January 2, 2008 - Crysis is something else: stunning graphics, an underused setting, an epic story, and an enjoyable multiplayer game to boot. People playing this will likely recall a game from many years back called FarCry, with good reason. Crysis is the evolution of that title, using a new engine, but keeping the general feel of a ‘hell in paradise.’

It all begins with what looks to be like a simple rescue mission. You and your group, equipped with the latest in nano-augmented suit technology, parachute into North-Korean-occupied territory to find an archaeologist. It should be a simple rescue mission, but something is definitely wrong, and as you continue through the island you’ve been dropped into, you’ll find that there are more players in this game than you think.

The action in the single-player experience is as intensive as you want to make it. Your nano-suit grants you a variety of abilities, each of which augment what you can do and, depending on your use, how you play. You can increase your strength, adding damage to your attacks and allowing you to jump a dozen feet in the air; you can increase your speed, allowing you to run blindingly around your opponents; you can increase your armor, allowing your suit energy to take damage until it runs out and you start to bleed; or you can enter cloak mode, arguably one of the most useful suit abilities, which makes you invisible for a short time, allowing you to sneak around your opponents and confront them on your own terms.

Running into the fray, guns blazing, is always an option but a difficult one. It doesn’t take a lot to bring you down, and when you have at least half a dozen enemies gunning for you, things can get real deadly real quick. Hiding in the underbrush allows you to stay out of sight of enemies, which is crucial when lookout towers are scattered across the territory that you need to move through. The result is gameplay that tends to be tense at times, but at others sometimes just feels like the bushes are playing a game of hot-potato, and you’re the potato.

The game offers some magnificent environments, a notable difference from the usual faire in its genre. Maps span kilometres, which is an impressive feat that allows the game to be played differently than just running through small corridors. Still, the game doesn’t require you to run around much, instead providing a series of land, sea and air vehicles, all of which easily controlled. Note however that driving around is a quick way to get shot at.

Though visually stellar, the problem with the environments is that many of them consist only of a valley that makes you move in a straight line to get to your target, as opposed to the wide-open nature of others. These valleys are probably more open than most FPS games, but they’re a stark contrast to other sections of the game, and feel all the more constrained because of it.

The presentation is pretty top-notch: great acting, great story, and a pace that keeps the action going throughout (albeit with an ending that leaves too many loose strings; keep in mind this is part one of a trilogy). And of course, the graphics will blow any gamer away. Things look good; really good. Whether it’s the reflections on the water, the facial textures of characters, or the fact that you can see for miles and miles and miles, it’s clear Crysis has set the bar for graphical prowess. Of course, this comes at a heavy price for the general gamer.

The graphics of Crysis, while impressive, require some serious hardware. My rig may not be top-of-the-line, but it’s got a recent graphics card and even then, medium settings are really all I can do if I want to run the game smoothly. If you’re willing to take a hit on the frame rate, you can raise some settings, but unless you have some power under the hood, you’ll just have to settle with “very pretty” settings as opposed to “eye-popping”. The game does manage to run on even some low-end computers, but you’ll have a lot less to look at.