Released: 2007
OK, so this review is 4 years late. I don't care! In 2007 Crysis was released with hardware requirements that put the game out of reach for just about everyone. In the years to follow the game was updated to further push it out of reach of its potential fan base.
This was a good thing.
If people were able to play the game they would have discovered how awful it really way. OK, it wasn't the worst game out there by a long shot, but for a game with such a reputation, it was quite a disappointment.
The game starts off well enough. In the near future, you're a special-ops soldier with a special suit that can alter your physiology, allowing you to run faster, jump higher, or become invisible. When the story begins, you're running through the Korean jungle hunting down some missing scientists. As the story evolves, it turns out the scientists have unearthed and awakened an alien species. Let the mayhem begin.
The premise is fun, if not a little over-used. Where the game fails is its unfun difficulty. I don't play on the hardest level, but I do like a challenge. I often had to restart an area twenty or thirty times to I could practice and get it right. That actually never bothered me. I enjoyed needing to fine tune my skills, and discover new ways to approach a difficult area.
When I refer to unfun difficulty I'm talking about getting 1-shotted from behind by an invisible enemy. Not having an opportunity to defeat my enemy, let alone be aware of my enemy's existence just isn't my idea of a good time. In one part of the game, all weapons are taken away, and you have to search through a 3D maze in zero-g. All the while you are surrounded by enemies that typically ignore you. But once in a while when you're not looking, one of those enemies will suddenly take notice, and charge you from behind. You don't take damage, you just die. Game Over. Insert Quarter to Continue.
I learned that the only way to get through these parts was to save frequently, so I could start over, and hope the randomization gods would roll in my favor, and let me get another thirty seconds with out an instant, unexplained death.
Watch out for those mine fields. You allies can walk through them with out taking damage, but if you try, you'll just die. No damage. No warning that a mine killed you, just die.
In another part of the game, I had to get into an Anti-Aircraft vehicle and shoot down fast moving aliens, using sluggish controls. Of course, that AA Cannon can be 1-shotted. It took me a while, but I discovered that if I ignored the cannon, I could shoot down the aliens with conventional weapons. My allies yelled at me for 15 minutes to use the AA Cannon, but at least I didn't get any more unexplained deaths. In one experiment, I literally saved the game, jumped into the Cannon and died with in 2 seconds. I then reloaded waited a minute, jumped in the cannon, and died with in 2 seconds. I found that simply being in the cannon, I would die instantly, but taking direct fire from the aliens, I could withstand an attack.
As the game progresses, it only gets worse. The enemies get faster, the controls get slower, and the reasons for instant death become more numerous. If you're looking for a first person shooter. I suggest taking a nail gun to your leg. It's a lot more fun, and you have a greater chance at survival.
No comments:
Post a Comment