I’ve revisited the original Crysis and Crysis Warhead just 3 years ago and that was the first time these titles at least somewhat clicked with me. As I’ve mentioned – I never found any of the titles in the franchise, apart from Crysis 3, to be all that fun. But replaying the first games, as rough as those original games are today, made me understand why someone would like them. Now that all numbered Crysis titles have gotten a Remastered release (sadly, Warhead was not remastered), I decided to play them and see if I can actually enjoy the experience.
One important thing I should say first is that – a Russian-based company helped with the production of all of these remasters and while I doubt the contract they had meant that any of the money from the sales of these games go to a Russian-based entity, I still feel that it’s important to point that out, given that the Russian genocidal invasion is still ongoing and any money going into Russia fund this war.
The original Crysis is still not really my jam, but now, on this third or so replay of the game, I finally got to enjoy it a bit. Of all 4 titles in the franchise (so far), it remains the biggest and most ambitious but also most dependent on players dictating their own fun. The levels are gigantic, ways to tackle the problems and accomplish goals are numerous and it’s very easy to try to stick to a gameplay approach that doesn’t work that well with the game. After all, these Crysis isn’t really an immersive sim, even if it’s very close conceptually to a somewhat streamlined resemblance of one, so if you don’t play it as an FPS and try to focus more on stealth or something else, it quickly gets boring or frustrating. But if you do play it as an FPS, enhanced by the nanosuit ability to stealth, run super fast, punch wooden houses apart and have additional protection, if you just use the binoculars to tag enemies and plan your approach but then dynamically adjust to the situation that unfolds, instead of just stealthing or just running, it can get really fun.
Especially since the Remastered version includes the suit modes and controls from the second and third games. I know it’s blasphemous for superfans of the original, but I genuinely think that the simplified suit controls mode is a more fun experience that makes the nanosuit feel far more powerful than it usually is due to the later titles’ armor mode. It doesn’t quite gel with the way the original game worked, of course, since you can’t speed+reload and your sprint is always way too fast (and drains energy), also the strength jumping is very iffy. But going through the game with quick one-button switching feels far more fluid. While the rest of the game is still quite entertaining. Even if I personally preferred the slightly more directed experience of Warhead, that sadly isn’t included in the remaster and seemingly never will be remastered due to the loss of the game source code.
Remaster isn’t without its own flaws either, as it was based on the slightly cut down version of the game made for the consoles after Crysis 2 release, not the 2007 PC original. Numerous updates since release returned some of the details that got lost in this transition, including one whole level of the game that was originally cut, but a lot of smaller and more noticeable details are still gone. Not that the game looks bad – it looks amazing and improves on most things of the original title, while also running far better on modern hardware. But it’s just not a clear win of a remaster. If you haven’t played the original, I’d recommend going for Remastered if you’re in any way interested. The game is more than just pretty visuals, but if you’re not into more sandbox titles, you might not enjoy it a lot.
But you’ll still enjoy it more than the sequel. I was dreading replaying Crysis 2. I remembered being extremely bored of it when it just came out in 2011 and also, shockingly for the Crysis title, thinking that it looked very ugly. Then I tried replaying it several times and immediately dropped it. But I had hope that this Remastered revisit will be better. It wasn’t, but at least it finally doesn’t look ugly.
Crysis 2 tried to take the sandbox FPS with a very light immersive sim approach of the original and marry it to a linear cinematic Call of Duty-like experience, switch to urban warfare included, but it failed in making it feel good. All of the concepts are still here, to be fair, you still have a nanosuit that let’s you fight, flight or stealth (and preferably mix it all to adapt to the situation). Levels still have many ways of approaching the goal. It’s just that, levels are now shallow corridors instead of gigantic open maps and no encounters are fully avoidable. The story, as boring as it is, is made more prominent. The fantastic music theme is written by Hans Zimmer, to emphasize how cinematic the game wants to be as New York is getting destroyed by bad corporation people and aliens. There’s an upgrade system powered by magic nano fart clouds left by dead aliens. Even QTEs are here. But instead of feeling like Crysis but CoD, it feels like Homefront.
Unlike Crysis, where you can ruin it for yourself by taking a boring approach, all approaches in Crysis 2 are boring. Action is tedious as enemies spawn so much that you might think a clown car is parked just around the corner. Stealth is boring and enemies will still “know” where you are, because the game will send them your direction wherever you are to get the action going. Nothing the game tries, no enemy the game throws at you are any fun and some things are made slower and more annoying for no reason. Like tagging enemies which now requires pressing a button not just seeing them in the visor, for whatever reason.
Still, now in Remastered version the game is a bit more stable, runs better and looks much better. Of the three Remastered titles, this one wins the most in terms of visuals. But I still don’t think anyone should play it. The original was a more curious title, while the third game did everything this one did, but plain better.
And speaking of the third one. Crysis 3 was the title I enjoyed the most of the series. I still didn’t find it that great, but at least it felt fun and entertaining. And upon revisiting it in the Remastered version, I’m glad that it’s still fun today. The idea behind it is very simple – taking feedback from Crysis 2 and iterating. So it’s still more streamlined and more linear like Crysis 2 (and Warhead before it) was, but with far more open-ness and freedom for the players. It still uses the more simplified nanosuit controls and features and even returns an upgrade system, but does it better and fits the abilities of the suit to a gameplay and locations that complement it better. It’s still story-heavy, but does it better, with a simpler but better delivered story and with a main character that has personality instead of being a mute dummy.
The game really feels like an almost perfect mix of Crysis 1 and 2, which it was clearly designed to be, with the immersive sim-lite gameplay feeling fun and all approaches having a valid usage for the mission. Some of the later levels are extremely huge and even return the proper vehicle driving, instead of being on-rails turret sections (though there is one). QTEs still pop up occasionally, but less. And the suit finally feels powerful and fun again. Though, arguably, a bit too powerful and I feel that the game can often be a bit too easy on a normal mode – something I’m usually not prone to complain about. Still, all of the changes and improvements lead to the game being genuinely fun, even if having a few pointless elements or just missteps.
The remaster of the title just makes the already good looking and well running title do it much better and without an EA client to tie it down. So, even though it isn’t that big of a change, I’d still recommend the Remastered version over the original. And I will recommend checking the game out. It’s a genuinely fun action game that isn’t too long and despite some shortcomings is entertaining to go through. Even with me finally understanding how to have fun with the original, I still liked Crysis 3 the most.