NOTE: This was conducted with the PS3 version of the game for Video Review purposes. My recording software for PC is too frame rate costly.
Many people were torn with Crysis 2 was released. You had the PC players on one side complaining about it being dumbed down for consoles and you the others who just did not mind. Or if you were like me, you had played all of the Crysis games and still loved the second installment! I absolutely LOVED its single player. It was well told, atmospheric, and painted a brilliant picture of an abandoned New York. You really got the feeling that something was wrong when this once crowded city was suddenly empty.
Well, we are back in the Big Apple once again but in a much different style. It has been completely taken over by forestation. It has only been twenty years and yet the rapid growth of vegetation is substantial. Normally this would probably take close to a century? Maybe?
Anywho, you are the suitable bad ass Prophet. Wait, what? After what happened in Crysis 2, why are we him again? What happened to Alcatraz? I was struck with this potential massive derp in writing, but thankfully it is explained and makes perfect sense once you hear it. Crysis 3's story holds a key idea at its core; and that is the idea of being more creature than a man, or retaining that humanity while facing becoming something totally different.
It all makes you feel that maybe the thought of having the Nano Suit is not such a good idea after all.
NYC is now covered in this massive Dome like cover that is built to keep things in and from anything getting in. Even on the consoles Crysis 3 is beautiful! The draw distance is great and the level of detail is fine enough to make any avid gamer stop and observe. It does suffer from lower res textures and a slower frame rate, but it certainly has eye candy oozing from its core. I really want to get this on my PC to see how it really stands out, but you know...
I still like how the cutscenes play out like your field of view it higher. It makes them feel different and more enjoyable to watch.
Right off the bat you get your awesome new Bow. It takes zero time to master and makes stalking your prey while cloaked all the more enjoyable. Even switching your arrow tips from standard, to Thermite, Electric, Air Burst Grenades all make you feel near unstoppable. However, on the more easy difficulties it seems like the game will be a total cakewalk. That is what Harder difficulties are for! HELLO GAMESPOT!
The environments all feel more open than Crysis 2. Not as big as the first game, but for sure bigger. Your strategy can change up every time that you play through the game; giving you freedom unlike anything before.
From what other reviewers are telling me, the game is going to be pretty short. The shortest game in the series to be correct. Which is a crying shame since the length of Crysis 2 was so well executed along with its counterparts. I really hope it does not leave me feeling unsatisfied due to its short time span and cramming a conclusive narrative into that time period. I mean of the last two franchises that were meant to end that story. They both had longer and well done campaigns! Why did that go back on that with this game? I absolutely hate it when developers try and condense story into a short 5 hour campaign.
It did work in games like Spec Ops and MoH 2010. But for a game like Crysis, it has me on the fence.
Lets hope it blows that out of the water!
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[i]"NOTE: This was conducted with the PS3 version of the game for Video Review purposes."[/i] Pfft.