Most of the game takes place outside, and, to their credit, Crytek made the maps large and open ended. With your enhanced physical abilities, you can decide where, when and how to approach objectives and take out your enemies. For example, during a major battle that occurs when US Marines attack the island in force, you are ordered to remove some anti-aircraft assets the North Koreans have set up, thus allowing the Marines to drop in more troops and supplies. The map upon which this battle takes place is gigantic, and includes portions controlled by both the Koreans and friendly forces. Other than your overall mission to destroy the anti-aircraft assets, you receive no guidance on how to perform your mission. As the player, you have to decide how to bypass or eliminate Korean patrols, static defenses and vehicles. In my case, I used stealth to find the one spot on the map that allowed me to stay completely hidden while sniping at Koreans. From that position, I neutralized over 30 enemy soldiers, while using RPGs to destroy the anti-aircraft vehicles and patrol boats. However, someone could just as easily capture enemy patrol boats and harass the enemy or ambush Korean patrols near friendly positions to expedite their elimination. Regardless, the strategy is up to the player for a substantial portion of the game.

While the Koreans are tough, no nonsense professionals, it’s the aliens that become the worst threat on the island. All of the alien units the player encounters can fly, and they aren’t afraid to buzz around, dodging gunfire while spraying their own icy projectiles in your direction. They also utilize strange energy rays that freeze you in place for an extended period of time. While they aren’t bulletproof, they can be tough to kill thanks to good armor and your initial unfamiliarity with their tactics. Interestingly, during the final act of the game, their mobility becomes somewhat of a liability, as most of the final action of the game takes place inside the confines of a naval vessel. Flying is worthless when you’re inside the claustrophobic passageways of a modern warship, and my shotgun found no shortage of alien victims.

In addition to single player, Crysis boasts a robust multiplayer element. Rather than have a typical capture the flag mode or team deathmatch, this title has a simple deathmatch mode and a complex Power Struggle mode. In Power Struggle, the goal of each team is to destroy the enemy’s base; however, it is not a simple “grab weapons and start fragging” kind of game. Instead, the map has a variety of energy sources, weapon factories and proto-type factories. When you initially spawn in, you only have your basic nano-suit and a simple pistol. As you seize objectives on the map and slaughter your enemies, you gain prestige and can buy more weapons. If you own a factory and have lots of prestige, you can build vehicles or get alien weapons; however, each base is well defended by strong static defenses, so even a tank isn’t strong enough to take out the enemy base. In order to give the enemy the coup de grace, you need to build some sort of super weapon, usually a nuke, using the prototype factory after it’s been fully charged. Even then, you still have to get your super weapon to the enemy base intact and use it. If you’re successful, you’re treated to a well rendered mushroom cloud that vaporizes the enemy base, rendering all talk of “noob” and “pwned” lame by comparison.

All of this gameplay comes at a heavy price, and I’m not talking about the $49.99. If you’ve heard rumors about the hefty system requirements for Crysis, I’m here to tell you they’re true. While gamers should always pay attention to system requirements on any game they purchase, Crysis bears special mention, as it’s a real hog for system resources. Its requirements are significantly higher than Quake Wars and Timeshift. You simply can’t play this game unless you have a good system, and even then, you need a top of the line model to crank up the graphics to medium. This isn’t meant to disparage Crytek and their CryENGINE2 game engine, but it is a warning. Purchasing Crysis might also mean purchasing a new video card or adding RAM for some gamers just to allow their system to run it.