Graphics: What’s there to say, other than this game is gorgeous? Pushing hardware to its limits, Crytek has given us beautifully rendered maps, whether they’re jungle, caves, an aircraft carrier or even the frozen jungle. Yes, a frozen jungle. What’s more impressive is that the huge maps mean there’s a lot of graphically intense terrain to explore at times. Furthermore, the lighting effects are just as good. Laser sights, flashlights, floodlights and vehicle lights all look they way they’re supposed to. My only complaint is that it seems even Crysis is subject to the occasional clipping problem. I’ve lived with this ever since Doom, so I won’t complain too much when a KPA soldier’s arm passes through a solid wall every once in a blue moon.

Interface: The game’s interface is well done. All information the player needs can be found on the HUD. Also, most menus are not buried too far, so tweaking the game as you play is easy. In multiplayer, there’s plenty of feedback on what’s currently happening in Power Struggle, which is vital to how that part of the game is played.

Gameplay: Crysis is a blast to play most of the time. Granting the player the freedom to accomplish various missions in their own way makes this a smarter, more engaging FPS and even adds to its replay value. The variety of vehicles, weapons and gadgets is also entertaining. Most of the missions even make more sense than the plots of some Hollywood action movies.

However, marring the wonderful gameplay are two issues. First, the final act is very linear. The open-ended aspects of the game go away and you’re pigeon holed into fighting the final series of missions in a specific way. Second, there’s a problem in the physics of the game engine. There are many objects in the game that can be moved, thrown, grabbed and jumped on. Furthermore, explosions move these objects around as well. That’s the good part. The bad part is that sometimes objects that you can lift and throw without even using your boosted strength will fall on you and kill you. On one occasion, I even killed myself throwing a wooden crate out of my field of fire; it bounced off a wall and ran back into me. If my nano-suit can repel bullets, shrapnel and the concussive force of grenades, a wooden crate should not be instantly fatal if I’m the one who threw it against the wall, especially not when my suit is set to maximum armor and is at full strength.

Multiplayer: Deathmatch is deathmatch, no matter how many ways you spruce it up. In that sense, Crysis is nothing new. On the other hand, Power Struggle is a great way to play with others. The ability to acquire prestige and then spend it on better weapons and vehicles, coupled with the real tactical significance of the various map facilities, creates a game environment that encourages teamwork, communication and tactical thinking. My only regret is that most people playing online tend to just play without any real teamwork or thought.

A word of warning: if your system is at the low end of the system requirements, multiplayer might be an iffy proposition when playing on crowded servers. The fastest Internet connection means very little when your computer has to render and think about 32 individual players running around on the server — and starts running low on system resources.

Sound FX: For the most part, the game’s sound is well done. Everything sounds the way it should. Furthermore, those who play on the highest difficulty are treated to KPA soldiers who speak Korean. My only complaint is that in multiplayer, if you play as the Koreans, the commander’s voice sounds like Kim Jong Il — as voiced by Trey Parker in “Team America: World Police.” It’s kind of creepy hearing that voice over and over again during a lengthy game.

Music: The music is pretty good. However, if you’re like me and you’re serious about playing first-person shooters, you’ll do what I did and turn it off after playing through the initial level. Who needs the distraction when you’re tramping through the jungles of some Pacific island and are listening for the KPA or aliens?

Intelligence: The AI is smart and plays to win. It also understands the value of teamwork in a frighteningly military way. On more than one occasion, I found myself facing suppressive fire from one group while another would attempt to flank my position. In other cases, the KPA will make use of newly arrived vehicles, hiding behind them. They even properly use grenades to drive you out from your protected positions. The aliens, on the other hand, tend to be a bit overconfident and daft. Their flight patterns are tricky, but they tend to attack with suicidal zeal, and this is the only thing keeping the otherwise great AI from a perfect score.

I also have to praise Crytek for not making their AI psychic. Unlike the AI enemies in Quake Wars, who seem to be able to accurately rain a hail of bullets onto your head based merely on a radar blip, the AI in Crysis is only as aware as its senses should allow it to be. If they can’t see or hear you because you’re behind a rock, they don’t suddenly detect you if they’re looking in the wrong direction while you use the silenced pistol to kill someone. Also, sniping at the AI will cause it to take cover and look for you, but if there’s no good reason for them to know where you are, they don’t just start firing an impossibly accurate stream of bullets in your direction. Perhaps in a close imitation of human tactical behavior, it will attempt to spray the area where it thinks you are with bullets, but just because it heard a single rifle shot doesn’t mean the AI will pinpoint your location with greater accuracy than a GPS satellite.

Difficulty: Crysis is no pushover; however, experienced players of various first-person shooters, or those with military experience, will want to set the difficulty to Delta (the hardest setting). When you do so, you’re rewarded with a game that takes away a lot of the crutches players have come to expect in these titles. On Delta, there’s no crosshair on your HUD that lets you fire fully automatic hip shots with amazing accuracy (hence my heavy reliance on the laser sights I mentioned earlier). Also, there’s no impact analysis telling you the direction from which the rounds hitting you are coming. Even the map requires you to use your binoculars to identify enemies before it will display them if they’re more than ten meters away. Then there are the little details that contribute to the difficulty. For example, many Korean soldiers wear helmets. If you fire at their head and hit the portion covered by the helmet, they won’t take damage but the helmet will be blown off. Thus, the helmet actually serves a tactical purpose and properly interacts with the environment in a graphically pleasing way.

Overall: Crytek has done a fine job with Crysis. The game might not be digital sex, but it’s pretty close. Perhaps this game’s most enduring legacy will be how much it single-handedly drives up the demand for high-end gaming rigs and upgrades for video cards and RAM. If your system will run it, use your Christmas gift cards to pick up a copy.