Crysis 3 PS3 Review

Publisher: EA  Developer: Crytek  Genre: FPS, Stealth  Players: 1-12  Age Rating: 16+

Other console/handheld formats: Xbox 360

The games that empower you are often some of the most fun ones. Crytek’s Crysis series is certainly a series that gives you the empowerment that many crave for in their action games. With the central character wearing a suit that gives him certain advantages over his enemies, all the Crysis games give you the feeling that you are something truly special in its universe.

In what happens to be a somewhat overcomplicated plot, Crysis 3 is set 20 years after the events of the second game in the series. There’s something about Prophet’s (a character featured in the original game) personality merging with Alcatraz’s (Crysis 2’s lead) body and memories through the Nanosuit. As nonsensical it is at times, the story is fine for what it is, although the greater aspect of it that I enjoyed was the interaction between the two characters of Prophet and secondary character Michael “Psycho” Sykes. Prophet is trying his best to hold onto his humanity, while Psycho, having been tortured and ripped out of his Nanosuit, is struggling to face that he’s a normal person once again. Being Crysis, aliens and the CELL Corporation are the bad guys.

As a game, Crysis 3 hasn’t really changed all that much from the second game in the series. The Nanosuit still gives you a great feeling of power with abilities that includes everything from cloaking yourself to play the game in a stealthy conduct to turning on your armour to fight it out like a tank.

The Nanosuit has seen some enhancement though, with an upgraded visor. This allows you to hack devices through a mini-game, which has you pressing a button when a triangle moves into a particular section on the screen. Obviously, you’ll be opening secured doors by these means, although you can also make use of the hacking ability to turn turrets on enemies and so on. A small change then, but a welcome one nevertheless.

When it comes to your arsenal of weapons, the most significant addition is the Predator Bow. This is the only weapon in the game that allows you to use it when you have the cloak ability turned on, which means it’s a very handy piece of stealthy kit. Like all the weapons, you are able to press a button to quickly swap rounds without ever having to leave the game. There are electrified arrows that can be fired into water, and we all know that water and electricity don’t mix positively when living things are nearby, and explosive arrows which obviously make a lot more noise. It could be said that the Predator Bow makes much of the rest of the weaponry redundant, although, being that it’s so much fun to use and Crysis is a series known for its player choice, this is an issue that could be ignored, although to many the game could prove to be all too easy with easily exploited AI.

Those who have desired the return of the more open levels of the original game will once again be disappointed with this second sequel. True, you are still given choice as to how to play the thing and to make use of the suit, although, bar the odd vehicle that you can come across to sit yourself in the driving seat of, the levels themselves really aren’t all that open. As for the driving portions themselves, well, they feel pretty clunky if the truth was to be known.

After the lengthy campaign of the second game in the series, Crysis 3 took me under five hours to get from the start to the finish of the campaign. It’s good, then, that the campaign is a good one while it lasts, although a few more hours playtime certainly wouldn’t have gone amiss.

Visually, Crysis 3 is outstanding. This devastated New York and its urban forest is a true treat for the eyeballs, although the frame rate does tend to falter from time to time; perhaps pushing ancient hardware slightly too far.

When it comes to the multiplayer, Crysis 3 plays a really strong game. There are a number of modes (Deathmatches, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill variations amongst them), and the Nanosuit does make multiplayer feel slightly different from the many others on the market. The brand new and excellent Hunter mode has two teams going head-to-head, with one team being comprised of CELL soldiers and the other team being made up of a couple of always-cloaked and Predator Bow-wielding opponents. It’s a very tense mode, particularly if you’re one of the CELL operatives, with a sound indicator often being the only manner in which to let you know that a nearly invisible opponent is close by. If you are killed as a CELL operative, you’ll respawn as one of the hunters, and thus, while the CELL operatives thin in number, the hunters increase in number through their own success. The Hunter mode definitely proves to be one of the highlights of the package.

Crysis 3 is a visually stunning and exciting shooter/stealth game. It doesn’t do much more than what Crysis 2 already did and shares many of the same flaws as that game as well as introducting some of its own, although it’s still a very playable game. In terms of multiplayer, Crysis 3 also offers plenty of entertainment and feels relatively distinct. All in all then, this is one game that is well worth a look.

7/10