Getting to work on the new Crysis 3 review, I was close to sure that there won't be any

major surprises in store for me. I knew the backgrounds of the story from the previous games
and the scenery has been already unveiled in the game's trailers. Little did I knew that this
was going to be one of those special titles. You know the kind that makes you say "oaw"!!!

Now, if you have played another Crysis game before, you know what's it all about in
this Crytek imagined universe: The Ceph, a cruel and dangerous race of aliens, older than
humanity itself - they were the peril of the original military team that discovered them in the
Korean peninsula. CELL, a human organization, hungry for power and world domination
thru a well though monopoly on all the energy resources and of course Prophet; the call name
for the last standing member of the team that first fought with the Ceph in C1 testing what
became the most powerful nano-suit ever, a combination of Ceph and human technology that
turned Prophet into a virtual unbeatable killing machine. A short yet comprehensive
introduction for the third part of this action packed franchise.

Storyline

20 years have passed from the original encounter with the alien life forms and in this
time CELL has instated a full monopoly on all the energy resources found on Earth, using
them to dominate humanity. No army is powerful enough to face this international
corporation and the few military that still had nanosuits were put thru a "skinning" procedure
and then dispatched from the armed forces. The only one that escaped this process was HIM,
the one and only Prophet, a soldier with a strange story and a life that was forever changed by
his encounter with the aliens. Merged forever with his suit, the guy and the suit sease to exist
separately, becoming a whole in a perfect symbiosis.
But the game starts on a completely different note, with Prophet being taken, as a
prisoner of CELL, to the skinning lab. But you can't keep a man like our hero locked and
trapped. So not long after Crysis 3 campaign begins you will see ex-military Psycho and his
team mounting a full scale rescue operation to retrieve Prophet from captivity. This is only
the first level of the campaign and for that it will be quite easy to pass by, just like any
tutorial styled level in just about any other modern game.
Freed from his detainers and armed with a simple silencer gun, Prophet gets on a long
road to freedom, taking out, one by one, all the CELL soldiers. Just the easy job required for
the gamers to get (re)acquainted both with the in-game controls and Prophet's special
abilities: force, speed and invisibility, not to mention the charismatic voice acting.
And once you have escaped from your detainers, the true scene where the adventure
will take place is revealed. And guess what: it's New York city. The greener version of the
Big Apple as most of the scenery is covered in a thick layer of...jungle.
Gameplay
One of the best things about Crysis 3 is the fact that the producers decided to keep the
same interface as in the previous game. This comes in handy, especially when it comes to the
energy bar present in the right side of the screen. And speaking of that one Prophets suit
has many qualities and regeneration is one of them. Both in terms of invisibility and health,
the fact that the suit is self regenerating its energy makes for a great way to focus on the
important things like kicking enemy arses. But on the other hand, Prophet can only regenerate
if hes not invisible and if his suit is not under enemy fire.
Thats right, Prophet might be the perfect soldier but even he can be shut down if you
dont take on a proper strategy. And no, the frontal attack is not a strategy, in fact its suicide.
So, instead of lots of progress at the cost of your characters health, its more indicated to
make constant progresses using the natural of artificial obstacles to duck from fire and use
your camouflage to administer deadly blows to your enemies.
And dont worry even for a minute that youll run out of ammo as you will soon
discover that theres an inflation of weapons in the New York jungle, both human and alien.
Yes, there are a lot of them but each was designed with the utmost attention to details so they
will all fell different one from the other. But the best in my humble opinion is Psychos
bow, a technical wonder that takes its own energy from Prophets nanosuit, being able to fire
with a lot of different types of arrows, from the simple spear headed ones to the most
advanced impact detonated bombs.
There are also a hand full of boss fights. Intense ones, that can really challenge any
player. And for those situations, the nanosuit has another ace down its sleeve: it can use alien
energy cells in order to overdrive itself, allowing Prophet to hit harder on his alien
counterparts.
And while the aliens are smart, the surprise comes from the CELL side of the barricade.
Because even the most basic soldier has a solid AI and a proper target. Thats the brilliant
part in Cryteks design, even if you have Prophets abilities on your side; its never easy out
there in the jungle.

Sound and color
I can definitely say that from all the games I have played this year so far Crysis 3
managed to make the best impression in terms of visual quality. It had a continuous hunger
for my pcs resources but offered me in exchange one heck of an experience. Each grass
blade moves on its own, each character is thoroughly detailed and the sceneries are just
amazing. From those high tech CELL locations to the basic urban jungle that has evolved in
what used to be New York, everything is spectacular. Actually I find it hard to explain how
beautiful everything looks.
Jumping from one thing to another, the sound is also great. And Im not talking here
about the background noises or about those nasty explosions. No ladsProphet has a great
voice acting, with a low toned, threatening speech while Psycho jumps is with his cagney
accent and a ton of unorthodox expressions.
The CELLs are also very vocal, with a ton of dialogues that never seem to repeat, these
guys will start to alarm each other about Prophets location.
Small comments
Theres a bit of bitter sweet experience to this game because in many occasions it
seems to easy to finish. Dont get me wrong, Crysis 3 is not like a walk in the park, but it
does sometimes seem easier that it should. And thats mostly because Crytek, like most of the
other game producers, decided to take on a lighter approach that will appeal to most of the
gamers. You know, like aWell make it easier to play so no one will be unsatisfied
attitude.
Drawing the line
I dont think its fair for many gaming sites to give a 7,5 or 8 to this game. I stand to
that and I wont budge a step back from that. Its as subjective as it gets!
The fact is that, despite some lightliness issues, this game is brilliant: the nano suit,
the story, the action and especially the shockingly realistic graphics. Where else can you find
that if not in a Crytek production?
And in fact, many of the fans that this franchise has gathered around it, are here
because of that accurate attention for details that has made the German developer a powerful
name in the international gaming market.
So in my humble opinion, Crysis 3 is a masterpiece in its own ground, a game thats
worth playing and most likely, the last part of a great trilogy.