Crysis 3 Review: It has lots of graphics

Version Tested: PC

Crysis 3, the latest installment in Crytek’s long running first person shooter series where you run around in a nanosuit that lets you cloak, be impervious to damage, leap strategically placed high walls in a single bound and run like Bolt. One other thing it has, GRAPHICS! And lots of them.

My favourite of the series was the first one, where they gave you a playground and you can pretty much do anything until the halfway point when they introduce the alien invaders called Ceph and it became a linear shooter advancing from point A to point B and the series hasn’t looked at becoming an open world game since. No different with Crysis 3 but that was to be expected although it gives you pretty big levels to play around in, it’s still a linear affair.

Water bursting out of dam graphics!

Did I mention it has graphics everywhere? It’s leaking from the seams with graphics, and it’s breathtaking. When I got introduced to New York, I couldn’t help but take in the sights for awhile. The post-apocalyptic buildings mixed in with the greens of literally an urban forest was just extraordinary. You heard people talking about it, you seen the videos but to see it for yourself is just a totally different experience. You know it has a bunch of graphics but you must see it to really appreciate it. But the game still prefers to go to the route of brown and grey and with the graphics capabilities of the engine, it was a real waste. Preferred the greenery that sprawled through the urban wasteland compared to going through dark tunnels and brown mountains.

The game handles well, I liked the feeling when shooting the guns and the Predator Bow was a joy to use. You can feel the torque when you pull back and sticking guys to walls never gets old.

Arrow in the knee graphics!

You basically move from one area to the next in Crysis 3, and each area will have its group of baddies to dispatch. Some of them are large and gives you a few ways to go about it but the days where we are placed on a paradise island to fool around in is long gone. The stealth gameplay is pretty fun to mess with, picking them off one by one with the bow or going up close and personal with an instant melee kill. Weapon customisation allows some to be fitted with silencers and helps make you the ultimate predator but stealth is meant for human enemies; isn’t so effective with the aliens since it takes a lot more to take them down but it’s at least a change of pace.

There are side objectives and upgrade kits to collect but other than that, it’s as straight as straight can be. It gives you the illusion that you’re in a huge sprawling world but strategically placed walls and rocks that are just too high even for your nanosuit powered jumps prevents you from taking a look see outside of the cradle Crytek has decided to put you in.

Some English graphics!

Characters in this game aren’t very memorable to say the least. Psycho, probably the most memorable from the Crysis series has been reduced to a sulky madman looking to go apeshit against those that took his suit away from him. And the guy you’re playing, team leader Prophet is now a half-cyborg, half-alien and trying to keep hold of whatever remnants of humanity that he has left. Almost every line by Prophet involves saying ‘Alpha Ceph’ (he’s the boss, you’re supposed to kill him) like he’s a little schoolgirl that has a crush on Patrick Dempsey. But plots are the last thing I gauge a game with, if it has a good one then all the better but if it doesn’t, meh who cares?

Alpha Ceph with his best friend, Graphics!

You are forgiven to think if this is more of a graphics benchmark than a game. It’s not a bad game but there is just so much more potential here than what was released and because of that, I can’t fully recommend Crysis 3 at its full retail price. Rent it or wait for a price drop.