System Requirements
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz for Vista), Intel Core 2.0 GHz (2.2 GHz for Vista), AMD Athlon 2800+ (3200+ for Vista) or better
RAM: 1GB (1.5GB on Windows Vista)
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT, ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Radeon X800 Pro for Vista) or better with 256MB or more of Graphics Memory
Storage: 12GB
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c Compatible
Optical Disk Drive: DVD-ROM
OS: Microsoft Windows XP or Vista
DirectX: DX9.0c or DX10 Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4

On an island filled with a hostile army and infested with unknown aliens, you need to adapt, engage, and survive with the help of your nanosuit. In this game, you play Nomad, a Special Forces officer equipped with a nanosuit that grants you enhanced armor, strength, speed, or the ability to cloak. Your main objective is to rescue U.S. nationalists that have been taken hostage. The nationalists taken were archeologists; your secondary objective is to find out what they uncovered and why the Korean People’s Army (KPA) seized control of it. These are your main objectives, and you get several others throughout the game.

Crysis is not a sequel to FarCry; the storyline is completely new, so you don’t have to be familiar with FarCry to enjoy this game. The latest CryTek engine (CryEngine2) is used, but there is a price to pay: even the most powerful computers can be brought to their knees running this game at the highest settings. I have a quad core, with two 8800GTs running in SLI, and I felt my system struggle to deliver decent frames per second. As painful as this was, the game was still worth playing and upgrading for. The Head’s Up Display (HUD) is pretty similar to the one in FarCry. There’s the enemy detection meter, which alerts you when you have been seen by your opponent. Your available ammunition, grenades and health are on the lower right hand side. If you have a scroll mouse, scrolling changes your weapons and pushing in on the scroll wheel brings up your nanosuit menu.

Some missions will have you download KPA intelligence from their computers. There are frequency jammers and anti-aircraft devices that will have to be deactivated as well. To get the job done you can use any weapon or vehicle you can get your hands on. Whatever was uncovered by the archaeologists wasn’t human, and it’s not friendly either. Your squad will be picked off one by one and you\'ll have to watch out for the KPA as well as the aliens. The island is pretty big, and you can walk, drive, or fly around it. You can drive civilian vehicles as well as army jeeps and tanks. Some missions will require flying. Even though you\'re not a pilot you can find yourself in a helicopter or a carrier jet. Like you, the vehicles have hit points, so make sure you get out of it before the damage reaches 100%. For weapons, there are pistols, sniper rifles, grenades, machine guns, shot guns, chain guns, rocket launchers, and more. You can install add-ons to many of the guns. For example you can add laser pointers, sniper scopes, and silencers. There are a couple of occasions when you get to laser paint a target with your binoculars and call in for an air strike. Needless to say, there are a lot of explosions to be seen. Finding weapons is easy; ammunition on the other hand can get tight at times. If you run out, you have your fists. The soldier artificial intelligence is really smart. They will attack you from multiple fronts, and they will snipe you and communicate to others when you have been discovered. You’ll be called a variety of names when discovered. There’s a lot of foul language in this game. The alien AI isn’t that smart, but their lack of brains is made up for in brawn. The graphics are dazzling if you have a powerful enough system to enjoy the highest settings. The landscape is gorgeous and the alien stronghold is breathtaking. The character models are very lifelike and believable. The physics in this game is great, too. You’ll actually feel like you’re there when there are earthquakes and avalanches. Rocks and debris will fall everywhere, so you have to keep on your toes. When it comes to the sound effects, they are phenomenal. The weapons, explosions, and vehicles all sound realistic. The voice acting is great as well. The musical score is good too, as it adds mood without overdoing it. Perfect. This game ran pretty stable for me. My only complaint is that it often started in windowed mode and I had to do an alt+enter to fix it. There are some patches available that I applied. Multiplayer is available and there are plenty of servers online. It’s not too hard to find a populated server to join in the fray. There are two game modes. Instant Action is a deathmatch game that allows up to thirty two players. Power Struggle has you play as either the KPA or the US Special Forces. Whichever side you are on, you have to develop new weapons, retrieve alien technology and annihilate the headquarters of your opposition. In multiplayer modes, you have access to weapons not available in the single player game. These include mines, TAC launcher (nuclear warhead), nano disrupter grenade, repair torch and more. Crysis is rated M for the violence, language and gore. When you find the remains of several of your squad mates, it’s not a pleasant sight to see. When being attacked, your enemies and comrades will use expletives. Every swear word in the book is used. If you like first person shooter games, this is a title worth looking into. Just make sure you have a powerful enough system to handle it. This game is very fun and the story is good. Like many mature games, I don’t recommend playing this with young children nearby.