Last year, Crysis Remastered was released for PC and consoles, bringing with it improved visuals but also some severe bugs and performance issues. Since then, the game has patched up nicely, and was also released as part of the Crysis Remastered Trilogy which includes the first three games of the series. Let’s have a closer look at the Trilogy release that came out last month.
So Crysis is rightly heralded as one of the best shooters of the 2000s, and as far as trilogies go, it’s quite impressive, especially for a first person shooter. Now, before I get any further, let me address the elephant in the room and point out that the remastered trilogy contains the campaigns only — there is no multiplayer component here at all. Personally, I’m completely fine with that, but what “hurts” worse is the absence of Crysis Warhead (and its multiplayer component, Crysis Wars). Warhead was a standalone expansion to the original game that you can still purchase via other outlets, like EA’s Origin, but it is unfortunately not included within this Trilogy release, for whatever reason.
Ok, those two notable omissions aside, you still have quite a lot of bang for your buck here. Each game in the series will last you a typical eight to twelve hours, with higher difficulties and hidden collectibles and Trophies and such that may warrant repeat playthroughs. All three of these games have largely withstood the test of time, as well. The first game had players investigating aliens on a remote island and it gave players a lot of freedom of how to approach objectives. The second game takes the fight to New York City and sees the introduction of the shadowy but very powerful Cell Corporation who have a special interest in the aliens and their power. Being that the game is set in NYC, it’s as much of a concrete and urban jungle as the first game was a true jungle-like setting. The third game actually blends the two settings, but leans much more towards urban and industrial settings than not. In each game, we see players taking the role of a super soldier, Prophet specifically, who dons a powerful nanosuit that gives the player literal super human capabilities in order to fight off the North Koreans, Cell, and the aliens, depending on which game you’re playing. The sequels build upon the characters and story of the previous game, making this a pretty great trilogy as far as story and character development go.
Having played all three games, I actually found the first game the least enjoyable, despite its more open sandbox approach. Sometimes that extra freedom and wide open spaces can be a detractor, and for me I found the first Crysis game to be essential but not something I’m likely to replay. Crysis 2 and 3, on the other hand, are more tightly focused in terms of mission parameters and level design. I thought those two games struck a fine balance in terms of not being too open, nor too linear. The ‘game within the game’ here is notable as well, and in many ways were kind of evolutionary for the time. Destructible environments, including light sources, and a variety of hot-swappable weapon mods and of course your nanosuit powers, not to mention vehicle interactions, give players a lot of freedom to approach situations how they choose. Stealth tactics are an option, but they’re loosely defined, and they’re not a full solution. In other words, using the nanosuit for cloaking is great for that initial approach, or for losing enemies that are tracking you, but don’t expect to be able to take on a full area and do it all with stealth — the game just doesn’t play out that way as enemies tend to flip a switch from little alertness to fully aware. Still, it’s nice to see that they behave organically as far as they can lose track of you if you use your nanosuit abilities (cloak, high jump, sprint) to put some distance and objects in between you and them.
Certainly the nanosuit and its gameplay mechanics are something that set Crysis apart from most other FPS games. That really can be said for these games today as well as when they were first released in the mid 2000s. The abilities of the suit are kept in check with an Energy meter that acts as a way to set a ‘cost’ on the abilities so players can’t spam them, lest the game be too easy. Actually, on that note, I would recommend most players jump into the games on Hard, as the suit does give you quite an edge in combat, whether it be from the supernatural sprint, jump, cloak, armor, or the ability to toss (heavy) objects. Additionally, the AI, while being pretty savvy for the most part, can’t cope with someone using the suit wisely. All that to say that playing this game on a harder difficulty to start, something I don’t typically try or recommend, can make your experience more satisfying here.
When Crysis Remastered first released last year, it came out stumbling in terms of performance and just general buggy-ness, but the folks at Saber Interactive and Crytek have worked diligently to resolve those issues. To that end, I found that Crysis Remastered played much better now than it did when I first checked it out late last year. Fortunately, Crysis 2 and 3 do not suffer from these issues, and they play great right off. Anyway, with that said, what does this Remaster offer besides bringing these games to new consoles? Improved visuals with support for up to 4K and 60fps on PS5/XSX/PC, for one. Lots of other graphical touches such as lighting, shadows, and textures have all been spruced up as well. On PC and next-gen, HDR support and more realistic vegetation and water animations and details are also here. There are a lot of these under the hood and subtle changes between the Remaster and the originals, in terms of presentation especially, that can be hard to notice, but when you see the two side-by-side, it’s easy to see how far the games have come along. The moody soundtracks in each game still kick ass all these years later, too.
Crysis Remastered Trilogy is a must-have for any fan of the games or of the FPS genre in general. This release represents the best way to play three of the best shooters from the mid-2000s. The absence of Warhead and multiplayer is unfortunate, though. Still, for the price, the amount of quality content that you get here is well worth it.
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