Crysis 3 does one thing extremely well. And that's hit the player over the head constantly with loads and loads of bricks saying, "Hey, hey, hey, look how graphically awesome this game, uh, looks!"
Every time, I would tell the game, "I get it!" But every time I would stop and stare.
Not a glance and move on. My eyeballs would sear with polygons, blur effects, and stunning visuals! Let me see mo-o-o-ore!
It was just a bit of let down that the action didn't quite meet that same intensity of what I was seeing on my screen. Like beer goggles but with a game.
With Crysis 3, the story and kill area to kill area set-up feels slightly rote when I could tear myself away from how good the game looks.
The fate of the Earth hangs in the balance! Old friends return! Betrayal is in the offing!
Just push me to the next area to slaughter aliens and Cell operatives, with or without the benefit of nanovision or super strength or hacked defensive guns or a cornucopia of alien hardware lobbing super-charged plasma into targets softened by the knuckles of a super soldier after leaping twenty feet into the air and power-dropping to the ground.
Crysis 3 definitely delivers on being a power fantasy.The action doesn't feel quite as "think on your feet" as Dishonored but there are always three or four options at any one time (most of the time) but more often than not I ducked in and out of cloak, and got into a typical first-person shooter groove. Hiding when the heat was on, launching an all-out offensive when the time was right, then ducking back into cloak. While not exactly "rinse and repeat" at long stretches it all started to feel samey, with the possible exclusion of the closing portions of the game where there are more vehicles involved.
It's fun, but story and moment-to-moment gameplay of Crysis 3 didn't grab me the same way the visuals did. The environments are cool to fight through and the bow, which allows the protagonist Prophet to fire while cloaked, offers some interesting sniping and ambush options, the combination still didn't hold my attention.
That said, I still played right to the end to save the planet. The closing scene offers a nice nod to the original Crysis and leaves the series a pretty wide opening to come sauntering back in a couple of years.
After being away from competitive multiplayer on PC for while, it was not easy to get back up to speed with how fast first-person shooters are in the PC environment. Crysis 3 offers some pretty darn fast multiplayer; factor in the ability to cloak and Crytek has created a recipe to push my frustration to dangerous levels. The multiplayer hits all the right notes when it comes to gaining experience points, load-out customization, a good mix of game types, etc. so there's plenty for the competitive player to enjoy.
And it looks awesome.
- Aaron Simmer
The Good:
- Looks awesome
- Always have a wide range of defensive and offensive options
- Complete single and multiplayer package
The Bad:
- The story pushing Crysis 3 didn't grab me
- Some wide open areas to explore, but there's still a sense of being pushed from one enclosed space to the next
Score: 7.5 / 10
