Crysis® 3

[h1]Crysis 3: Still One of the Best Nanosuit Sandboxes[/h1] [h2]TL;DR[/h2] Crysis 3 takes the best parts of the series and puts them into a tighter campaign. The Nanosuit is fantastic, the Predator Bow is one of the series' most satisfying weapons, the environments give you plenty of freedom, and somehow a game from 2013 still looks genuinely impressive. The campaign is short and occasionally shows its age, but neither bothered me much. My biggest problem today has almost nothing to do with Crysis itself: [b]launching a Steam game should not require going through the EA app.[/b] [b]8/10: An excellent FPS dragged down more by EA's launcher than the actual game.[/b] [hr][/hr] [h2]Gameplay & The Nanosuit[/h2] Crysis is at its best when it gives you a problem and lets the Nanosuit determine how you solve it. Armor, Cloak, visor functions, weapon customization, and suit upgrades allow completely different approaches. You can mark enemies, cloak into position, quietly eliminate targets, or activate Armor and turn the same encounter into a firefight. The systems are simple but flexible enough that I rarely felt forced into one playstyle. [b]The Predator Bow might be the best addition to the formula.[/b] It fits the hunter theme perfectly and gives stealth far more personality than another suppressed rifle. Combined with explosives, conventional weapons, and Ceph technology, Crysis 3 gives you an excellent sandbox without unnecessary complexity. The gunplay also still feels good, and switching between stealth and overwhelming firepower gives combat a rhythm most shooters lack. [hr][/hr] [h2]Level Design & The Liberty Dome[/h2] Crysis 3 takes place inside a New York transformed into an urban rainforest beneath CELL's Liberty Dome. [b]It is easily one of my favorite settings in the trilogy.[/b] Collapsed buildings disappear beneath vegetation, swamps consume former streets, and abandoned infrastructure sits beside futuristic CELL installations. More importantly, the environments support the gameplay. Combat spaces are often wide enough to flank enemies, find elevated positions, sneak through vegetation, or attack directly. Crysis 3 is more structured than the original, but offers far more freedom than a corridor shooter. The levels encourage experimentation without becoming so large that traversal takes over the experience. [hr][/hr] [h2]Story & Characters[/h2] The story follows Prophet as he returns to New York while CELL exploits alien technology and the Ceph threat continues to grow. The plot is not extraordinary, but Prophet's relationship with the Nanosuit and the question of how much humanity remains underneath it give the campaign a more personal element. Psycho is especially important. His relationship with Prophet gives the quieter moments weight and reinforces the game's themes of humanity and identity. The campaign is short, but I would rather have a focused experience than several additional hours of filler. The pacing rarely wastes time, and the final stretch delivers the scale I wanted from the trilogy's conclusion. [hr][/hr] [h2]Graphics & Sound[/h2] [b]Crysis 3 still looks absurdly good for a 2013 game.[/b] Dense vegetation, lighting, water, ruined environments, particle effects, and environmental detail hold up remarkably well. Newer games obviously use more advanced technology, but strong art direction has kept Crysis 3 from aging nearly as much as most shooters from its generation. Sound design complements it well. The Nanosuit's mechanical feedback, weapon audio, Ceph noises, ambience, and soundtrack reinforce the transition between quiet hunting and violent firefights. [hr][/hr] [h2]Final Thoughts[/h2] Crysis 3 finds an excellent middle ground between the original game's sandbox freedom and Crysis 2's more structured design. The Nanosuit remains one of my favorite FPS mechanics, the Predator Bow fits perfectly, and the presentation has aged remarkably well. Its biggest modern annoyance is the original Steam release still routing through EA's launcher, adding another application and possible point of failure to what is now primarily a single-player experience. That frustration aside, Crysis 3 remains an excellent FPS campaign. More than a decade later, sneaking through an overgrown New York before turning an encounter into chaos is still incredibly satisfying. [b]An excellent conclusion to the original trilogy and a game that has aged far better than the software required to launch it.[/b] [b]8/10: Highly recommended.[/b]