough.

The Gameplay…

The gameplay sticks to the simple first-person shooter roots. If you’ve played Call of Duty, you know how it’ll play. The one key difference between this shooter and all the others is one, distinct thing. The “Nanosuit”.

The “Nanosuit” gives the users immense power in several different ways. These include “Strength, Cloaking and Armour” which allow you to play the game exactly how you want. Do you wanna go in all guns blazing? Sure, use “Maximum Armour” and soak up some bullets. Do you wanna sneak around and stealth kill all the bad guys? Sure, use the “Cloaking” ability to sneak around and silently “drop” people. These abilities give the game further replay value and allow you to be the soldier you want to be.

The guns are so good to use, too. You can feel every single shot you take and there are plenty to play around with. You have the “Pistol, the SCAR, the FY17, the Shotgun, the Submachine gun, the Precision rifle, the Missile Launcher, the Gauss Rifle, the Minigun, and the Alien Loar”. Among those, there are other items like grenades, explosive charges and a few more. Even better, you can customise the majority of the guns with various attachments such as “scopes, suppressors, and grenade launchers”, just to name a few. This adds to the “Play your way” factor and I found it really immersive.

There are various types of enemies to try all these toys out on. You have standard foot soldiers, tanks, helicopters, and super soldiers just to name a few. You’ll have probably guessed another type of enemy from the weapon list… and they all act in their own way, patrolling, investigating, and talking to each other in order to hunt you down. On the highest difficulty, human enemies speak Korean to further add to the immersion and difficulty. You can also use the suit’s visor to tag enemies and resources as well as use night vision for when missions happen at night.

The Graphics…

Where can I start? The graphics are so good! Even though the game came out in the mid-2000s, the remastered graphics are gorgeous. From the lush greens of the trees and plants to the snowy mountains and the gritty caves, all make for an incredibly engaging experience. The water also looks good, completely inviting and really makes you want to explore even further around the sandbox missions, following where it flows. The ray-tracing further adds to the incredible lighting making things look more realistic as well adding more texture to the water.

The Sound…

In terms of sound, “Crysis” nails it. Water flowing, trees moving, birds singing, enemies moving about and vehicles driving around. The environment sounds indulging and you often find yourself sitting and listening, more so for the enemies patrolling. On top of this, guns sound punchy and destructive. You can hear every single shot and thump of each of the guns and they feel like they have some weight to them. The crack of the “Precision Rifle” especially. In the various suit “Modes”, you can hear the more weightedness of the “Armour” mode as you stomp around, taking bullet after bullet as well as the quietness of the “Cloak” mode. The soundtrack does the job of keeping pace with the action by becoming more upbeat once you’ve been spotted or when scripted sections happen.

In conclusion…

My final thoughts are that the game is still an absolute blast to play. The game does an amazing job of making you feel like a living weapon on a lush island fighting bad guys and doing things how you want to do. You definitely need to pick this up if you love shooters and sci-fi. I picked up the whole trilogy for £22 on the Xbox and I’ll be doing those reviews in the coming weeks.