Today, Frankfurt, Germany-based developer Crytek releases its second game, Crysis. Former publisher Ubisoft owns the rights to the company's debut effort Far Cry, and has developed several console title derivatives with a numbered PC sequel on the way, so Crytek started over with a new property, a new publisher (Electronic Arts), and a new policy of owning its own creations.

Not everything is entirely new. Crytek hasn't strayed too far from the impressive-but-imperfect design of Far Cry. Crysis is a large-scale, mainly jungle-set shooter with a relatively linear progression on primary and secondary objectives but an incredibly open attitude towards gameplay. It is not a revolutionary game in the face of Far Cry; the two games are clearly of the same stock. But neither is Crysis a rehash in the vein of most of the neverending string of World War II shooters.

"Maximum Game"
Crytek has adopted the company slogan "Maximum Game" for the promotion of Crysis--it's a great marketing line, perhaps a bit grandiose but fitting. It also handily sums up Crysis' relationship to its predecessor. Crysis is the "maximum game" take on Far Cry; the version that largely sticks to the same formula but tangibly improves upon it in every way; the younger brother that handily outshines his otherwise-talented sibling across the board.

The ambitious open-ended Far Cry formula is one that is rarely attempted at all in the pure shooter genre, so PC gamers probably wouldn't have complained too much if Crytek had simply made another Far Cry and given it the pristine coat of paint that we know Crysis to have. Instead, Crysis is evidence of a studio whose work ethic and drive towards perfection is paralleled by few in the industry. Every aspect is an order of magnitude or more over its predecessor: the grandiosity, the variety of environments, the storytelling, the customization of play style, the multiplayer offerings, and, of course, the visuals.

The biggest new fundamental gameplay element of Crysis is its protagonist's nanosuit, which gives the player the ability to boost strength, speed, or armor, or activate an invisibility cloak. You can only have one of these active at any given time, and each one uses up rechargeable energy in order to prevent overuse. Basically, what the suit does is amplify your gameplay choices--if you're a stealth-oriented player, you'll be cloaking a lot. If you're a sniper, you'll be using strength to leap onto high vantage points and steady your hands while aiming. If you want to take a more straightforward approach, armor is your all-around helpful attribute.

Then there's the weapon modification system, which allows you to outfit your guns on the fly with different types of ammo, scopes, attachments such as grenade launchers, and more. It all just works towards providing an extension of your own style of play.

Tell Me a Story, I Guess
Those who played Far Cry will know that to say the game's story-related elements have improved is such faint praise as to be essentially meaningless, but Crysis' plot and dialogue really are fine by shooter standards. Crysis is influenced by the Half-Life narrative method, never breaking from the protagonist's perspective except in the optional third-person vehicle control. Although it does feature some lengthy non-interactive first-person cutscenes (they're skippable if you want!), the overall product is done well and remains immersive.

The plot itself involes a military operation on a small North Korea-occupied island, where an apparently groundbreaking scientific discovery has been unearthed. Aliens get involved too, blah blah blah, who cares? You shoot stuff.

The Power is in Your Hands
No, it's still not about the story. And it's really not all about the graphics either. Really. Crysis is about the gameplay. It's about being put in the middle of a dense jungle, being given an objective, and being told, "Get there however you want."

You have to be willing to actually do that, though. You can play Crysis as a bullet-ridden version of connect-the-dots, in which case it will feel like a fairly average shooter. If you find yourself in this mentality, just take a step back, look at your island map, and remind yourself that you don't need to pick the straight line between points A and B. It's not always the fastest or easiest, and it's certainly not always the most fun.

In most games, if the guy telling you stuff in your ear (you may previously know this guy from approximately half of all story-driven non-WWII shooters ever made) says something like, "I recommend taking a vehicle and sticking to the road," it really means, "This game will only allow you to take a vehicle and stick to the road, unless you lose or destroy the vehicle, in which case you will be walking along the road." In Crysis, it means just what it says--it's a recommendation, and nothing more. Upon receipt of that particular directive, I completely ignored my overseer and took a shortcut through a swamp.

Due to our fairly extensive pre-release coverage in the months--even years--leading up to Crysis' release, I had played through certain parts of the game several times by the time I finished my review, even without taking into account the occasions when I replayed sections of the final build.

At one point, I chose to enter a highly-fortified encampment from what I knew was the road I would later drive down upon leaving the base. It was quite out of the way, and required both swimming and foot-slogging. As I approached, I ran into a small squad of North Koreans traveling on the road in the opposite direction, aboard a large armed transport. I quickly picked off the gunner, then tossed a grenade underneath, which just barely toppled the vehicle and sent it tumbling over a cliff as I dealt with the soldiers who had leapt out at the last minute.

I don't know if that encounter was scripted, or a genuine result of AI enemies going about their business, but I don't really care. There is such a plethora of possible permuations, and the environments so open, that you are certain to get a divergent set of experiences if you actually attack your objectives in different ways.

The next time through, I traveled the same route, but cloaked myself as the truck passed me and eventually drove out of sight. I infiltrated the base stealthily, rationing my cloak energy and taking out my foes with silenced tranquilizer darts. I eventually snuck up into a watchtower while cloaked, quietly strangled the stationed guard, and stole his sniper rifle. Then I went to town.

It may not be particularly efficient or expedient to carefully eradicate a large open communications base swarming with enemy soldiers, without ever allowing them to figure out just where you are at any given moment, but it is nothing if not deeply satisfying.

That works both ways. Once, I was holed up in a small wooden HQ building, sitting in the window and alternating picking off enemies--scanning while cloacked, squeezing off a headshot, then ducking out of sight while my shield recharged, feeling very pleased with my stealthy self. I swear to you, when an enemy grenade rolled up and blew away half the building, leaving me exposed to a group of now very pissed off North Koreans, I nearly shit my pants out of sheer surprise and shock.

The extensive destructibility and world physics have attractive aesthetic elements as well. I love throwing grenades into densely wooded areas, not just because they are great for dispersing and panicking enemy troops but because of the natural way they cause nearby trees to sway back from the force of the explosion.

Crysis' open-ended nature unfortunately means its checkpoint-based auto-save system will very often let you down, because the route you choose to get to your objective may be considerably more involved than simply drawing a straight line between point A and point B, which means you might go a very long while without the game saving for you. This leads to an unfortunate reliance on quicksaving, something that a bit outdated in this day and age. Undoubtedly it is not a straightforward design issue given Crysis' huge amount of geographical freedom, but it does seem like a more versatile solution could have been reached.

If, like I do, you tend towards a careful, tactical style of play with a payoff that comes after meticulously managing a delicate situation, this can be tragically heartbreaking. Beware--save early and often.

Turn the page for more on Crysis' single-player campaign.