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Category Archives: Crysis

Crysis Remastered: Returning to Lingshan With Ray-Tracing and A Reflection of Improved Reflections

Leave a comment Posted by infinitezenith on June 6, 2023

“All problems in computer graphics can be solved with a matrix inversion.” –Jim Blinn

Thirteen years after Crytek released their breathtaking Crysis, they would produce a remaster to one of the most iconic first person shooters of the 2000s, adding new lighting and shadow effects, upgraded textures and support for real-time ray-tracing. Crysis Remastered was launched to cold reception back in 2020; based off the console port, Crysis Remastered suffered from significant performance and optimisation issues that meant even the most advanced computers struggled to run it, and bugs from the console version, which hadn’t been present in the original PC game, were also degrading player experience. Being based off the console port, Crysis Remastered has inferior physics behaviours compared to the original, and the enemy AI behave poorly – sometimes, they will manage to find the player with perfect precision even when one’s got their cloak engaged, and at other times, they will ignore one even if they’re directly in front of a squad. To round things off, an unintuitive control scheme and the omission of an entire level, left players feeling thoroughly disappointed. Crytek, however, stuck to their guns, and over the course of a year, they polished Crysis Remastered, ironing out the larger bugs and restoring the VTOL mission. Although still not quite as polished asd smooth as the original Crysis, Crysis Remastered is presently in an acceptable state, bringing modern visuals and rendering techniques to a classic game whose visuals have aged remarkably well. While this speaks to the original Crysis‘ extreme level of ingenuity and innovation, Crysis Remastered‘s biggest improvements over its predecessor come through real-time ray-tracing, which produces more realistic and dynamic lighting effects. These are most apparent in the early missions, where Nomad traverses the coastal areas of Lingshan Island and is able to wander the island’s beaches. The interaction between light and water is far more detailed than it’d originally been, and the beaches look even more stunning than they had originally, which is no small feat. Thanks to real-time ray-tracing, light interacts with everything with an unparalleled realism: if were possible, Crysis Remastered looks better than real life, and one can practically feel the tropical humidity as they explore these maps. Although critics suggest that the original Crysis, at maximum settings, looks almost as good as Crysis Remastered with everything set to “Can It Run Crysis™”, the newfound detail in Crysis Remastered is such that it felt like I was playing the game new, for the first time. However, because Crysis Remastered was based on the console port, there are several, key artistic differences. Lingshan is generally more saturated compared to the original, which feels distinctly drab in comparison, and during the fifth mission, players fight under sunny skies, whereas the original had been overcast. The shift in mood doesn’t impact gameplay in any way, but it does feel as though the stakes are different; in the original, the humid, grey skies coincide with the American forces’ push up the valley to capture critical positions ahead of reaching the mountain where strange events are unfolding, and by swapping this out, the fifth mission suddenly feels more like a tropical vacation.

Changes to the aesthetic in Crysis leads to the question of how tightly coupled a game’s aesthetic design is to its experience, and this is something that different individuals will have different answers for. Remasters thus represent a case where it’s possible to see for oneself if a game’s visuals contribute greatly to the experience by altering the game’s atmosphere. In Halo: Combat Evolved, for instance, the Library is one of the most famous levels. The original level features dark, labyrinthine corridors swarming with flood, and being dimly-lit, the Flood can lurk in said corridors, lying in wait of their quarry. Lack of any features on the monotonous walls could cause players to get lost, and coupled with the overwhelming presence of the Flood, this contributes greatly to the tensions in the mission as players must fight through wave after wave of Flood to reach the Index. However, when Halo: Anniversary, added additional lighting elements to the library that made the walls more detailed, and increased the lighting, the sense of tension is lost. Foes become more visible, and one’s mind can focus purely on slaughtering Flood, versus how in the original, one could never be too sure of what lay in wait around the corners. When remasters overhaul the visuals to an extent where the original vibes are lost, players tend to react negatively. On the other hand, with Halo 2: Anniversary, 343 Industries took a more restrained approach, upgrading the lighting and details in each level without altering the aesthetic, and as a result, Halo 2: Anniversary looks precisely like what one expects Halo 2 to look like if it released in 2014. Here in Crysis, the increased saturation improves the game’s aesthetic. Warmer, richer colours reiterates the fact that, minus the Ceph and North Korean invasion, the Lingshan Islands are a tropical paradise, a sandbox that beckons one to explore. In this way, Crysis Remastered can be said to be how I remember Crysis looking back when I first played it a decade earlier. Playing through Crysis Remastered now brings back memories; from the incredible graphics, to the fact that my computer’s fans will immediately spin up the moment the game loads, I vividly recall the experience I had a decade earlier, when I had built a new desktop that was powerful enough to handle the game; shortly after finishing Battlefield: Bad Company 2, I turned my attention to a game that was legendary for giving even the best-built PCs trouble, and while my machine’s fans would spin up whenever I loaded Crysis, I marvelled at the fact that my then-new desktop, a mid-range budget gaming setup, was able to run Crysis with everything cranked up, at the 1080p resolution and a smooth 60 frames per second. Nowadays, although I’ve got a computer that outstrips what I’d previously had, Crysis Remastered still puts my current machine and its GPU through its paces, although just like ten years ago, my machine runs the game without trouble, achieving about 80 FPS at 1080p when everything is cranked up to the “Can It Run Crysis™?” settings.

Screenshots and Commentary

Crysis‘ first sunrise is an iconic moment in gaming, equivalent to when players storm the beaches in Halo‘s Silent Cartographer: as night recedes and the sun rises, players in Crysis are treated to the first light of day filling the landscape and throwing everything into sharp relief. By having players hit Lingshan before dawn, Crysis simultaneously maintains some authenticity by having a Delta Force team insert under the cover of darkness and also, gives players a chance to acclimatise to the controls before blowing them away with the visuals.

I first played Crysis in 2010, when I’d been an undergraduate student: one of my friends had a copy of the game because he’d been itching to see what his then-new Alienware M17x could do: having struggled with a custom desktop and its 8800 GTX SLI, the Alienware had proven to be a more portable and powerful machine in comparison, boasting an i7 processor and a single GTX 280M, giving him the ability to play at 30 FPS. Upon borrowing the game and installing it to my XPS 420, I was able to run the game at 30 FPS with everything set to medium, and in this way, I ended up completing the game.

My initial impressions of Crysis were that the first half of the game was iconic, with the sandbox-like environment really allowing the game to accentuate its visuals and giving players quite a bit more freedom in choosing how they’d complete their objectives. For instance, in this first mission, one could hijack a boat and completely bypass the KPA patrols, allowing them to reach the other side of the island without getting into any firefights. After enter the alien ship, Crysis nosedives in quality and becomes a more run-of-the-mill, linear first person shooter with limited options for exploration. In spite of this, I still enjoyed the game greatly, and after finishing for the first time, I was quite pleased that my desktop could run Crysis to some capacity.

I would return to play Crysis at 1080p three years later: after completing my undergraduate degree in health sciences, my parents bought me a new PC as a graduation gift, and I immediately found myself wishing to see if this machine was powerful enough to run Crysis. By then, Crysis had been six years old, and despite being an impressive-looking game even then, by 2013 most mid-end computers could run the game at 1080p and 60 FPS without much difficulty. In the present, fourteen years have elapsed, and Crysis isn’t quite as visually impressive as it’d been back then: here, the differences between Crysis and Crysis Remastered are apparent.

As the story goes, I began playing Crysis after Otafest had concluded, and made some headway before my convocation ceremony. By this point in my summer, I’d finished putting together our undergraduate yearbook with contents my classmates had provided, and in the days leading up to convocation, things had been quite quiet, affording me some time to begin seeing how my new PC was handling. Equipped with an i5 3570k and the GTX 660, this desktop was built to be a light gaming machine with an expected service life of about six years, but in 2016, I upgraded the GPU to a GTX 1060: with performance comparable to that of the GTX 980, my old desktop ended up in active service for nine years in total.

In retrospect, the fact that my previous desktop hadn’t broken a sweat running Crysis at full settings was a good sign of its longevity, speaking to how even with a mid-end build, one can still configure a computer in a way that is both economical and capable. All too often, I notice that a lot of people out there tend to over-build their PCs by buying the most expensive components, reasoning that bigger numbers and more features will justify the cost and help them to future-proof their machines. I find that, more often than not, the 10-20 percent increase in performance isn’t usually worth an extra hundred to two hundred dollars; how powerful one’s computer needs to be is strictly determined by what one intends to do with it.

For instance, if one intended to use their computer to browse the internet, watch videos and pay bills, then even a tablet will suffice. On the other hand, someone involved in heavy video or graphics editing will need the best hardware money can buy. For most people, the quality of the parts they need will fall somewhere in the middle, and the best way to build a computer is to start out with one’s intended budget, as well as an understanding of what they need to do with the computer. Typically, gamers tend to be the trickiest demographic to build for, since games vary so greatly in terms of what they need, and for these users, I always start by picking out lower-to-mid end parts for the power supply, motherboard and SSD. This is because the more expensive options usually have more features but won’t otherwise impact performance by too large of a margin.

Once that’s done, I move onto picking out a CPU. With the CPU, entry-level users will be satisfied with i3 or Ryzen 3, while gamers will find that the i5 and Ryzen 5 line of CPUs are more than adequate – i7s and Ryzen 7s are superior, the cost-to-performance improvements aren’t so significant as to make a jump to this tier worth it for most. On this note, if one is an intermediate content creator who games, an i7 or Ryzen 7 is easier to justify, since their improved multi-threaded performance makes things like using photo and video editing tools easier. Professional content creators, 4K gamers, software developers and researchers will find i9s and Ryzen 9s a suitable choice. Once a CPU is picked out, the next exercise is determining what GPU one needs.

The choice of GPU is usually the trickiest for most consumers, although in the present, I would argue that the resolution one intends to play at, and the refresh rates on their monitor, should be the biggest factor in determining what one gets. Players who want to game at 4K will benefit most from the high-end GPUs (e.g. NVIDIA –80 series or AMD’s -800 series), while 1440p players should, if their budget allows it, go for a mid-range video card (–70 series for NVIDIA cards, and -700 series for AMD). For most players, 1080p remains a dominant resolution, and so, the mainstream cards (e.g. NVIDIA –60 series or AMD’s -600 series) will get the job done. Players looking for a little more framerates at lower resolutions may benefit from picking GPUs from a tier higher, although using higher-end GPUs for 1080p60 gaming is generally overkill and won’t yield any appreciable gains. As for which brand of aftermarket GPU one should get, I always recommend looking at the most economical GPU first, and then if one wants more cooling options, then one can begin looking at the more expensive models.

Finally, RAM and non-volatile storage can round things out. In the present, 16 GB of RAM is still adequate, although heavy gamers and content creators would benefit from 32 GB of RAM. This is the decision-making process I follow for laying out the hardware I’d need for a computer, and in this way, I’ve been able to build long-lasting computers that strike a balance between performance and cost. Besides machines for my personal use, I’d also advised my first start-up on recommended machines for Unreal Engine 4 development, and when that company dissolved, the machines still sold for a decent price. Similarly, I’ve also given suggestions to friends who’ve wound up with builds they were happy with.

Back in Crysis, I’ve returned to a scene I’ve been careful to replicate every time I come up here: after reaching a KPA site at the top of a hill, I collect a precision rifle with a high-powered optic as the sun begins setting. The scene had looked quite different at medium settings in the original Crysis, and here in Crysis Remastered, things look a shade sharper and better-polished. The precision rifle and SCAR are my two go-to weapons in Crysis: the former is a bolt-action rifle with impressive stopping power for long-range combat, and the SCAR is a versatile assault rifle that’s more accurate and hard-hitting than the FY-71, the KPA’s service rifle. Although ammunition for the FY-71 is plentiful, I prefer using the SCAR on single-fire mode.

With the high-powered scope, the SCAR turns into a makeshift sniper rifle. Crysis was revolutionary for introducing the ability to dynamically change weapon attachments on the fly, and this feature wouldn’t make it into a mainstream first person shooter until Battlefield 2042. Throughout Crysis, players have access to a fair array of firearms, from assault rifles to shotguns, and one can also pick up guided anti-tank missile launchers and C4 explosives along the way, plus a range of grenades. However, Crysis‘ most iconic element is the Nanosuit, which enhances the player’s abilities. By default, armour mode absorbs incoming damage and allows the suit to recharge quickly, while strength mode enhances one’s ability to throw things, jump vertically and stablise their weapons.

Speed improves movement speed, as well as reduces weapon switch and reload times. Finally, cloak renders players invisible to foes, allowing them to sneak past entire areas without instigating a firefight. The tools available to players make the first half of Crysis an open world sandbox that lets one to approach things in any manner they choose, and this creates much of the game’s memorable moments. In Crysis Remastered, the main gripe I had about the game was the fact that the key bindings are optimised for the console and set up similarly to the Nanosuits in Crysis 2 and Crysis 3.

While it is possible to reset the controls to their classic setup, there are a few moments where the changed bindings threw me off. This was about the only gripe I had about Crysis Remastered – beyond the occasional bit of muscle memory causing me to carry out an unexpected action, I had fun revisiting familiar locations given a new coat of paint. It suddenly hits me that I’ve not written a Crysis game for quite some time: according to blog archives, the last time I wrote about Crysis was a final reflection on Crysis 3, dating back to December 2015.

The last time I set foot at the harbour where the North Korean cruiser is docked, it was 2013. By this point in the game, Nomad and the other operators have discovered there’s more to the artefacts on Lingshan Island than initially thought, and the American armed forces subsequently deploy with the aim of securing things before the North Koreans do. This results in allied forces appearing, and players suddenly have support from friendly forces. However, the KPA have dug into the island and placed anti-air emplacements in a few areas, requiring one to clear them out.

Crysis Remastered is so visually impressive that I caught myself stopping to admire the scenery on more than one occasion, and I found that the remaster looks its absolute best whenever one is around a body of water. With lighting effects being computed via real-time ray-tracing, Crysis Remastered requires a GPU with dedicated ray-tracing cores in order to really shine, and at present, I’m definitely glad to have purchased my RTX 3060 Ti when I did. I had originally been planning to buy an RTX 4060, but changed my mind after a flash sale in September saw the card going for 110 CAD off. The rationale behind my decision was simple: the RTX 3060 Ti was a card with known properties and was available in that moment, whereas the RTX 4060 is slated for release in July and has unknown performance (I’d expect it to provide 3060 Ti-like performance for the 3060 price tag).

The biggest deciding factor, then, was the choice between waiting a then-indefinite amount of time for the newer card, or paying a little more for a card I knew was going to perform well. In retrospect, my decision stands because, having now seen the Lovelace lineup, it becomes clear that any performance gains in the RTX 4060 would swiftly be offset by the fact that I could begin using the RTX 3060 Ti right away: having nine more months of enjoyment with a reasonably powerful GPU far outweighs the minor efficiency and performance increases the newer GPUs offer. As a result of this extra time, I was able to experience Modern Warfare II and get back into Battlefield 2042, as well as do this reflection on Crysis Remastered a full ten years after I played the original Crysis.

The lesson here, then, is that sometimes, it is better to action something when things are close enough to one’s requirements and work with things from there, versus, waiting for something perfect or better to come along. This approach allows one to get the most with their time, and work with knowns, versus going without something in the hopes for an uncertain future. The same approach, surprisingly, also applies to potential relationships – all too often, people turn others down because they’re holding out for something perfect, and in doing so, they continue to deny themselves even the possibility of turning what’s in front of them and cultivating something that could exceed all expectations.

The idea is that, if one is reasonably confident about a relationship, there is no loss in stepping up and seeing where things go: taking a good relationship and maturing over time will allow one to grow it into something much bigger, whereas clinging to the idea that there’s “always better” means one isn’t even allowing for the possibility of this growth. I find it amusing that it took a well-timed GPU flash sale to make me realise this: at the time of my convocation a decade earlier, I was also guilty of holding out for better, and ended up paying the price for it. This is a story I will recount in the near future, but I can say that, in the present, I am now able to make snap decisions and make the most of what I’ve got in front of me, versus dreaming about what could be and then never even having a chance as a result.

Crysis‘ tank level is the most iconic for me, and admittedly, I actually do prefer the sunny weather of Crysis Remastered over the overcast, gloomy weather of the original Crysis. I vividly recall that, on the day I reached this mission, I was speaking with my parents about finding a suitable barber for a haircut ahead of convocation, and while I’d originally been planning to go to the barbershop on campus, they recommended one a little closer to home. After this conversation, the fact that I was graduating suddenly hit me with the subtly of a freight train. I had spent the last four years of my life as an undergraduate student, and all of this effort had now culminated in my satisfying the programme requirements for a health science degree.

Surprise soon turned to excitement, and I remember how, in the week following, things had become busy as I began preparing for things, from getting all of my photos taken, to submitting the last of the paperwork. I started Half-Life 2 at this point, and had gotten into things enough so that I put the brakes on playing Crysis – I ended up continuing after the Great Flood of 2013 swept through the area, and after campus was closed, I found myself with unexpected free time, so I was able to start the missions of Crysis that I was least looking forwards to, and finished the game before campus reopened. Observant readers will have noticed there that the tanks I’m operating have unlimited ammunition for their main cannon, whereas in the original Crysis, tanks only have thirty rounds available to them.

According to the blog archives, after finishing Crysis in June, I started writing about the game on a per-level basis, and stopped in July, before resuming in September. Nowadays, I try to write about a game while the thoughts are still fresh before I move on: if I finish a game at breakneck speed and move on, I may forget about my experiences. Here, I take a moment to admire the world-space reflections in one of the ponds before proceeding to the final step of the secondary objective, to destroy the AA emplacements in the valley: the blue skies of Crysis Remastered make everything in this level pop, a far cry from the gloom of the original, and now that I’ve had the chance to go through Crysis Remastered, I am glad that I made the call to go through this game, as it allowed me to experience Crysis from a different perspective.

In the end, I can happily conclude that yes, I did get value out of Crysis Remastered and the RTX 3060 Ti. Value is ultimately something that determines how I make decisions for my purchases. I define value as the ratio of utility to cost and time. Something has more value if it offers good utility at a reasonable cost or its utility saves me time: in this case, buying the RTX 3060 Ti the time that I did gave me more utility, and in this way, paying a little more to save time was worth it. On the other hand, I picked up Crysis Remastered during a sale for 5 CAD: for me, five dollars to revisit a game which is tied to my memories of the June from a decade earlier isn’t a bad value in my books.

Frugality and cost-effectiveness is ultimately why I tend to buy most games on sale, and why when I build PCs (or recommend builds to people), I always keep costs in mind. When it comes to building computers, I tend to build according to the “what you need right now, plus a 10-20 percent overhead depending on your budget” approach. In my case, a computer with an i5 and a slightly-improved mainstream GPU was satisfactory for my needs and fit in my budget, so it was a no-brainer. On the other hand, I have heard stories of folks who end up with expensive builds that are under-utilised. For instance, a local sliding pin maker was boasting on Twitter about their new PC, which is a pre-built machine with an i7 13700k and a RTX 4070.

However, this individual’s computing is limited to watching anime, running their online store and engaging with people on Twitter, and from their Tweets, they’re barely making ends meet on the essentials. From a rational perspective, one does not need an RTX 4070 to watch anime and use Twitter, so this machine is going to be under-utilised. At the end of the day, I do not have the authority to tell people how they ought to manage their finances, but I am allowed to have an opinion on folks who buy pricey computer hardware without considering their other expenses: if one commits to such a decision, then they cannot complain about the consequences, or expect others to bail them out, either.

Buying a powerful PC and not fully utilising its capabilities is akin to buying a super car and only using it to drive to the local grocery store. While I’m not one to tell people how to spend their money or use their possessions, this does seem wasteful – I am reminded of Ali Al Saachez’s comment to Setsuna in Gundam 00, that the power of a Gundam is wasted on Celestial Being since they pull their punches during combat engagements and usually avoid unnecessary casualties while carrying out their armed interventions. In Saachez’s hands, the Throne Zwei goes from being a threat to being a near-unstoppable terror. This is a common theme in most Gundam series, where the performance of a machine is dictated almost entirely by pilot skill. Graham Aker and Char Aznable both go toe-to-toe with Gundams while piloting inferior machines, mirroring how even a weaker computer is still useful in the right hands.

The Witch From Mercury appears to challenge this, suggesting that a machine’s characteristics is also a factor in determining the result. However, I disagree: the reality is that giving an inferior operator a superior machine won’t make much of a difference in terms of performance. From the computing analog, the typical Twitter user likely won’t know how to even begin getting the most out of an RTX 4090, but a skilled user can make even a lower-end computer produce magic, using nothing more than a text editor and the terminal. For a gamer like myself, I don’t use enough processing power to justify purchasing top-end parts: I still game at 1080p, so the mainstream GPUs and CPUs are more than enough for me in the foreseeable future.

Here, I remark that while this is a Crysis-themed post, and I’ve talked a great deal about computer hardware, as well as my process, the idea was that since Crysis Remastered was so demanding, it was worth considering how I go about deciding on how to build a machine that would, in my case, let me run Crysis Remastered and my other games without devastating my finances. With this being said, everyone has different priorities, and while I favour cost-effectiveness over future-proofing, other people may suggest that one should build their computer in accordance with what they want to do in the next six years, as opposed to what they want to do in the next twenty-four months.

Back in Crysis Remastered, I’ve skipped ahead to the evacuation of Lingshan Island – I’ve already covered the tips and tricks of these later missions in posts written a shade less than a decade earlier, and therefore have no plans to revisit those specifics in this discussion. Once the aliens appear, Lingshan Island freezes over, and allied forces are overwhelmed. There’s no more sandbox as the focus turns to getting out, and while while Crysis was immensely fun in its first half, the second half is more linear and monotonous. The visual upgrades between Crysis Remastered and its predecessor are less apparent here, although in places where there’s still free-standing water, reflection effects are present to remind players that they’re playing Crysis Remastered.

In the interest of not creating a monstrosity of a post that is already likely boring readers, I’ll wrap up with a still of me piloting the VTOL. In the original console port of Crysis, this level was cut, and therefore, it was originally absent in Crysis Remastered. A patch would later restore this mission, allowing Crysis Remastered to finally offer a complete update to the original, providing a full experience of the game that had given computers trouble for years after launch. By the time I got around to playing Crysis Remastered, the VOTL mission had already been restored, and I was able to enjoy it in all of its visually remastered glory, which is a fitting way to experience things a full ten years after I first began playing Crysis at full settings and found myself marvelling at the capabilities of my then-new desktop, only this time, I’ve got a more demanding version of Crysis and a computer that has similarly risen up to the challenge.

When it released in 2007, Crysis became infamous for its exceptionally demanding system requirements: in order to run everything at maximum settings, one required a dual-core CPU with a 2 GHz clock speed, 4 GB of RAM and a GeForce 8800 GTX (which retailed for 600 USD when it launched back in 2008). At full settings, Crysis was a gorgeous game that ushered in a new era of mainstream computer graphics, and for years after, the online communities would always ask individuals who were especially proud of their latest computer build: “Can It Run Crysis™?” Within the space of six years, computer hardware would improve to the point where a midrange gaming PC, armed with a third-generation i5 processor and the significantly more affordable GTX 660, could run Crysis. The constant advancement in computer hardware has meant that for game enthusiasts, it’s never been easier to build a suitable computer for the express purpose of exploring virtual worlds at unparalleled fidelity, and of late, it does feel as though the hardware has now outpaced graphics technology. Games of the present generally look consistently good, but at the same time, today’s games don’t look too much better compared to the games of five years ago, whereas a decade earlier, games released five years apart looked dramatically different. However, this doesn’t mean that progressed has stopped: the best-looking games from five years earlier used pre-baked lighting and shadows to achieve some impressive results, but today’s games make more use of real-time methods. This results in less work for artists, instead putting more stress on the computer hardware, and as games become increasingly sophisticated, there are tradeoffs that need to be made. However, as these technologies continue to advance, games will continue to push the boundaries for what’s possible, and in the present, thanks to the sophistication of game engines like Unreal Engine 5, independent developers have been able to produce games that look life-like, as though they were footage taken from a body camera. Bodycam and EXP: War Trauma are examples of games that take a certain aesthetic and capitalise on Unreal Engine 5’s capabilities to produce new experiences. Things have come quite far for gaming graphics, and while in the present, there are a host of impressive-looking games out there, Crysis still remains a milestone title for players; for console players curious to see what all the fuss is about, as well as for PC players who wish to see if their build satisfies the age old question of “Can It Run Crysis™?”, Crysis Remastered is a solid way of checking out one of the most iconic titles in the world of games. On my end, watching my desktop effortlessly pushing out pixels while real-time ray-tracing was present is a reassuring reminder that for me, what I’ve got can run Crysis.

Crysis, Gaming Crysis, Crysis Remastered, Crysis Series, Crytek, First person shooter, FPS, Game, Gameplay, PC Game, personal reflection, reflection, Steam

Crysis 3 Final Reflection and Review

Leave a comment Posted by infinitezenith on December 2, 2015

“A good soldier knows there’s only one thing he can rely on when the chips are down: Not his cutting edge intel, not his state of the art equipment, and not his top of the line weapon. Just himself; it took me a long time to remember that.” —Prophet

Since the events of last time, which were drafted during Thanksgiving, I’ve watched Prophet fight through the CELL’s facilities, blew their dam to pieces, accidentally activated the Alpha Ceph, and fight to stop CELL from activating the Archangel weapons platform, which, if fired, would trigger a chain reaction that would render the planet uninhabitable. Prophet subsequently resolves to kill the Alpha Ceph, who has since opened a wormhole to the Ceph homeworld and is coordinating an all-out assault on Earth. The Alpha Ceph is killed, and Prophet uses Archangel to destroy the first Ceph warship coming through the wormhole, causing it to collapse and ending the Ceph threat for the present. Throughout Crysis 3, themes about what constitutes humanity linger: unlike the previous Crysis installations, there is a single unifying theme in Crysis 3 that is driven home repeatedly. Thus, even though Crysis 3 might be a remarkably shiny title that reclaimed its throne as one of the best-looking games of all time, the presence of a well-defined theme means that Crysis 3 provides the strongest characterisations and narratives of any of the titles (besides Crysis Warhead). This aspect was not unnoticed by more seasoned reviewers, although one must wonder how these elements allowed Crysis 3 to remain compelling throughout the entire game, while maintaining all of the graphical fidelity that Crysis games are generally known for.

The answer to Crysis 3’s enjoyment value lies in the dynamics between Lawrence “Prophet” Barnes and Michael “Psycho” Sykes: in the years since the events of Crysis 2, Prophet was captured by CELL while seeking the Alpha Ceph, and in his opening remarks, suggests that how he had been able to achieve what he had was through sacrificing his humanity. Meanwhile, Michael resents that CELL skinned him of his Nanosuit, and that without it, he is unable to fight CELL or Ceph. The dynamics between Prophet, who regrets discarding his humanity and Michael, who desires the power to protect those around him, allow the two to act as a foil to one another, and after a major battle where Michael’s love interest, Claire Fontanelli, perishes, the two come to realise what it truly means to be human: it was never about their Nanosuits, but the men using them, that made the difference each and every time. This is the main message in Crysis 3, that to be human is simply to express concern for fellow human beings, utilising all of one’s available cunning and resources to protect one another. Thus, while Prophet has physically become more machine than man, his resolve to beat the Alpha Ceph for humanity’s sake ensures that he remains human, and similarly, while Michael may no longer has a Nanosuit, his resolve makes him as effective as Prophet. Watching this unfold, and watching Prophet come to terms with what he’s become, made each level in Crysis 3 enjoyable, adding the reason to empathise with and be concerned with Prophet’s fate as the game progressed.

Screenshots and Commentary

The Nanodome is a CELL construct that was designed to allow them to destroy the remaining Ceph and keep the Alpha Ceph subjugated so they could continue harnessing its power. Stepping out here for the reminded me of Crysis‘ first sunset, during which the darkness gives way to light and throws the world into sharp contrast to really showcase the game’s graphical fidelity.

The abandoned skyscrapers and rusting train yard satisfactorily captures the post-human environment that Alan Weisman describes in “The World Without Us”: in fact, he uses New York as a primary example in his book, and the first real mission of Crysis 3 has Prophet evading NAX to destroy a defense tower, capitalising on the tall grasses and ruined trains as cover.

That Prophet can pick up and use Ceph weaponry in Crysis 3 is amazing. The weapons cause Prophet’s HUD to take on a blue colour, and are incredibly powerful. A handful of shots are enough to take out NAX’s missile systems, but also leaves the weapon’s battery critically low.

Crysis 2 had been somewhat underwhelming when it came to graphics, but Crysis 3 takes things through the top. With known specs, I designed my new machine in 2013 to be able to handle Crysis 3 on high settings at 1080p, running at 60 FPS. On the whole, the game was a very smooth experience and there were only some scenes that caused the frame rate to drop to 45 FPS.

The hanger housing derelict trains is yet another fine example of how complex the lighting can be in Crysis 3 can be: the environment must be fairly dusty if light rays are visible. Here, I’m using the Mk.60 Mod 0 LMG; its high damage and rate of fire makes it quite effective against the Ceph, but it’s hampered by its reload time and low reserve capacity, which means that I discard the weapon once the Typhoon became available.

Even on “merely” high settings, Crysis 3 looks absolutely amazing, besting out most of the games in my library for the title of “Best looking game”. However, Crysis 3 also excels at storytelling in comparison to its predecessor, and here, I’m keeping two eyes out for feral Ceph stalkers, which continue to roam without the Alpha Ceph guiding it.

The L-TAG from Crysis 2 also makes a return, although I never really got too much use out of it: its 60mm grenades are quite heavy and fly in an arc, and ammunition for it is uncommon, limiting its usefulness even against tougher enemies.

The mission to destroy the CELL dam was quite memorable: skyscrapers and streets are buried under 30 meters of water, and on the dam’s other side, the bare foundations of damaged buildings are exposed, creating a surreal environment. I’m guessing that the Nanodome suppresses cold air and wind, otherwise, the pressure on the exposed foundation would have caused some of the buildings to collapse long ago.

While I predominantly play cloak and close-quarters, there were some cases where I merely wished to try the different weapons out, and here, made use of the DSG-1 precision rifle to pick off distance CELL soldiers. While the weapon can be suppressed and equipped with a variety of scopes, the default setup is the most optimal for the weapon’s role as a long-range weapon.

This whole scene is quite surreal, illustrating the extent that New York’s decayed since the events of Crysis 2. The Typhoon submachine gun can be found in the dam: chambered for 720 specially-shaped pellets, the weapon is absolutely lethal at close quarters and is said to be able to drop even Ceph dropships owing to its rate of fire. Its overwhelming firing rate makes it an excellent weapon to have, and ammunition for it is surprisingly common.

After entering the bowels of the facility regulating the Alpha Ceph, Prophet proceeds to destroy the subsystems in the hopes of crippling the CELL system and killing the Alpha Ceph once and for all. However, the plan backfires, as the Alpha Ceph merely becomes awakened and proceeds to coordinate all of the dormant Ceph in the area for a devastating counterattack.

After this point, the Ceph become common enemies, and consequently, it’s time to put the Nanosuit upgrades to good use. I decided to improve my regeneration, obtained the sensor upgrade (which makes hacking a lot easier), added deflection and improved my stealth module. I play with a combination of approaches, utilising both stealth and firepower depending on the environment, hence my choice to upgrade a variety of modes.

Because the Predator Bow costs zero energy when fired while the Nanosuit is in cloak mode, it is the perfect choice of stealth weapon: in fact, players going for stealthy tactics can make extensive use of the bow and recover the impact arrows off downed enemies. Special bolts (the explosive, airburst and electric bolts can only be resupplied at special containers, and those are relatively rare). Here, Prophet makes his way through Chinatown.

The Scorchers wreck havoc with CELL soldiers to the extent where one might feel sorry for CELL: these bug-like machines can be hacked to temporarily stop them, and they drop the Incinerator, a powerful plasma thrower. While killing them conventionally causes them to explode, they can be stunned using electric arrows or by a well-place melee attack in the right spot. The Incinerator is fun to use against Ceph: the weapon produces temperatures matching those in a nuclear fireball and causes the Ceph to explode, but is balanced by a short range.

There’s a dormant Ceph pinger that can be hacked for use against other Ceph forces, creating a convenient distraction that would allow Prophet to get to the next location. Ceph weapons become increasingly common, although the most common Ceph weapon, the Pinch Rifle, deals roughly the same damage as the SCAR and is less versatile.

In general, I tend not to use the Pinch Rifle or Reaper cannon from destroyed Ceph units, as the human weapons seem more versatile and adaptive, but for situations where destruction is on the recipe of things needed to complete the mission, the X-PAC mortar and Bolt Sniper are fantastic weapons.

The Grendel makes a return: it’s a burst fire weapon similar to Halo 2‘s Battle Rifle, and can be customised with a variety of optics barrels and under-barrel attachments. Because all of my special ammo is reserved for the Typhoon, which I’ve decided to carry throughout the entire game, I usually go with the bayonet for the Grendel and grenade launcher for the SCAR.

The Resistance is unable to prevent CELL from firing the Archangel orbital weapons platform, although at less than five percent charge, the shot is enough to destroy the remnants of New York. As the game progresses, the environments become increasingly sinister, and this is captured by all of the lighting effects.

The fifth mission is characterised by wide, open expanses that necessitate vehicles to traverse, and while a high speed buggy is available, I prefer the superior firepower that the APC offers. This is the closest to a tank that is in Crysis 3 and although not quite as fun as Crysis‘ Onslaught mission, still provided a fantastic opportunity to use the APC’s cannon to wreck the Ceph Devastator, a massive Ceph that resembles Halo‘s Hunters.

The Gauss Sabot Rifle is the superior long-ranged weapon compared to the Precision Rifle, taking out any enemy in a single shot (Devastators require two to three well-placed shots), although ammunition is quite rare for it, and one can only hold onto one spare magazine. As a weapon requiring special ammunition, it’s not a good idea to pair it with the Typhoon.

The penultimate mission is set in a water-covered wasteland with the remains of skyscrapers dotting the landscape. New York is barely recognisable now, and there’s a despondent feel in the air, reflecting on Claire’s death as Prophet is tasked with destroying the Ceph anti-air batteries.

There is a lot of open space in this mission, and overall, compared to Crysis 2, Crysis 3 returns to the open-world layout of Crysis, with a few linear spots every so often to set the stage for some spectacular-looking set pieces.

It turns out the Gauss Sabot Rifle is powerful enough to destroy an active Pinger with a full magazine’s worth of shots, although Prophet is also able to tag them and allow an immobilised but otherwise fully functional APC to destroy them.

The abundance of Ceph in the penultimate mission makes it possible to continuously use Ceph weapons as primary weapons while carrying the Gauss Sabot Rifle and the Typhoon. Here, I make use of the Incinerator to roast another Ceph solider. There are several side missions that can be undertaken here, and I decided to do them just for exploration’s sake.

At the crashed VTOL, I find an FY-71M, a previous-generation assault rifle seen on the Lingshan Islands that was used widely by the KPA. While technically a decent weapon, its specifications are otherwise inferior to the weapons available at this point, so there’s little point in holding on to it.

The Ceph Mastermind is the second last boss of Crysis 3, and spawns minions from the parts of destroyed Ceph. The best way to defeat this monstrosity is to grab a Ceph battery to super-charge Prophet’s Nanosuit, and hammer it with the X-PAC until it grabs Prophet, during which Prophet can use the Mastermind’s own energy attack against it. I eventually got to the third phase of the boss fight, and was armed with nothing more than the SCAR (I exhausted the Typhoon), but managed to beat it.

The last mission is set in a vast underground cavern filled with Ceph, and although Prophet is only armed with a pistol and the Predator bow, a good bit of stealth and precision shooting will allow Prophet to access the more powerful weapons. After interfacing with the Ceph terminals, the Nanosuit becomes supercharged, so in conjunction with the X-PAC, Prophet becomes a death machine.

Here, I find the X-43 MIKE, a microwave-based directed-energy weapon that will boil the Ceph alive from inside their armour, eventually causing them to explode in a shower of alien liquids. Because the Crysis 3 incarnation of the MIKE is reloadable and uses special ammunition, it makes a great weapon to have in conjunction with the Typhoon.

With the X-PAC, Ceph Batteries to provide supercharge, the MIKE and Typhoon, the Alpha Ceph becomes a boss that isn’t too difficult to best. Once the vulnerable spots are tagged and destroyed, the Alpha Ceph temporarily retreats and sends regular Ceph units to fight Prophet: these can be defeated with the Typhoon (and the Devastators can be wasted using the MIKE). The process is repeated until all three of the claws are destroyed, after which Prophet will finish off the Alpha Ceph with Crysis 3‘s signature weapon.

Destroying the Alpha Ceph does not stop the True Ceph from moving through the wormhole, but now empowered to hack into Archangel, Prophet turns the CELL super weapon into an instrument for saving Humanity. Because the True Ceph warship appears to resist a blast capable of incinerating a planet for a brief moment, this moment might hint at just how advanced the True Ceph are. However, the blast eventually destroys the warship and closes off the wormhole.

With a more cohesive story and superior, tactile gameplay compared to all previous installations, Crysis 3 represents the series at its most evolved stage. Each level accommodates for stealthy and aggressive play-styles: the inclusion of the predator bow and hacking means that one can adopt a truly silent approach to every situation, making use of the environment to move from place to place to complete goals. If one should choose an approach befitting of Rambo, this is also possible, as one can customise their Nanosuit to take more damage and improve firearm handling. The incredibly powerful Ceph weapons are now usable, and the presence of Ceph batteries scattered around the maps mean that Prophet has a chance to stand toe-to-toe with even the toughest of Ceph enemies. In particular, the boss fights were absolutely thrilling: at no point did I ever feel that I was ill-equipped to take on the bosses, making use of the environment and weapons to unleash destruction against the enemy. Crysis 3 also does a phenomenal job of portraying the Ceph, giving their true form as entities beyond human comprehension; it turns out that the forces that have been going to down on humanity are their equivalent of Homo Erectus, merely serving as guardians to a world that humans have since damaged. Beyond messages of what it means to be human, Crysis 3 also suggests that humanity should generally be more cautious about how we treat the Earth. All in all, Crysis 3 is perhaps the strongest installment in the franchise, taking back its title as one of the best-looking games of 2013 and also demonstrating that it’s possible to construct a reasonably compelling narrative in a game that might otherwise be seen purely as a technology demonstration.

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Crisis 3- A First Look

Leave a comment Posted by infinitezenith on October 10, 2015

“I saw a glimpse of what’s coming and there was nothing left of me to stop it. When the greatest combat machine fails…what do we do then? What do I do?!”—Prophet

Back in September, a chance sale saw Crysis 3 go on sale for ten dollars, and while this wasn’t quite as good as the Crysis 2 sale two years ago, I decided that it was high time to see if my my aging enthusiast rig could handle Crysis 3. Thus, after a glorious Thanksgiving dinner, I played my way through the first mission of Crysis 3. The settings are capped at high, and I’m averaging around 40-50 FPS on high settings, so my powerful PC is indeed capable of playing the game smoothly, sufficiently for me to sneak around with the Predator Bow and perform awesome ranged stealth kills on CELL soldiers. Set twenty-four years after Crysis 2, Crysis 3 follows Prophet as he’s being transferred to a CELL skinning facility such that the Ceph genetic data in his nanosuit can be recovered. However, he’s saved by a resistance force, which Psycho is a part of. In the twenty-four years, CELL developed a free energy source and used this to enslave those who could not pay for it. Over this time period, they’ve constricted a Nanodome over the remains of New York, and one mission in, it’s almost time to enter the Nanodome after fighting through the CELL holding area.

Screenshots and Commentary

An average FPS of 40-50 is more than acceptable, so thus begins my journey into a title that was released two-and-a-half years ago. By a curious turn of fate, two years ago, when I picked up Crysis 2, it also happened to be Thanksgiving, and I had taken a long stroll outside in the parks surrounding my area.

The Hammer pistol is the first weapon Prophet picks up: despite being a mere sidearm, it is not to be underestimated, as each shot hits quite hard. In the twenty-four years that have passed since Crysis 2, Alcatraz has become Prophet. The story in Crysis since the original has been somewhat crazy, but I’m here for the awesome graphics and weapons.

With that being said, Psycho is kind enough to explain what’s changed during the time skip, detailing how the CELL came to power. Like Crysis 2, the first automatic weapon I found was a SCARAB. Relatively weak compared to my preferred weapon, the SCAR, it’s nonetheless a good weapon for stealth when the suppressor is installed.

While Prophet is not initially receptive of the Predator Bow, it’s quickly become my favourite weapon in the first 40 minutes I’ve played. Incredibly powerful and adaptable, it’s the ultimate asset for stealthy gameplay.

Two years ago, I played through Crysis 2 and reminisced about Summer 2011, when I went to New York. At present day, I’m playing through Crysis 3 and reminiscing about Thanksgiving 2013, when I played Crysis 2. I’ve come to greatly enjoy the Thanksgiving long weekend: the weather was pleasant, so I went for a hike in the nearby park and took in the golden leaves on the aspen groves.

This year’s dinner consisted of a succulent herb-garnished turkey that was juicy on account of a new cooking technique, stuffing seasoned with parsley, shrimp cocktail, honey glazed asparagus and baby carrots, and a three-cheese baked potato. Besides Thanksgiving dinner itself, the leftover turkey has numerous uses: we usually make turkey congee for lunch on Thanksgiving Day itself and eat the meat straight off the bones. It’s absolutely delicious.

About halfway through this part, I ran out of energy for my cloak, alerting a group of CELL soldiers to my presence. A chain gun-equipped scout helicopter began assaulting my position, as well, and I was lacking anti-air munitions. My solution? Swap over to the explosive bolts on the Predator Bow, and two well-placed shots later, the helicopter was no longer a problem.

The SCAR was my favourite weapon in Crysis 2: it had a reasonable rate of fire, dealt good damage and ammunition to it was quite common. It could equip the reflex sight and assault scope, making it effective at medium to long ranges. Like Crysis 2, the weapons in Crysis 3 handle very well and feel powerful.

Crysis 3 is a comparatively short shooter, with only seven missions in total. Each mission does seem to last anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour if stealth is employed (or if one is dying to swarms of enemies). However, if we treat Crysis 3 as a movie, then from a value perspective, the title is worth ten dollars.

I’ve found an ACOG SCAR, meaning I get to add the assault scope to my collection of attachments for the SCAR. One of the best features throughout the entire Crysis franchise is the ability to change up weapon attachments on the fly and adapt to any situation one might encounter.

Crisis 3 feels significantly smoother than Crysis 2 with respect to combat and movement, even though the technical requirements are much steeper, attesting to some of the improvements. Beyond this, having the Predator Bow and its ranged stealth capabilities add a new dimension to being stealthy. From a graphics perspective, Crysis 3 looks fantastic: environments are photorealistic, and it seems the game uses particle systems much more liberally to create incredibly detailed weather effects. Even on merely “high” settings, the improvements over Crysis 2 are noticeable. I’m most excited to see the Liberty Dome’s interior for myself, but for the present, a coincidence meant that the Star Wars Battlefront open beta was running concurrently with the Thanksgiving long weekend, so I’m going to try and get some screenshots of the gameplay with my newly unlocked blasters, and hopefully have an opportunity to play as Darth Vader, before the open beta ends. Once the beta ends, I’ll finish Call of Duty: Black Ops and then continue on with Crysis 3.

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Crysis Warhead: A Reflection

Leave a comment Posted by infinitezenith on January 28, 2015

“There are some rules that I do follow.” —Psycho

It’s been two months since the Steam Adventure sale, and as per the title, this is a talk about Crysis Warhead. I’m still playing my way through Go! Go! Nippon! ~My First Trip to Japan~ (I’m about halfway through one storyline), but Crysis Warhead is completed now. Set in conjunction with the events of Crysis, Crysis Warhead is seen through Sergeant Michael “Psycho” Sykes’ eyes. After the harbour airstrike in the original Crysis, Pyscho is assigned with tracking down a KPA container, which JSOC suspects is carrying a nuclear warhead (lending its name to the game’s title). In pursuit of the container, Psycho learns that rather than a nuclear warhead, the container houses an alien war machine. Fighting through Ceph and North Koreans alike, Psycho eventually reaches an airfield and secures the container. Despite being a shorter game than Crysis, Crysis Warhead makes a more substantial effort towards giving Psycho depth and humanity, improves the way combat sequences are handled and implements new weapons and vehicles for the player to utilise.

Crysis Warhead dates back from September 2008, but the graphics nonetheless look amazing even relative to the graphics of some modern day titles, especially with respect to lighting and water effects. Modern games tend to have higher resolution textures, and it is here where the original Crysis begins to show its age. The age old query “will it run Crysis” no longer seems to apply: in the short space of a few years, GPUs have caught up.

Playing as Psycho adds a great deal of character to Crysis Warhead: whereas Nomad was depicted as a soldier who simply followed orders to get the job done, Psycho is more hot-headed and tends to follow his emotions. One of the earlier missions Psycho undertakes to is to secure O’Neil, a crashed F-35 pilot, and bring him to safety, against his commander’s orders to secure a container the North Koreans hold.

There’s no other word to describe the new Armoured Security Vehicles and their awesome weapons: the mini-gun version is great against infantry, but the anti-vehicle MG version excels in all roles: helicopters, jeeps and other ASVs are destroyed in seconds, and the explosive rounds can decimate infantry as quickly as the mini-gun in spite of a lower rate of fire. There are mounted versions of the anti-vehicle MG, and care must be taken not to get hit, since the rounds that work so well against the North Koreans will wreck even a Nanosuit fairly quickly.

The DSG-1 makes a welcome return in the second mission, Shore Leave, and before the Gauss Rifle becomes available, is the weapon of choice for long range engagements. It’s got a higher magazine capacity but deals lower damage compared to the Gauss Rifle, but the wide, open spaces in this mission make it an asset to use. Once it is found, Psycho also gains access to the sniper scope, which turns the SCAR into a long-range wrecking machine if used properly.

The submarine holds the container that Psycho’s superiors consider mission critical, but upon closing in on it, he discover that it is holding a Ceph scout, rather than a nuclear warhead as originally expected. While the mission adds a degree of urgency to things through dialogue, there’s not too much of a rush, and players can casually clear out the KPA forces before reaching the submarine. Psycho is captured by the KPA forces on the submarine, but before anything too crazy happens, the island is suddenly flash-frozen, corresponding to the point in time where Nomad exits the Ceph structure.

There’s a thrilling hovercraft chase that brings to mind the cinematics and atmospherics from Die Another Day. One of the modifications Crysis Warhead makes is that the Gauss Rifle deals less damage against the aliens than they did before. Notice that I’ve got the EMP grenades equipped here: while the game notes they’re excellent against Nanosuit soldiers, they can also be used to freeze swarms of alien troopers.

For one reason or another, this alien hunter lacks the shields that the hunter of Crysis had. For gameplay reasons, this makes sense, but as far as the story goes, this fight is chronologically before Helena Rosenthal discovers the Nanosuit can be used to disable the shields. I’ve got a grenade launcher here, and while it’s a fun weapon to use, it only makes appearances sparingly.

The USS Maine is seen in the distance: unlike the USS Constitution, it was patrolling Lingshan island and thus, was caught in the blast. It’s never mentioned in the original Crysis but is assumed to be of the same class as the USS Constitution. Again, the visual elements are impressive: while attempting to find a way into the carrier, there’s a massive wave of water that was clearly frozen quickly.

The tight spaces inside the carrier, coupled with the presence of Nanosuit soldiers, makes combat more high-paced. Care must be taken to ensure that one does not succumb to the power of their own EMP grenades. At several points during the mission, radio chatter from Prophet can be heard.

The icing effects make the optics (even the RDS) quite difficult to use, so for a large portion of these missions, I stuck with the weapon’s iron sights for maximum visibility. Here, I’ll point out the colour differences in the HUDs: by default, Nomad’s HUD in Crysis is green and can be set to the same red colour that Pyscho’s HUD is. The only difference between the HUDs is that Psycho’s has the additional text “Sykes Mod” to differentiate it from Nomad’s HUD.

Coupled with better combat sequences, the new weapons and vehicles make Crysis Warhead stand out above Crysis. The inclusion of the AY69 dual-wieldable machine pistols gives the player increased reserve firepower at close range. Here was a weapon that could reliable down KPA soldiers and Seph troopers if one had ever run out ammunition for their primary and secondary weapons. The FGL-40 is another new man-portable grenade launcher that can destroy light vehicles quickly but has a short range. EMP grenades allow Ceph and Nanosuit soldiers to be suppressed, buying the player some breathing room. The other new weapon is the Plasma Accumulator Cannon, the PAX, which is used in the game’s climatic battle to destroy an alien armada. New vehicles include the Armoured Security Vehicle (ASV), which is resistant to small arms fire and equipped with either the AHMG-138 mini gun or the 20 mm auto-cannon; the former is exceptionally efficient at decimating foot mobiles, and as an anti-vehicle weapon, the latter will wreck anything it hits in a few shots. These weapons can be found as stationary emplacements, and in the sixth mission, there are a large number of these mounted on the train Pyscho is tailing: this turns the mission into quite literally, a rail-shooter, and the overwhelming power conferred by these weapons provided a vast amount of amusement. The new weapons made each battle entertaining, and despite being the same game as the original Crysis (from a gameplay and graphics perspective), Crysis Warhead does manage to stand out from its predecessor as a title that is worth playing.

This fight against an onslaught of aliens took forever to finish, and I found myself making use of the AY69 to defeat the troopers at close range. I also was able to find another FGL-40 lying around, and used it to clear out clusters of alien troopers. The Gauss Rifle’s limitations were quite apparent here, as it took numerous shots to shoot down the scouts, and after several deaths, I finally succeeded in clearing this part.

Curiously enough, there’s actually been very little need to make use of the rocket launcher against enemy vehicles in Crysis Warhead thus far in the game, since the anti-vehicle MG on the ASV do an excellent job already. Instead, since I’d been running with a fully-stocked rocket launcher the entire time, I decided to speed up the last bits of the mission and used it to destroy the scouts. There are orange scouts that can be shot down more easily, but have homing projectiles that explode on contact.

Inside the mine, temperatures are apparently warm enough for the frost to melt off the weapons, making it a fine time to re-attach one’s preferred sights to their weapons. I typically roll with the holographic sight on the SCAR, and generally attach the laser sights to weapons that are hip-fired. Apparently, this mining complex and the mine tunnels is not the same mine as the one from Crysis: several geological features suggest that this mine is a few kilometers from the mine of the original Crysis.

Back in November, the extremely cold weather meant that mice were getting into the house: I had been working on a paper and something moved in my peripheral vision. It turned out to be a mouse, and after an afternoon of trying to continue with the paper, I gave up and decided to catch the mouse myself. I laid out a plastic bag and some gloves, and as luck would have it, the mouse wandered into said plastic bag, allowing me to capture it. The Nanosuit would allow one to catch rats fairly quickly; it’s possible to pick up the rats scurrying about here.

In the penultimate mission, From Hell’s Heart, the goal is to follow the container, and the heavy weapons emplacements on the train plainly broadcast to players that it’d be a good idea to make use of these weapons. Thus begins what is a relatively linear, but immensely enjoyable section of the game as Psycho makes use of these mounted weapons to devastate everything that moves: even helicopters don’t stand a chance.

This is the container that is referred to in all of the missions: after some four hours of gameplay, the container is finally secure and ready to be pulled out by VTOL. My choice of weapons for this final part of the game are simple enough: the SCAR and Gauss Rifle are more than enough for long range combat, while the AY69 will excel in close quarters. On my first playthrough of Crysis Warhead, I held onto the same SCAR the entire way through. Unlike Crysis, Ammunition for it is plentiful, and even if it wasn’t, I use the SCAR in semi-automatic mode unless squaring off against the aliens.

My memory’s a little rusty, but I definitely remember using an APC during Awakening of Crysis; apparently, they are only accessible in some cases, and will normally be occupied by KPA forces. Armed with an auto-cannon and a missile launcher, this vehicle is an immensely useful asset when taking on the other APCs on the airfield: the missiles will make short work of them, and the autocannon can devastate everything else. There is a single KPA soldier on the tower armed with a Gauss Rifle, and left unchecked, he can finish Psycho off in a single shot.

The weather undergoes a dramatic transformation, setting the stage for the final boss fight. My first experience with this level brought to mind a YouTube playthrough of it that was posted during 2008: the uploader had a GeForce 8800 GT, and to give an idea of how far video cards have come, my GPU has around 4.8 times the overall performance compared to it. Once the weather shifts, it’s time to go back down to ground level and retrieve the PAX.

The PAX is located in a crashed C-18 down the runway. Psycho will come under fire from the aliens, and although it is possible to use the AAA guns to destroy them, the aliens can also damage the AAAs fairly quickly, which results in instant death. A combination of quickly using the AAA’s missiles to destroy the alien scouts, and the Gauss rifle for the troopers will buy enough time and space for Psycho to reach the aircraft.

The PAX (Plasma Accumulator Cannon) is the single most powerful weapon in the game and will destroy the Red Hunter in around eleven shots. It’s the preferred way of taking down the Red Hunter, and despite a slow recharge time, its unlimited ammunition and high damage make it hugely useful here. One must be careful not to discharge it in close range for obvious reasons, and after the Red Hunter is defeated, the closing cutscenes for the game play, ending this short but immensely entertaining installment in the Crysis franchise.

At the end of the day, the discount price on Crysis Warhead meant that picking it up was a no-brainer; I enjoyed a shorter shooter that felt more polished and focused than the original Crysis, and with Crysis Warhead now complete, the only Crysis title I haven’t played is the third one. If sources are to be believed, its campaign is just a little longer than that of Crysis Warhead’s. The inclusion of a compound bow and usable Ceph weapons are some of the reasons I’m considering Crysis 3, but the hardware requirements are quite steep, meaning that my current rig will probably be best suited to running the game on high settings rather than ultra. If I am to pick up Crysis 3, it’ll probably be a ways into the future once I resolve my current backlog of games: I’ve only to beat Tomb Raider: Underworld and Alan Wake: American Nightmare before I am finished with my old backlog. I’ll probably take a break from Battlefield 3 over the next few months to at least complete Tomb Raider: Underworld before moving onto Valkyria Chronicles, which is said to have upwards of 30 hours of campaign time and will likely be as entertaining as Deus Ex: Human Revolutions.

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Crysis 2- Final Impressions

Leave a comment Posted by infinitezenith on December 15, 2013

After two months of purchasing Crysis 2, I’ve finally beaten it. The second half sees Alcatraz defending Grand Central Station from the swarms of Ceph forces and Times Square from the same to buy civilians enough time to evacuate. Upon finishing this task, Alcatraz is sent to infiltrate the complex on Roosevelt Island, where Hargreave is located, and takes down Commander Lockhart in the process. Reaching the complex means finding Hargreave in stasis after an injury sustained at Tunguska: the subsequent conversation ends with Alcatraz receiving the final upgrades to the Nanosuit. The last goal in Crysis 2 is to destroy the Ceph spire in Central Park before the US Department of Defense launches a tactical nuclear strike on Manhattan. Once Alcatraz makes it, the game ends on the note that the Nanosuit has assimilated Prophet’s memories into Alcatraz, bringing Prophet back to life and setting in motion the events of Crysis 3, which would release in March 2013 and is so GPU demanding that my current loadout can only run the game on high settings, rather than ultra settings.

The Grendel fulfills the role of Halo 2, Halo 3 and Halo 4‘s Battle Rifle. A high-caliber battle rifle, the Grendel has semiautomatic and three-round bursts, making it useful as a marksman rifle at medium to long ranges. Lacking automatic fire, it’s less useful at closer ranges, meaning I typically will pair a shotgun with it.

There’s a Swarmer missile launcher in Grand Central Station somewhere; it is particularly useful for shutting down the Pinger that storms in later. Crysis 2 performs very nicely on my system, running at a cool 80 FPS, but the frame rate does drop sometimes when I’m inside a building.

I don’t think I have any images or mention of it, but the X-43 MIKE is a high-power experimental directed-energy weapon based around weaponized microwaves, causing the water and fat molecules in organic systems to heat rapidly to quickly take down a target. Against the Ceph, even a short exposure causes them to explode violently, making the weapon useful against Ceph Devastators. The MIKE only makes an appearance five times in the campaign and extra ammunition cannot be found for the weapon.

There are two separate phases where one will need to hold out against the Ceph. At Times Square, there is a HMG that will shred the Ceph: the Ceph are tougher to kill compared to CELL operatives, although they can be downed very quickly with stealth kills. These are surprisingly entertaining to carry out, even though there are only a few animations for the stealth kills.

A careful eye reveals that the cityscape on either side of Roosevelt Island is the same, but that doesn’t matter, since the overall effect is very pleasing. By this point in the game, I had enough Nano catalyst to unlock all of the stealth upgrades and had an incredible time sneaking around the complex, dispatching CELL soldiers with stealth kills or silenced headshots from a silenced SCARAB (which I had discarded earlier for the SCAR).

Commander Lockhart is protected by a force field of some sort, and wields one of the few Gauss rifles in the game. A combination of stealth and use of cover allows for the distance to be closed, and any opposition to be silenced. From there, defeating Lockhart proves to be straightforward enough: it’s not a true boss battle, but a cutscene, since Lockhart is an ordinary man with a Gauss rifle and probably would result in a disappointing fight.

The interior of Hargreaves’ complex is very ornate and in fact, brings to mind Drake’s castle from 007 Nightfire (the console version). Previous iterations of the Nanosuit can be seen in the glass cases, and soon after Alcatraz meets Hargreaves’ true form, Ceph break in. It is advisable to have a good close-quarters weapon at this stage to make the fight easier.

After Hargreaves announces his intentions, he orders the CELL to assist Alcatraz along with the self-destruction of his facility. The ensuing explosion wrecks the Queensboro Bridge while Alactraz is running across it, providing a harrowing few moments. As powerful as the Nanosuit is, Alacatraz is taken off the bridge by a falling vehicle, but is found by Gould and Strickland.

En route to the floating remains of Central Park, the player is given a rail-shooting assignment. Even though Ceph soldiers and Devastators stand between Alcatraz and the destination, the tank’s main weapon is very effective, while the missile launchers make things a little too easy. For one reason or another, I love rail shooters, as they allow me to focus entirely on shooting while someone else focuses on driving.

The final “bosses” in Crysis 2 is an entire army of Ceph (they defeated by a bit of patience and stealth), and four Ceph Guardians. The Guardians can cloak and have the highest durability of any Ceph in game: when I first encountered them, all I had was the K-Volt. I managed to defeat all of them by emptying entire magazines into them at near-point blank range and drawing each one out individually for a stealth kill. Once they are beaten, crawling into the Ceph spire will effectively end the game; beyond this point, the Nanosuit takes care of everything else, and thus ends a thrilling ten-hour journey through New York.

As an eight-dollar deal on Steam, Crysis 2 was something that I was considering when it went on discount back in October. Upon beating the campaign, I was very satisfied with the solid, tactile feeling from the gameplay. The Nanosuit, despite feeling less powerful compared to its Crysis iteration, allowed me to play through sections of the campaign as I preferred. Collecting nano catalyst from downed Ceph and upgrading my suit to fit my preferences was a very nice touch, giving me superior armour. By the time I reached Roosevelt Island, I had defeated enough Ceph to fully upgrade both my armour and stealth ratings. I took a liking to using silenced weapons to place headshots on distant soldiers without my cloak dropping: this is something I couldn’t do back in Crysis. I also cannot stress enough how enjoyable it was to have the ability to grab onto ledges and perform power-slides. These elements add variety to the gameplay, and though Crysis 2 may be less open than its predecessor, it captures the feeling of an urban jungle very nicely. The story aspect is, while a little inconsistent or inconceivable in some places, nonetheless entertaining enough to stand on its own. As a shooter, the gunplay is solid and the weapons feel powerful, again, being customisable to one’s preference. Overall, limitations in its graphics and story aren’t enough to take away from what is a fitting entry in the Crysis series. Of course, the fact that I netted this for eight dollars means that a part of my enjoyment did indeed come from that Steam Sale.