Crysis®

Recently, I picked up Far Cry, Crytek's first, on GOG to give it a shot. That game both amazed me and frustrated me to no end. As gorgeous as its world is 16(!) years later and as pioneering as its freeform open-ended sandbox levels were, the difficulty balancing was waaaaaay off. Hitscan weapons coupled with enemies that could spot you, even when shrouded in thick, verdant underbrush, across the sizable maps made the over 15 hour campaign a slog by the third act. And, before I had an aneurysm, I put it on the backburner to be completed at a later date. Its spiritual sequel, Crysis, is equally as impressive for a now 13(!) year old game; if not moreso. And, hey, they fixed the enemy balancing! It's an altogether more polished experience, with a story so drenched in salty popcorn butter and nonsensically over-the-top explosions that Jerry Bruckheimer would be proud. It's fun, light, silly stuff, but so beautifully-paced that the roughly 11 hours I spent playing it flew by. Everyone has talked Crysis's unbelievably impressive graphics to death, so I'll leave it at this; though the underlying asset work is undeniably mid-2000s era work, the texture work, particle effects, fluid rendering, etc are all so impeccable that, in motion, this game could pass for a late-gen modern console release. Gameplay, however, is where this game truly wowed me. Crysis's open-ended sandbox levels and on-the-fly weapon customization feel slick and intuitive even by today's standards. It's clear to see the inspiration games like Metro Exodus from Crytek's classic. There's a real sense of experimentation here that stands out even amongst modern games. And, the gunplay feels smooth as butter. I wish Crytek gave me a little more juice in my suit battery to experiment with flowing one suit mode into another as it would have allowed for more expressive play, but given the balance they had to strike between making you feel like the Predator and challenging you, it's understandable.

While I played the demo back in 2007, I didn't play the full game until 2020. Now, with a computer that can actually run the game pretty fluidly (minus some busier scenes that stutter primarily due to the engine.) Before i bought the game, I've always heard how the last half isn't particularly good and diverts from what the beginning of the game establishes in its gameplay. While it certainly diverts, I was surprised to find the game is actually really good throughout, in my opinion! The worst part of this game is adjusting to the clunky A.I. and playing accordingly. The A.I. feels like its on a switch - once they spot you, the entire base will swarm your last known position. The stealth mechanics definitely aren't on par with a modern stealth game or any dedicated, stealth focused game on the market. There are bugs, for sure. Sometimes random physics will kill you, if you're not careful. On rare occasions, quick loading has prevented me from picking up weapons and ammo at very crucial moments. And the final event of the game had me frustrated while I had to fight against these bugs and glitches amidst the chaos. However, the openness of the levels, the cool suit powers, the cheesy-yet-engaging story, the action-packed moments, and the general art direction are more than enough to make it worth a shot - especially now that almost everyone can say, "Yes: my computer can run Crysis."

I played Crysis back in 2007 and my PC managed to hold the entire game despite getting pretty damn hot, I loved Crysis and it's expansion "Warhead" so back in 2015 I tried to get it off Steam but it's didn't work and I sadly couldn't play the game until I came across it on GOG. I bought the game without hesitation and played it without any problems, I was so glad to play Crysis again. I am thankful to GOG for doing this.

This was the Gold Standard game to test by for the better part of a decade. Now it runs smoothly updated for modern x64 bit OSes. What more can I say? It's a legendary FPS with smooth interfaces and still pretty slick graphics, motion and shading. Story is vivid enough to compliment the action. Recommended.

Look guys. I'm buying old games on gog (formerly known as "good old games") because I'm kinda expecting them to run on a modern system not just because I like to "own" three copies of them. Wasted money.