Don’t Cry for Mark…

Crysis’ credentials are huge. Produced by Far Cry developers Crytek and put to retail by Europe's biggest publisher EA, Crysis is a first-person shooter of considerable pedigree.

Crysis is also a PC game of exceptional graphical grunt. Indeed, running on Crytek’s advanced CryENGINE 2 – and advanced evolution of the Far Cry building blocks – Crysis looks set to shunt PC gaming kicking and screaming into incredible new territory.

But it’s the overall experience Crysis promises to produce which makes it such an attractive prospect even in the FPS-packed PC market. Cinematic to the point of near-photorealism and boasting a range of gameplay innovations that elaborate on Far Cry Instincts’ innovative feral abilities, Crytek’s latest already looks like one of the year’s top-tier titles. The Master Chief may set the benchmark on next-gen consoles, but on PC, Crysis should set the new FPS standard.

Run faster, jump further, hit harder

Those abilities, then. Far Cry’s feral powers let players run faster, jump further, hit harder and more thanks to the main character’s mutated animalistic DNA. In Crysis the principal is much the same, only less Dr Moreau and more Metal Gear Solid ninja.

The thing that lets you do those kind of thing in Crysis is called the Nanosuit, and it’s likely to make Crysis a customisable, free-form kind of FPS that lets players tackle obstacles their own way.

The Nanosuit’s Armour mode, for instance, will let players survive stupid amounts of damage, which will mean Crysis players can not only dive into crossfire, but leap off cliffs and end up surviving great falls, plus regenerate health when standing still – though armour mode does have a tradeoff of sluggish movement.

Speed mode, however, will be anything but sluggish; with it activated players will run faster, jump further and reload quicker – while Strength mode promises to see Crysis’ lead character hurling vehicles, jumping stupidly high and smashing through walls like wrapping paper, and is the mode to best shows off Crytek’s impressive physics engine. Lastly, the suit’s Cloak mode will see Crysis players blending into the background like an FPS version of Solid Snakes famed MGS invisibility – activated, like the other suit modes, through a simple click of the mouse wheel.

All of which Crysis players are sure to need, if they’re going to get the better of what Crytek are calling the most compelling enemies ever seen in an FPS. Crysis’ story is ostensibly ripped right out of sci-fi lore; you play an intrepid US Commando, fighting on (initially at least) North Korean soil for the very future of mankind against an invading alien force.

While Crysis’ plot won’t win any awards, it has allowed for Cytek to create a truly terrifying fictional enemy known as Hunters, and populate them with some scary extraterrestrial technology and even more unnerving AI. That, coupled with a unique three-chapter structure encompassing lush jungles, stark snow-covered vistas and even the alien’s own ship itself – a zero-gravity environment which promises to mash up the playfield no end – all sets Crysis up to be a technical, tactical and tongue-lollingly lovely-looking PC tour-de-force.

Monster of a machine

Online 32 multiplayer is also planned for Crysis, which will no-doubt take full advantage of the Nanosuit, plus what we’d expect, considering Cytek’s Far cry history, to be a balanced weapon set with possibly even the odd surprise thrown into the mix. Of the four modes planned, three are standard Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag – though the really exciting idea is the fourth mode. Entitled Power Struggle, it will see American and Korean forces fighting each other to capture factories on a map and manufacture a ‘Special Weapon’ with which to destroy the enemy base.

More details however, are currently scarce – including Crysis’ final PC hardware specs. There’s no doubt though that it’s going to require a monster of a machine to run Crysis – but from what we’ve seen so far, Crytek’s second original FPS venture after Far Cry is going to be every bit worth the cost.

Preview by: Mark Scott
Preview Published: 22.06.07