Crysis: Remastered(Nintendo Switch) Review

I've beaten Crysis three times over the years, this being my third. All though I've only beaten the console versions and not back when it was a meme of whether or not your PC can run the game. I'm aware of the "dummed down" controls Crytek implemented from the Crysis sequels retroactively put into this remaster and by extension the 7th gen console ports. At the same time, there are things about any version of the first Crysis that is hard to overlook. Despite being an ambitious game for it's time and even now, there are still major shortcomings that prevent it from a consistently great or even good game. The best way of describing Crysis is that it's as remarkable as it is unremarkable.

The story is one such an example. It's basically the same set up as Predator except now, the squad that slowly gets killed off are powered up with "nanosuits" and there is a mysterious alien threat on an island that is occupied by North Korean forces who are also digging up something. That sort is an interesting premise to work with but outside of the character of Psycho, all the characters just seem like background dressing and not much of anything interesting even happens. Far Cry at least had gave it's protagonist such unintentionally awkward voice direction that it made indirectly memorable and some weird banter with the various characters. Crysis doesn't have this unless Psycho is on screen.

Same can be said for the gameplay. You have these very large wide open environments and not many games after even followed up what Crytek did with the original Far Cry so combine that with a fancy nanosuit, it should lead to some interesting gameplay? And well, it does at least for the first half before the aliens show up especially when similar "realistic" shooters at the same time like Call of Duty 4 were basically just linear scripted "corridor" shooters.

Crysis is quite the bizarre title in that in spite of the premise that player has this awesome nanosuit, being a one man army is something that is often ill advised. You have armor, invisiblity, super speed, and to a lesser extend super strength and agility(dummed down console controls I know). Running in guns blazing and shooting everyone is better off being avoided. Sneaking around and using cloak is the better way of handling things. If push comes to shove and there are enemies close by, it's better to take them out fast and then run away, relocate then cloak again.

Your maximum armor isn't going to soak up an overwhelming amount of gunfire which encourages sneaking around. What also solidfies this is that there isn't any good feeling weapon feedback for guns. Hits lack any geniune impact and killing human enemies feel like they just awkwardly flip around or roll ever. Combine these both together and I wanted to avoid combat whenever possible.

Crysis is either a stealth game or a slow paced tactical shooter much like Crytek's previous' effort with the aforementioned Far Cry.

However with that said, the AI isn't very good or at the very least I can't tell if they are too aware or if they are psychic. Decloaking in Crysis unless you are so far out of everyone's line of sight will have the entire area knowing where your position is. I'm guessing it needed to be this way since ghost runs with super accomdating AI would be too easy. At the same time it can be amusing to have every enemy be aware of you and then zip past them when recloaking like some kind of trolling ninja.

It's also a plus that there isn't much content you have to redo upon death. The Switch version also had zero crashes either in my playthrough.

With that said, there is a massive elephant in the room and that is the 2nd half of the game where all you fight are a bunch of boring aliens. These sections is in fact when Crysis turns into a dull and by the numbers shooters that loses all the good will that the early sections broughts. I also lowered to easy from Crusher Yard onwards since it was getting more and more combat focused and was getting less and less open ended. There is also an entire level dedicated to just going through the alien core which doesn't have much compelling gameplay outside of being a typical navigation puzzle.

The alien combat just consist of them flying around, they get upclose, you shoot them. They have simple patterns and don't live up to solid sections where you are up against the Koreans. Just get some high powered weapons and fire away at them.

Final boss is also really terrible and also feels like a game of RNG to actually beat then skill since your health can be levelled by one of his attacks and the enemies surronding him can also chip away at it too.

Overall, Crysis on paper should be enjoyable in spite of it being an advertisement for high end PCs back in the late 00s but the 2nd half of the game just pulls it down just being a dull and mediocre shooter. It really had the potential to be more than that.