I remember playing Crysis 2 when it first came out on the XBOX 360 and remember thinking it was unlike any other first person shooter I had played before. The abilities of the nano suit made things more tactical than most first person shooters, and added more of challenge that you would not see from the likes of Call Of Duty or Medal Of Honor. I ended up missing the first Crysis game when it was released (to be fair my PC probably would have melted due to the high spec demands), naturally when I saw that the trilogy got remastered I could not wait to get stuck into it.
I'm a fan of pistacios, specifically those in the shell. I like the challenge of pulling them apart and I like the pile of spent shells piling up. They are salty, tasty, and somewhat nutrious. The only pain can be that some shells are sealed so tight you can't access them without a hammer. Playing Crysis Remastered I found myself asking was this the salty snack I needed or was it more of a pain.
Story
The story has you take on the role of Nomad, a member of an elite military group wrapped in an advanced armor known as the Nano Suit. The mission is to save a scientist stuck on an island controlled by North Korea. Eventually find him, and then things go crazy, the discovery of an alien technology and its awakenning.
Overall the story is very slow paced and takes a lot of time to build up to where things get really interesting. The game largely feels like an older Call Of Duty or Battlefield game until about the last twenty-five percent of the game. As a massive fan of the sequel, it is certainly a far cry from it.
Visuals
While the visuals may not be as sharp or smooth as newer first persons shooters they are certainly a nice upgrade from the original release in 2007. The game is set on tropical island so there is sea, sand, palms trees and rocky areas, there is nothing wrong with the visuals per se but due to the length of the game it did feel a little dull at points. Now I know you are thinking 'what about Far Cry and the like', well, they visually have more going on. Obviously when aliens come into the mix it gets a little more interesting.
Overall the visuals are well remastered from the original, but as a whole are not the exciting and sometimes feel a little bland. I am sure if I played the game when it was released in 2007 I would have a greater appreciation for it, but I didn't.
Music
The soundtrack evokes a spine crawling sound, putting you on edge, at times I felt like I was in the original Predator movie. There are moments of calm, but there is always an undertone that feels like things could change at any moment.The soundtrack was created by Israel-American vetran composer Inon Zur. His back catalogue is huge, some of his works include, Fallout 3 and 4, Dragon Age II, Everquest I and II.
The soundtrack runs at little over an hour, and very much offers a movie quality soundtrack. With any great video game, the soundtrack it just as important as the story, visuals and gameplay. My favorite tracks included; 'Sometimes You Lose', 'Legion', 'Grave Danger', 'Shotgun', 'Under Current' and 'Pyrrhic Victory'. Overall a great soundtrack and certainly has the feel of a veteran composer.
Gameplay
The gameplay offers two types of playstyle, and trust me when I say you will need both. The first is face paced, run and gun, the other is stealth. This is easily done with the abilities the nano suit offers, one is a cloak and the other is an increase in armor allowing you to take a fair amount of abuse for a limited time.
While the nano suit is great, the gunplay does faulter at points. The weapons never feel that accurate and considering many of the enemies are not that armoured it can take a lot of bullets to drop one. Obviously Crytek did not want to too change much when remastering the game, however the gun mechanics could have used more work, and when comparted to Crysis 2 they feel very different and not in a good way. With any first person shooter I expect the gun mechanics to be solid as otherwise it can be feel like a real slog playing the game.
The game offers some secondary missions which are enjoyable, especially if you are like me any enjoy clearing an area of all enemies.
Overall the gameplay is okay, and similar to the visuals perhaps I would have a better appreciation for it if I played the original release in 2007 but for me it just misses the mark.
Final Thoughts
So, after over eight hours how did I feel? Meh. The story was a little underwhelming and pacing felt off, it took too long to get to the good stuff, and was short lived when it did. The visuls are good improvement over the original, that being said they have a dullness to them which takes away from its enjoyment. The soundtrack is solid and certainly helped improve the overall experience. The gameplay offers some interesting tactics with the nano suit, but the gun mechanics needed more work and is almost unrecognisable by comparison of Crysis 2. Overall this one just about slides in with a 3 out of 5
