In a future imperiled by unspeakable inequity and an unstoppable intergalactic threat, one man can make a difference for humanity....if he has a bad-ass nanosuit. EA claimed that Crysis 3 is the game that is going to “make every other shooter its bitch.” I think John Carmack once said the same thing about Daikatana. Does Crysis 3 have the chops to shoot BLOPS2 and Halo 4 off their respective pedestals?
They Don’t Call It The Power Company For Nothing
In the future, the power company, known as the Cell Corporation, turned New York City into The Liberty Dome. This malevolent entity effectively charges its customers into slavery and uses its corporate army to protect its assets and enforce the will of the board of directors. A massive dome was constructed to prevent Cell’s customers from escaping their contracts. The dome’s construction changes the city’s urban environment into a lush jungle landscape. A band of rebels opposes the power company and sends former Raptor Group member, Psycho, now deprived of his nanosuit, to rescue Prophet from prison to aid in the good fight against high electric bills.
The Last Suit You’ll Ever Wear
As luck would have it, the imprisoned Prophet still wears his nanosuit: I guess the guards forgot to pat him down. This upgradeable suit grants Prophet some heroic superpowers like camouflage, extra-armor, security hacking, nanovision, weapon stability, target marking, and super strength. Psycho busts him out of the joint so they can get back to the city and stick it to the man. Although Prophet sees the fight against Cell as a stepping stone to the real threat: planetary annihilation by the Ceph-a race of giant, alien bugs.
Tools of the Trade
Aside from the suit, Prophet has access to all kinds of nifty toys to play with: assault rifles, grenade launchers, bazookas, grenades, pistols, and the amazing Predator Bow. The bow features three drawstring strengths ranging from quick shot speedy to armor-piercing. The bow can be fired under full stealth, without making Prophet visible to enemies. The ammo types are varied from regular to electrified and explosive, so choose the right type for the job.
Melting PCs
Cevat Yerli, the CEO of Crysis 3 developer, CryTek, brags that the high-res requirements for Crysis 3 will “melt down PCs.” While the game looks great on consoles, it is absolutely mind-blowing on PC versions running with the recommended hardware: Vista 7 or 8 OS, 4 GB RAM with another 12 GB free hard drive space, Intel core 13-530 or AMD Phenom II x2 565 CPU, Ge Force GTX 560 or Radeon HD 5870 graphics card, newish DirectX 9.0c compliant sound card, and a speedy internet connection. Even on my 360, this is the best looking and sounding game that I have played.
Don’t Go Into The Ryegrass!
The beautifully rendered environments in Crysis 3 could compete with almost any major motion picture, which makes me very excited to see what developers produce using next gen hardware. The crumbling, overgrown edifices are very realistic, life-like avatars look and react like actual humans and even the fire and water are spot-on. This game scores 110% on graphics alone. I played through the game using my Gamestop Red Samurai headphones and I swear that this game also sounds better than any current-gen game, hands down. The levels generally consist of well constructed mini-sandboxes, several of which leave lasting positive impressions: stalking feral Ceph hunters in the tall grass of a derelict railyard, reminiscent of The Lost World, with the Predator Bow armed with explosive arrows, blowing up Cell’s hydroelectric dam, and driving a dune buggy through an APC ambush to save those who despise you. Good shit, amigo!
Killing Time With Friends
Crysis 3 features eight different multiplayer modes, like Hunter and Crash Site, each featuring different objectives. Players have access to customizable loadouts, which can be upgraded through multiplayer experience. Single player campaign spoils do not carry over to MP. Players must traverse some very large maps while avoiding player enemies as well as AI gunships. MP also features a pilotable mini-walker that shoots LMGs as well as a grenade launcher....very deadly, but also a very slow way to navigate these maps. Crytek also found a way to discourage camping. Slain players drop their dog tags, which can be picked up by the killer for a killstreak reward. Players have immediate access to the awesome Predator Bow if they purchase the special Hunter Edition of the game.
Just When Things Were Going So Well...
As great as the game seems to be, it also suffers from a few glaring weaknesses. My first gripe concerns the story itself: it doesn’t make any fucking sense. The Cell Corporation enslaved New Yorkers, using their electric bills as leverage? I call bullshit! No New Yorker would put up with that kind of shit from the electric company. On that note, why was Prophet allowed to wear his military-grade armor in prison? How, exactly, does a giant space bug become a new source of electricity? If you can get electricity from bugs, why is my electricity bill so high? Just go get some more bugs and quit worrying about the money.
Another gripe about Crysis 3 is that the control scheme and button mapping is overly complicated. The triggers do what they’re supposed to do: the left brings up the sight and the right squeezes bullets out. The left bumper enhances the armor and the right takes Prophet into stealth mode. Here’s where shit gets hairy. The Y button flips between two conventional firearms. Down on the D-Pad brings up the Predator Bow, going right switches to an RPG or remote charges. B button squats, right stick press for melee and left stick press for run. Press the back button to fart around with armor upgrades but hold it down to switch ammo types. Prophet carries grenades, but I never figured out how to get to them...I’m sure they were nice though. You will empty a gun at some point and be forced to switch guns or ammo types, the latter leaves you vulnerable to gunfire while the former will almost certainly produce a weapon that you did not want, if you don’t squat or open your armor upgrades by mistake. It’s simply too much shit mapped to a console controller.
The last point of contention is that multiplayer looks way shittier than the single player campaign. If you’re looking for a great-looking MP experience, then you need the PC version, and you better have that beast tuned to spec.
Final Verdict
Crysis 3 is a great looking game, maybe the best looking game this generation, but the stupid, incredulous story, bananahead control scheme, and frustrating gameplay compromise its good looks just enough to drop the rating a notch. Multiplayer is an exciting, albeit slightly vanilla, experience, and is unlikely to convert many die-hard COD or Halo fans. I would wait out the $60 price tag.