With the PlayStation 4 officially announced, gamers have begun the countdown for the next generation of gaming to invade their living room. For those waiting for the quality only the next generation can promise, pick up “Crysis 3” and experience a taste of what is to come.
The first person shooter, produced by EA and made by Crytek, is developed using Cry Engine 3 and delivers a quality of graphics that is unprecedented on home consoles. Many modern shooters pride themselves in their graphics; games such as “Battlefield,” “Call of Duty” and “Medal of Honor” make their money by making the war experience as realistic as possible for the player. “Crysis 3” not only makes all of the previous games look technologically inferior, but it also has a deeper level of character development and richer solo campaign than we would normally expect from games such as “Gears of War” or “Halo.”
There are still months ahead before we can experience all that the next generation has to offer, but if you want a glimpse into what the future of gaming will be, dive into “Crysis 3” and be amazed.
Hibernating for millions of years on Earth are the Ceph, an alien species spread out across the galaxy harvesting organisms and planets for resources. Upon being sent to Earth, the Ceph were hit by a meteor and the collision caused them to crash land on the planet and be frozen in stasis until they are awoken by our two main characters Laurence “Prophet” Barnes and Michael “Psycho” Sykes.
Powered by a high tech nanosuit, the two soldiers lose themselves to their new codenames, sacrificing their humanity in exchange for the power to stop the alien threat. As we enter the third game in the series, Michael has been stripped of his suit by C.E.L.L., an organization that, in light of the alien threat on Earth, has used their resources to gain world dominance. Michael, now just human, invades the liberty dome separating New York City from the world and releases Prophet from C.E.L.L. capture, seeking revenge against the organization.
“Crysis 3” takes us through the story of Prophet and Psycho as they strike back against the corrupt organization that is using Ceph technology to gain world dominance. We enter the mind of Prophet, a man that has lost his humanity and traded it for the power the suit provides him. Adamant on stopping both the Ceph and C.E.L.L. threat on Earth, Prophet will go to the stars and back to save his planet, sacrificing anything for humanity.
“Crysis 3” dives into the action quickly and never slows down. Coming out of your holding chamber, you will be stunned by how visually superior the graphics are to any game you have ever seen. From the rain to the waves, to large destroyed skyscrapers and back to individual blades of grass, “Crysis 3” takes its future New York City-meets-jungle setting and makes it look better than we could imagine it. Throughout the game, you will find yourself stunned and staring at the screen just trying to take as much in as possible. From the wind blowing the tall grass, to explosive cannon fire, the Cry Engine 3 uses lighting and shading to create the most detailed and visually stunning world possible.
Once you take in the graphics, you then have the nanosuit. Other main characters seem to just absorb bullets and live through any explosion, but Prophet is no normal man. The suit allows the character to jump at will up full stories, sneak through enemy squads while invisible, take bullets to the chest and fall from any height to just get up and jog it off. Enhanced with nanite technology and Ceph DNA the suit gives Prophet superhuman abilities while also slowly eating away at his being. Whether you want to stealth kill an entire squad while cloaked, or charge into battle machine gun in hand, Crysis gives you options on how to play the game.
Levels start off pretty linear, but as you progress through the campaign you will find maps continue to grow, offering immense freedom in how to attack. The suit allows players to track enemy movements, weapons and other points of interest with your visor. From there it is up to the player whether they want to charge into the assault or sneak up on enemies. The super suit and large arsenal of guns both human and alien may be enough for most gamers, but “Crysis” does not quit there.
“Crysis” succeeds in what it already has been doing best: it gives jaw-dropping graphics, the user full control of a super suit that allows customization of play style and large open maps. What makes “Crysis 3” stand out are its new features.
In level one players are given a compact bow, a weapon of instant kill strength that allows you to equip different arrow heads for any situation or enemy ahead. If you are not using this weapon throughout the entire game you are making a mistake; no matter what your play style is. The bow is a weapon that, like the main character, is stronger and more adaptable than other counterparts in the world. The bow, in combination with the suit, builds an unstoppable warrior.
The addition of small secondary objectives is a more than welcomed new feature. Throughout the seven main missions, you will find many primary and secondary objectives thrown at you. Instead of feeling like random and forced side quests, the secondary objectives only improve the primary. The objectives will unlock weapons, Intel and reinforcements, making the final assault that much easier.
On top of that, Prophet now has the ability to hack mines and turrets, turning them on their masters. When charging into battle, you can hack a turret while cloaked, the machine will then turn and fire on all nearby enemies allowing you to come through during the chaos and pick off your foes. Levels are large, enemy reinforcements are a steady bunch and though the suit gives you vast power, you never get bored of charging into battle, or from hunting down your enemies with the bow. With a nice level system in place, the suit does adapt the way you want. No matter how you want to play, “Crysis 3” will deliver.
The game does not have many faults, but is not perfect and has a couple attributes that can be improved and some that could just be removed and forgotten.
The worst part of “Crysis” is the vehicle sections. Coming later in the story for brief moments, “Crysis” will sometimes force the user into a vehicle. These prove to be the weakest sections of gameplay. The vehicles handle poorly and are nothing less than annoying to drive around; if these sections were removed from the game, they would not be missed and the game would be better as a result.
Previous “Crysis” games have had the stereotypical lack of character and story development that we see in many modern first person shooters, and, while “Crysis 3” made large strides, there is still work to be done. One weakness in the “Crysis” games is that the main villain is only ever around for the one game. It is hard for any game to establish a main enemy in a single game, but it’s even harder when you are switching villains game to game. While we dive into the emotional turmoil of Prophet and Psycho. Psycho having the best character development throughout the story, we care little for any of the other characters in the game. The characters in “Crysis” have not been around long enough for us to care about them, and in their brief on-screen appearances, we do not build the emotional attachment we have for them for other characters.
“Crysis 3” made a lot of strides, showing us what we should expect from gaming’s future; it shows by example how a company can make a solid first person shooter that can rival the story of Master Chief. Although it could be better, “Crysis 3” is a great story of a man losing his humanity, and more importantly a lot of fun to play.
From breathtaking graphics and scenery, to suit customization and the many different tactical options and approaches to gameplay, “Crysis 3” delivers to the consumer. The game is one of the best shooters we have seen and handles like it too. “Crysis 3” should be recommended to any gamer wanting to get the most out of their system and money.
