News

• Reviewed on: Windows PC (Windows Vista; 3.0 GHz Intel Dual Core processor; 2GB of RAM; 512MB ATI Radeon X1900 XT graphics card; displayed at 1280 x 720 on a Dell 2407FPW 24-inch LCD.)
• Also available for: NA
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• The Good: If you're running a pair of high-end DirectX 10 graphics cards (NVIDIA GeForce 8800s recommended), have a top-notch quad core processor, and are jammed to the limit with DDR3 RAM, nothing else in the world of games will compare with what you'll see
• The Bad: If you have a merely average gaming rig, you'll be forced to play on low graphical settings and at a dismal resolution, which significantly reduces the likelihood of wonderment or captivation
• The Verdict: For the lucky few who own the latest, priciest gaming hardware, shooters don't come any prettier or more immersive
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High-powered bullets shatter on impact when shot into water, rendering them almost completely ineffective on targets submerged four feet or more. I learned about this odd little fact of physics through a Discovery Channel program called Mythbusters, and I bring it up now because the bullets in Crysis, a highly anticipated tropical island-based sci-fi shooter from Crytek (the same studio that brought PC gamers Far Cry), cut through H2O as though it were air—as evidenced by my poor, perforated super-soldier's soggy corpse on more than one occasion.

But this is one of the only goofs I could spot in a game that almost perfectly replicates the look, feel, and physical laws of the world in which we live. Indeed, the immense media and marketing ballyhoo that pumped up the game's amazingly lifelike virtual universe over the last year has turned out to be surprisingly accurate.

It's a dazzling achievement that will leave you with the impression that even the latest Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 games appear quaint by comparison—that is, assuming you're rich (or foolish) enough to have invested in a PC packed with the most advanced technology this side of the NSA.

Realism redefined

Crysis endeavours to achieve a new level of comprehensive authenticity and is most evident in its unparalleled DirectX 10-powered graphics, which give new meaning to the overused game industry term "photo-realistic."

Swells of ocean water heave up and down. Gorgeous butterflies flit about flowers while crusty crabs crawl along the sand. Leaves, grass, and tree bark have surface textures that, when viewed from only a metre or so away, look like the real thing. And larger objects remain clear and detailed, even when they're on a mountainside, kilometres away.

And, as already mentioned, the convincingness carries over to game's physics as well. Empty your rifle into the jungle and your slugs will cut through branches and trunks, felling trees like invisible lumberjacks. And should you shoot down a whirlybird, best be sure you're nowhere nearby when it crashes and levels everything around it, including most man-made edifices. Plucking a gunship from the sky isn't the only way to raze a building; a few well placed buck shots to load-bearing timbers will bring many less-sturdy structures crashing to the ground (a good trick when several enemies are taking shelter inside).

The point is, by virtue of the game's unmatched visual and physical verisimilitude, almost everything you see, do, and experience in Crysis will immerse you in the game's world like nothing that has come before.

I, Crysis, laugh at your puny PC

But all of this authenticity comes at a price, and I'd estimate that to be three or four grand — the cost of a state-of-the-art gaming rig.

I've had the opportunity to see and play Crysis in all its jaw-dropping splendour on screamingly fast machines at publicity events, and I can't stress enough how far ahead of the pack its visuals are when pumped out by a high-end system.

But when it came time for my review, I had to run it on my own personal computer, which, suffice to say, kept my chin well off the floor. My box cowered in the face of Crytek's resource ravenous software — and it's not exactly a gaming slouch, having recently proven itself powerful enough to churn out gorgeous-looking games like Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Kane & Lynch: Dead Men with visual settings maxed.

However, with Crysis I was forced to significantly crank down my monitor's resolution and set half of the dozen or so advanced video settings to low just to achieve a relatively smooth and steady frame rate. The resulting low-fi visuals were far from impressive. Trees and rocks continually popped up about 10 metres ahead of me as I ran through the jungle, and details on the surfaces of objects were nearly non-existent.

The crux: My experience on a machine I would call better than average was utterly underwhelming. It was as if I was watching the latest Hollywood blockbuster on a decades-old black & white television.

Gorgeous face, middling personality

The unexpected effect of playing through the game on a PC that wasn't tricked out was that, free of its incomparable glitz, Crysis' heart and soul were suddenly laid bare, and what I saw failed to move me in any significant way.

The overall concept is simple: You take the role of a soldier of the future who dons a high tech nanosuit that can turn invisible and provides the power to augment abilities like speed, strength, and fortitude on command. The upshot is that you can jump really high, be sneaky when needed, take a pounding when necessary, and do neat things like grab bad guys by the throat and throw them around like a sack of potatoes. Interesting, but not exactly original.

The game's firefights typically take place in massive environments with believable geography that allow for open-ended strategizing on behalf of the player. You can choose how gung-ho or stealthy you'd like to be, pick up any weapon you see, and jump in any vehicle you run across. Again, it's an appealing formula, but offers nothing particularly innovative — save perhaps the unique flanking tactics enabled by virtue of the sheer enormity of the maps.

And the story, which begins with your team slowly falling prey to an unexpected, unknown entity during a routine mission, is far from fresh (if I were to pilfer from a Hollywood plot, Predator wouldn't have been my first choice).

Add everything up, and you have a good, solid shooter, but one that sticks closely to established guidelines for the genre. It's diverting; nothing more — unless you have a machine capable of breathing life into the world.

(A bit too far) Ahead of it's time

So Crysis is essentially a slightly better-than-average shooter, the mind-blowing graphics of which have the potential to elevate it to historic status within the industry.

That means the primary reason to play is to experience the visuals. And since so few gamers will be able to run the game with video settings maxed, suddenly Crysis becomes an interactive entertainment that a conscientious critic can't properly recommend, save to those among us with bleeding edge hardware (and, most likely, moths in our wallets).

So, to those scant few who can experience Crysis in all its glory, I say you can't live without it. It will prove to be one of the most memorable games you'll play. To everyone else, I recommend moving on and trying to forget Crytek's cruel taunting until such time as you have the gear to make the most of it, which, if I were to guess, will be a couple of years from now.