Occasionally we in the world of games journalism are asked by people in the world of public relations what we thought of a game we just saw. Surely, anything I could say to them, I could say to you, reader of Kotaku. And I should, right? Otherwise Iām just doing free consultation.
In answer to those who asked what I liked or didnāt like about Crysis 3 after I played the February 2013 first-person shooter several weeks ago, Iād say, first of all, that Iām hoping to like this game more than I did Crysis 2. That 2011 game presented the promise of open-ended level design but its campaign was ultimately more constricted and funneling than I expected. For a game that was supposed to be the thinking gamerās Call of Duty, it was too, well, Call of Duty
I was, therefore, happy that the one level Iāve played of Crysis 3āthe dam-detonating level you see chopped up in the trailer aboveāfelt like it offered a variety of tactical options. I could play through it stealthily or aggressively. I could stick to the water or fight on land. I could work my through the levelās main building or around it. I liked all of that.
The Crysis games fetishize the super-suit worn by the the playerās character. The suit lets you jump really high, turn nearly invisible, punch trees and so on. Crysis 2 made a big deal about the suit always crashing, re-booting and apparently upgrading, though all of that seemed like inconsequential special effects to me. Iām not sure Crysis 3 will do a better job with the suit, but now theyāve added a new item to fetishize, one that I like more: the bow-and-arrow.
In Crysis 3, the bow-and-arrow feels like something better than a gun.
The prevalence of bows and arrows among the games at this past E3 became a bad joke, but Crysis 3 gets a pass from me. Itsā bow-and-arrow is great and fits the series perfectly. Over in the new Tomb Raider, weāve got a bow-and-arrow that is used as a survival weapon, as a sort of gun-replacement in a place where guns arenāt easily obtained. In Crysis 3, the bow and arrow feels like something better than a gun. Itās lethal, it fires fast and, best of all, itās quiet. Previously, Crysis was a game about trading off power for stealth, of choosing to forgo oneās own cloaking device when itās time to uncork a spray of machine gun fire. In Crysis 3, the bow and arrow feels like the best of all worlds, offering quiet lethality, a combo that feels like it trumps the tactical options of the previous game. This particular weapon also suits the Crysis seriesā appeal to the shooter playerās tactical mind, requiring them to use the ammunition in their quiver efficiently and encouraging them to pick up their spent arrows to use them again.
The new game will let players hack and use alien weapons and still offers bunches of suit upgrades. These features donāt interest me much, nor does a perpetuation of the previous gameās plant-overgrowth-in-the-city aesthetic. While other shooters globe-hop perhaps more than they should, it feels that Crysis may be erring in staying too still. The new game is supposed to feature a variety of climates and terrain in special biodomes that house the gameās urban levels. But the overall foliage-and-steel look that Iāve seen makes this new game look, to me, like an add-on to a Crysis 2 campaign that had already gone on too long for me. Iām hoping to see more visual variety than weāve seen so far.
I did not attend EAās E3 press conference a month ago, and I was surprised to hear that this game closed the show. Iād walked away from my demo of the game feeling that Crytekās series was on the upswing, but I did not walk away feeling that it was grand finale material. Blame the marketing team or show organizers for that, I guess.
I have a hard time seeing where Crysis 3 fits in and it remains a sequel that risks being one too many in a crowded field. For me, it needs to be best at something or at least interestingly different. Crysis 3, however, feels a shade more conservative than the next Call of Duty, which is adding branching story to its own previously-safe formula. I am now looking toward first-person shooters such as Metro Last Light and its striking Russian post-apocalypse for my FPTS aesthetic left turn. I now look to whatever the former Infinity Ward folks at Respawn Entertainment are doing for the next big shake-up in first-person shooting game design. I wasnāt the kind of person who was dying for a new Crysis and I could, honestly, have been content without one.
But thereās something about this gameās bow and arrow. It was just about the most satisfying weapon to shoot of all the E3 games I played. Can one weapon alone make a game? I donāt know, but itās something I can say got my attention and got me to care about what comes next for Crysis
