Crysis 3 Review

Story:

Crysis 3 puts you in the shoes of our old friend Prophet, and your goals are simple: Stop CELL and prevent the Alpha Ceph from destroying the world. Ok, not so simple, I guess. Don’t worry though, because along the way, you quickly meet an old friend, Psycho, and learn of the over-arching side theme of the game. After being “skinned” (Stripped of his Nanosuit), Psycho is bitter, and wants revenge. You help him in every way you can, while keeping your main goals in sight. This also brings to mind that inside every Nanosuit is a human, and they play that card well, but we’ll get to that later. The game is set in New York and consequently, the Nano-Dome, a CELL-made structure that you later find out is really made to keep the Alpha Ceph in. One of the many great things about this game is that you’re made to feel like a human. It’s known in the Crysis series that you’re almost unstoppable. You can shrug bullets off and turn invisible on a whim. Crysis 3 makes you feel like you actually aren’t immortal and lets you know you have limits. With awesome action scenes and tear-jerking moments, the campaign is the main attraction of this game, and it shines.

Graphics:

Let me get one thing straight, Crysis 3 looks amazing. It is almost unparalleled by any game on any current console. That being said, this doesn’t come without flaws. It may have just been my disc, or a universal problem, but I personally experienced several graphical errors. One huge texture pop-in, one instance where Psycho’s mouth and his dialogue were completely off-sync, and almost every time I loaded a checkpoint, the current weapon was invisible. I would be holding a non-existent crossbow, until I switched weapons and then it magically appeared. Like I said, this may have been fixed with a simple installation, but even so, it’s very strange for the game to ship with errors such as these. But with everything else in this game being so beautiful, I don’t hold much fault against Crysis 3 for these minor inconsistencies.

Gameplay:

There are a million ways to play Crysis 3. You can stalk silently in the grass, strategically pick CELL soldiers off one at a time by using the environment to your advantage, or just run in with guns blazing. This is all accomplished with a smart control scheme that accomplishes a lot. The fact that I can customize a pistol simply by holding a button is awesome. The controls are very smooth and easy to pick up for veterans of the series as well as newly introduced players. Crysis 3 also offers a bundle of unlockables that should keep you engaged for a long time.
I should mention the new functions that are great in this game: such as the previously mentioned customization, and hacking. As I said before, you can now customize your weapons with a simple press of a button, and this lets you do anything from change what type of bullet your weapon shoots to what sights you use. Also, a new and standout feature of Crysis 3 is their hacking system. You can now hack an enemy turret or land mine and turn them against their previous owners. This is easy to pick up, and the hacking process even got a little addictive after a while. As well as new features, Crysis 3 sports some amazing weapons. They added many new ones, including all of the Ceph’s weapons, and my favorite, the crossbow, and kept all the old ones you know and love. Using the “Predator Bow” really makes you feel as if you’re an animal stalking its prey in the wild, and if you’re invisible, you can have some major fun.


There are some downsides, however. The game gives you many un-clear waypoints and, if you’re not paying much attention, you will be stuck for quite some time. A perfect example of this is the very first mission where if you leave Psycho’s general area, you have absolutely no guide for where to go next. Coupled with this, any and almost all vehicle interactions you have will be less than pleasant. The vehicle controls seem like they were thrown together and don’t feel comfortable in the least bit.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer is one of Crysis 3’s setbacks. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not that bad. It’s got your standard Team Deathmatch, FFA, and so on. The maps are solid and the weapons feel good, so what’s the problem? The problem is that there isn’t anything that makes it stand out of the crowd. With online competition such as Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 and Halo 4, Crysis 3 needed something really special for it’s multiplayer to keep player’s attention, which it just plain failed to do.

The Verdict:

In conclusion, Crysis 3 is an excellent game. It looks gorgeous and plays smoothly and naturally. Although problems such as vehicles and graphics bring it down, its faults don’t make it a game not worth checking out. The single-player alone is worth the money, offering weapons and unlockables to your hearts content. If you really want more, a multiplayer is there, but it fails to live up to the current top dogs in the FPS arena. Even so, Crysis 3 is a fully engaging experience and buying it won’t leave you disappointed!