“Enter to Start Game” -- These were the words that lingered in my head as I brought Crysis 3 to a close in under than six hours tops. As much as I loved the franchise since it first debut in 2007, Crysis has certainly lost that certain allure which made it click with the fans in the first place. It is that empowering satisfaction you get when dealing with the opposition on a dense, huge open environment, with all the benefits from the freedom in your approach. The second game, Crysis 2 was a fair letdown due to its more rigid game design and well, utterly contrived on-rail moments. So how does this third sequel fair? Was it aware of the shortcomings loaded in the second? Is it ready to come back to form?
Unfortunately, this is not the case. The phrase which opened this review a while ago is a reflection of that experience. That text is prevalent during most of the time spent playing the game and highlights that feeling of desperate extension punctuated by scripted moments which are very abundant in number and run far too long resulting in an experience of pure disappointment. Crysis 3 is littered with bombastic moments and though it is a short game theoretically, the inconsistent pace causes the whole campaign to feel rushed when exposition should have been needed and padded during mundane moments. And during the time I was playing the second half of the game, it felt like a tortured forever.
However, there is still a redemptive quality left in Crysis 3. From the get-go, it looks phenomenal. Crytek has surely solidified its reputation of having that innate proficiency in producing great-looking, mouth-watering visuals which, is both implemented on current consoles and the PC - a feat which is somewhat hard to achieve considering the disparate configurations of the hardware involved. The lighting looks awesome and it sports by far, the most eerily realistic facial textures in any game so far. When it rains, it really feels like it and when all hell breaks loose, then Crysis 3 becomes the ultimate carnage of destruction you can imagine. Debris fly around the environment with grace, prancing around naturally thanks to its improved physics engine. Specular light sources are logically produced around the map, resulting in a more invested feel of the environment giving life and vibrancy to every locale you are in. The new art direction, is excellent. The amalgamation of flora and metal is a refreshing theme that helps draw the player into its bleak, unforgiving, decomposing world. You’ll see steel wrapped around in greenery and shrubs pointing out of dark, rusty machines. And while at times the setting resorts to your typical run-down-the-mill types, it still beholds a wondrous sight. With all that said, Crysis 3 is this generation’s most technically impressive game.
But what good can a visual powerhouse be when at its core, it remains the shallow, repetitive system it was when it was first criticized. Even with an improved level design, with more breathing room for all-out firefights and sneaky stealth alike, and more opportunities in taking out enemies, the whole notion of been-there-done-that feels very apparent as little much has changed since Crysis 2. Your suit still performs largely the same with no notable additions. Even with the inclusion of a new hacking system, there are just few levels that make use of this new mechanic and doesn't offer much as to make them compelling making this addition feel optional rather than integral. Your weapons remain largely similar to those in its predecessor with the exception of the hunting bow. And as much as 2013 saw so much of bows Crysis 3 seems more than happy to jump in the bow bandwagon. And it did the game good. Using it brings up a new dynamic to the always gunny approach of the previous games as it enables stealth players to fire without consuming energy. This new mechanic is Crysis 3’s only saving grace as it encourages players to utilize the level design to their favor as arrows are scarce in number therefore every shot counts. In this manner Crysis 3 becomes a more smart, well designed game. And the satisfaction you get after topping down soldiers without them knowing what took them is endless.
That thwoop sound you get as it hits a poor Cell’s forehead never gets old. Sadly, due to the brevity of the game, this new aspect leaves you wanting more. What’s mind scratching is that Crysis 3 could have been a good game in this regard. The bow mechanic was of pure potential that if granted more stage time, could add significant changes to the overall direction of the franchise. Instead, Crytek resorted to the mainstream blockbuster tropes of booms, breaks, and falls. As Prophet you get thrown and flung and do all other sorts of crazy stunts that look spectacular yet, feels empty and uninspired. These scripted events are one of Crysis 3’s notable shortcomings as they tend to drag way too long breaking a well momentous run into a halt. What’s worse is that the actions shown during these moments could have been integrated during gameplay for the player to perform. Without using a quick time event, running out of a building certainly doesn't need to be in a cut-scene right? And yet here, it does. And the sheer number of it results in a playthrough ripe of hands-free achievements.
Crysis 3 brings the whole Cell Ceph conflict to an end. You control Prophet, Raptor Team’s head raptor first seen in the first game. The story feels grand in scale and the conflict which arouses during the course of game continues to overcomplicate the never ending subject matter. No thanks to the laughably poor script which draws characters very inconsistently who can be either melodramatic at one moment then become instantly welcoming the next without proper narrative context. Jarring cannot even begin to describe the disconnect within the characters themselves considering the more serious attempt in personalizing characters and their relationships. It just shows that even if you got great voice actors exerting all the best that they can, a bad script will always be bad. Dialogue banter between Psycho and Prophet can at times sport humor but considering the hit-and-miss writing which time and time again continues to miss, those hit moments are rare. Most of the time, the narrative is laid out with overly cringe-worthy dialogue which unfortunately cannot be bypassed rooting that tortured sensation all the more deeper and overly painful.
Crysis 3 could have been a great game. The inclusion of the new bow mechanic introduces new layers during combat that in that sense players can use their inventiveness to create something fresh on their approach when dealing with a huge mob of troops. It encourages versatility and awareness to how a level is laid out that granted they were just faithful in implementing it more deeper, could have meant good to the series. Sadly, Crysis 3 fell flat on its face in its attempt of telling a more ambitious yet emotional narrative. With an easily discardable script that writes characters all over the place, Crysis 3 stumbles both in the character and narrative department. Add to that the ever present on-rails segments which take the control out of the player too much and you’ll get a game which seems like an explosive attempt for entertainment but has nothing inside. If the series wants to survive in the treacherous terrains of the industry, they've got to get back to the drawing boards and bring us a more diversified game in terms of game design, with a less restrictive space and more exploits during gameplay.