First Impression: Crysis, you get what you pay for

Crysis is one of those games which PC suppliers look forward to. There’s one game release every year which triggers the games community to rush out and spend all of their hard earned (or for those under 18 kindly donated) cash on a brand new super computer, the likes of which non gamers (I speak of non gamers theoretically since they’re becoming increasingly hard to find) have never seen before, so that they stand around and gaze at the new beast with that unique blend of trepidation and awe which only expensive technology can evince.

The back of the Crysis box states that you need the following to run it on an XP machine (with Vista you need higher specification – these are shown beside XP’s in brackets):

Processor: 2.8 GHz (3.2 GHz)
Memory: 1.0 Gb (1.5 Gb)
Hard Disc: 12 Gb (12Gb) – my install was 6.03Gb but then I didn’t install the additional programs on the disc or the French, Czech, and Polish language packs which are ticked by default. When you install this game make sure to uncheck these.
Graphics card: NVidia GeForce 6800 GT or greater, ATI 9800 Pro or greater (Radeon X800), 258 Mb.

However, Hellgate London wasn’t available for me to play (the spec of which is closer to my laptop) so I ended up playing Crysis instead on my portable beast which clocks in at:

Processor: 1.66 GHz
Memory: 1.0 Gb
Hard Disc: 60.0 Gb
Graphics card: GeForce Go 7600 128 Mb

So I need to point out that, even on the lowest settings for all of the options, it still churns and rocks and grass are visibly streamed as I approach them (I put this down to my “low” spec laptop not the game). But I will say this: even on the lowest settings, it looks lovely. The HUD comes in four colours, all of which make it look downright sexy, the models are detailed and the textures are among the most detailed that we’ve seen in games. The AI really brings the Korean soldiers to life and makes this open world a really hostile one – when you waltz into a defended area it throws enemies at you relentlessly. The game gives you four different modes to act in (which are accounted for by, believe it or not, your suit): armour mode (where your health recovers), speed mode (where you can zip past enemies), strength mode (where you can leap high into the air), and cloak mode (where you are invisible for a period of time). So it’s a bit like a free-roaming Halo 3 but, thankfully, without the stupid enemies with the annoying voices. But there are limits to the free-roaming – I tried to swim out to a boat in the distance and was promptly fed upon by a beautifully detailed pair of sharks. Ah well.

This isn’t so much of a review since I haven’t completed the game yet, it’s more of a “first impressions”. But I can tell you this: if you have a beast of a gaming rig then you owe it to yourself, and your machine, to buy this. You will be staggered (even my grandma commented on how beautiful the scenery was). Rest assured, I will post a full review when I have completed Crysis.

On my proper gaming rig.

- John

john AT inx-gaming DOT co DOT uk

About John

INX's resident professional games designer!
This entry was posted in Game Reviews, John. Bookmark the permalink.

3 Responses to First Impression: Crysis, you get what you pay for

  1. Olly says:

    Lol, love how your Grandma appreciated the gfx. Bit like my Mum asked (while watching me play) if Gran Turismo was real or a game? :)

  2. OpenAreas says:

    I play this on high settings and some on very high settings – i have to say, it is a very nice game indeed :)

  3. nevets.wilko says:

    I love the graphics, even on low it looks good. On very high however it becomes an amazing visual experience. Has some fantastic features. The destructible environment kept me going for a long time.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>