The core gameplay of this is like one of the big enemy jungle outposts of MGS3 on steroids but instead of the deep stealth mechanics they went for the Crackdown experience of "unga unga smash shoot kill" and adding in a Predator suit. It's very simplistic but there's a lot of room to fuck around and have fun.
Now here's the thing: if it were just that, it would be a pretty fun seasonal FPS, but it's also a technical marvel. Even 15+ years after it released, it still holds up remarkably well, and I don't mean it just in terms of graphical power, but also in terms of spectacle and scale.
Kind of one of the last of its breed, Crysis is not an open world game, but rather a game with linear progression in big open areas. So you get all the action freedom, the liberating sense of chaos, and the wow factor of a big open space with interesting geography, without all the downsides of repeating the same areas time and time again, cheating your way out of situations via open world trickery, boring filler sidequests... It's a cohesive experience with a beginning and an end, with some predetermined big dumb and fun setpieces of a good blockbuster experience.
It also doesn't overstay its welcome, and, when things start to get samey, the game just flips the script around and plays the alien invasion card and rides it to the very end to deliver a big dumb cathartic ending. The alien part of the experience is universally considered the worst designed part of the game, and it is, but its spectacle helps to deliver a grander-than-life finale. Not quite to the standards of Halo 2 and onwards, but the change of dynamic from OP nanosuit gameplay to "I can't barely keep up with these alien assholes" really sells this idea that everything is going to shit.
I don't know. Even with its status of "glorified tech demo" there's a lot to like here. It's a pretty simple straightforward experience with not much depth, but there's not a whole lot that does wrong outside some nasty bugs here and there, a derpy AI and a weaker third act. It could be better by virtue of adding more stuff, having more enemy types, an actual plot, better designed close-quarters encounters... but as-it-is, it's still good shit and still very fresh...
...at least on hard mode. Some reviews here read like they just jumped in easy or normal and just didn't engage at all in the mechanics of the game that shine only when you have some decent opposition and you're forced to be creative. It's not their fault or anything, their experience is perfectly valid and a testament that some games only show their strong points in certain difficulties. Kind of a shame, but it is what it is.
Now here's the thing: if it were just that, it would be a pretty fun seasonal FPS, but it's also a technical marvel. Even 15+ years after it released, it still holds up remarkably well, and I don't mean it just in terms of graphical power, but also in terms of spectacle and scale.
Kind of one of the last of its breed, Crysis is not an open world game, but rather a game with linear progression in big open areas. So you get all the action freedom, the liberating sense of chaos, and the wow factor of a big open space with interesting geography, without all the downsides of repeating the same areas time and time again, cheating your way out of situations via open world trickery, boring filler sidequests... It's a cohesive experience with a beginning and an end, with some predetermined big dumb and fun setpieces of a good blockbuster experience.
It also doesn't overstay its welcome, and, when things start to get samey, the game just flips the script around and plays the alien invasion card and rides it to the very end to deliver a big dumb cathartic ending. The alien part of the experience is universally considered the worst designed part of the game, and it is, but its spectacle helps to deliver a grander-than-life finale. Not quite to the standards of Halo 2 and onwards, but the change of dynamic from OP nanosuit gameplay to "I can't barely keep up with these alien assholes" really sells this idea that everything is going to shit.
I don't know. Even with its status of "glorified tech demo" there's a lot to like here. It's a pretty simple straightforward experience with not much depth, but there's not a whole lot that does wrong outside some nasty bugs here and there, a derpy AI and a weaker third act. It could be better by virtue of adding more stuff, having more enemy types, an actual plot, better designed close-quarters encounters... but as-it-is, it's still good shit and still very fresh...
...at least on hard mode. Some reviews here read like they just jumped in easy or normal and just didn't engage at all in the mechanics of the game that shine only when you have some decent opposition and you're forced to be creative. It's not their fault or anything, their experience is perfectly valid and a testament that some games only show their strong points in certain difficulties. Kind of a shame, but it is what it is.