Crysis

Crysis
Studio	Crytek
Publisher	Electronic Arts
Senior Developer	Cevat Yerli
composer	Inon Zur
Erstveröffent- lichung	Microsoft Windows: November 13, 2007 November 15, 2007 Xbox 360, PlayStation 3: October 4, 2011 Xbox One, PlayStation 4: 2020 Nintendo Switch: July 23, 2020
platform	PlayStation 4 , PlayStation 3 , Windows , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , Nintendo Switch
Game engine	CryEngine 2 (PC) CryEngine 3 (Xbox 360, PS3)
genre	Ego shooter
Subject	Aliens , exoskeleton
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer (Internet or LAN ) (PC only)
control	Mouse , keyboard , gamepad
medium	DVD-ROM download (Xbox 360 / PS3)
Current version	1.21
Age rating	USK PEGI
information	Official website

Crysis is a computer game by the German developer Crytek , which gained international recognition with its first game, Far Cry . In Crysis is a first-person shooter , which is located in a futuristic scenario. Along with Hellgate: London, Crysis is one of the first “big” DirectX 10 titles that did not come from a studio directly associated with Microsoft . It is counted among the most important German AAA video games to date . On the English-language website Metacritic , Crysis scored 91 out of 100 possible points.

Crysis is the first part of a trilogy. The successor, Crysis 2 , was released on March 22nd and March 24th, 2011; the end of the trilogy, Crysis 3 , on February 21, 2013.

On April 16, 2020, Crytek announced Crysis Remastered for summer 2020, the new edition will be released for PC, PlayStation 4 , Xbox One and Nintendo Switch .

action

The action of Crysis takes place in 2020 on the (fictional) tropical Ling Shan Islands somewhere in the East China Sea . After an invasion of the North Korean People's Army (KVA) , the player is sent as a member of a US American special unit, also known as US Special Forces, to free a team of archaeologists held there . The five members of the special Raptor team are each equipped with a highly developed nanosuit , with the help of which they can either increase their armor, strength, speed or hide themselves in an invisibility field. In the unit, the player has the code name Nomad and is accompanied by the other members Prophet , Psycho , Jester and Aztec . The latter two are killed by mysterious beings early in the plot, the other team members are separated from Nomad for most of the time. Prophet is kidnapped by a being and only reappears later in the game. In the rescue of the last survivors of the archaeological team, the player stands in the way of the North Korean General Kyong , who wants to exploit the legendary discovery of the archaeological team to change the balance of power in the world, as he says. The discovery is an extraterrestrial facility that appears to wake up after its discovery. After the fight against the North Korean general and the breakneck rescue of the archaeologist Helena, Nomad is left behind and has to work his way through the alien base. As soon as he leaves it, the aliens envelop almost the entire island in a cold sphere of −130 ° C, which shock-freezes everything and everyone who does not wear a nanosuit. Once back on the US aircraft carrier , it has to be defended against violent attacks by aliens after a nuclear strike enlarged the sphere of the aliens as they apparently feed on energy. While Prophet deserted to the island before the atomic strike, apparently confused, Nomad, Psycho and Helena escape with a whiz after they destroyed a huge alien spaceship that attacked the aircraft carrier. Following a message from the Prophet, the plot ends with the survivors flying back to the island to fight these aliens.

Game principle and technology

Since the individual levels of Crysis offer several possibilities to achieve the mission goal, it is up to the player whether he and his computer-controlled comrades make their way through the island worlds in action style or prefer a more discreet path. A selection of weapons is available that can be modified with accessories (such as a silencer or telescopic sight ). While most types of ammunition are only available to a limited extent, until the fight with General Kyong the player will have a rifle attachment that can be used to fire stunning arrows, which are unlimited but have a long reload time. If an opponent is stunned, however, no weapons or ammunition can be removed from him or a vehicle occupied by him can be entered, and stunned opponents also wake up after about a minute. In addition to land and water vehicles, aircraft can also be controlled.

In addition, the protagonist has a so-called nanosuit , which allows him to activate various attributes such as increased speed, increased power, a camouflage mode or armor. Their use consumes energy, which is gradually recharged in the idle state.

The game world, a tropical island, is designed in great detail and many elements that are not directly related to the game are animated: palm trees move in the wind, birds and butterflies occasionally pass by on the horizon, fish can be seen in the water and crabs on the beach. The environment is largely interactive. Objects can be picked up, palm trees fall under fire and wooden and corrugated iron huts collapse.

In multiplayer mode, up to 32 players can play against each other, whereby PunkBuster is also supported.

With the included map editor SandBox2 you can create maps for single and multiplayer modes.

The CryEngine 2, a further development of the CryEngine from Far Cry , offers not only great foresight, but also all current 4.0 shader effects, a seamless change of day and night, volumetric clouds, partially interactive environment and soft shadows. It also supports the amBX technology. People are always biometrically different, which means that every opponent can be similar, but is always characterized by a different appearance.

The following system requirements are listed on the sales packaging:

• Operating system: Windows XP / Vista
• Processor: at least 2.8 GHz under XP or 3.2 GHz under Vista ( Intel Pentium 4 ), 2800 + / 3200 + ( AMD Athlon ), 2.0 / 2.2 GHz ( Intel Core )
• Memory: at least 1 GB RAM under XP or 1.5 GB RAM under Vista
• Hard disk space: at least 12 GB
• Graphics card: at least 256 MB; from NVIDIA GeForce 6800 GT or ATI Radeon 9800 Pro, or Radeon X800 Pro for Vista

This information corresponds to the absolute minimum. In order to be able to play with high resolutions and (very) high details or even with antialiasing or anisotropic filtering, significantly more powerful hardware is required.

The console version makes use of both Parallax Occlusion Mapping and an improved version of the Screen Space Ambient Occlusion . In addition, both Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3 support image output with up to 1080p resolution, optionally also in stereoscopic 3D. The performance moves at a constant 25 to 30 FPS . Compared to the PC version, the more up-to-date CryEngine 3 is used on the console . In addition to an improved lighting system, this means some additional effects (including the improved particle display) and the modified control of the nanosuit known from the successor . A color grading system also gives the look livelier colors and richer contrasts. Some textures have also been revised for the new release. Every single grain of sand can be seen with its own light reflection on the beaches. Likewise, the surface rendering of rocks now looks sharper and more vivid.

At the same time, however, some compromises had to be made on console. The number of polygons for some objects was reduced and their distribution was redesigned in order to still guarantee an acceptable performance on the systems in an open landscape. Despite a partially revised texturing, the texture quality has probably been weakened elsewhere due to the limited size of the graphics memory . The number of artificial opponents is also limited, so the engine does not simulate any AI that does not interact with the player anyway. Further optimizations concern the occlusion buffer , which determines whether objects do not have to be calculated because they are hidden by other objects, for example.

Crytek co-founder Cevat Yerli attested that the console mount looks better than the PC version. However, he added that he saw this as a description of the facts and was not referring to technical specifications alone.

Production notes

development

The first details of the scenario in which the game is set were presented in January 2006. In the run-up to E3 2006, the international press, including the New York Times, reported on the game. Shortly before the release, the story was partially changed.

In August 2007, the publisher Electronic Arts had announced the start of sales in Europe and North America for November 16, 2007. The game was presented for the first time in a worldwide exclusive preliminary report in GameStar .

The first public demo version appeared on October 27th, and was available for pre-orderers the day before.

Tahiti in French Polynesia was the template for the island world and its environment . While in the previous game by Crytek ( Far Cry ) the game world such as the jungle was designed rather freely, i. H. not necessarily true to reality, the flora and fauna, but also the natural lighting, should be reproduced as precisely as possible at Crysis. Some of the Crytek employees who flew to Tahiti took photos of the vegetation, twigs and branches and also the appearance of leaves exposed to the sun. The aim was to make the game as photorealistic as possible.

publication

In June 2008, Crytek stopped supporting the game, the previously announced patch 1.3 will not be released because they want to concentrate on another project. Heise online writes of extremely high hardware requirements for smooth gaming, which only a few graphics cards achieved even eight months after the release. According to Crytek, there are a large number of illegal copies in circulation, which is why the sales figures were not quite as high as expected, especially at the beginning. Meanwhile, according to Crytek, Crysis has already sold over 3 million times.

On September 9, 2011, developer Crytek announced the release of a console version of the original game from 2007. The title was released on October 4, 2011 via Xbox Live and one day later for the PlayStation Network as a download for around € 20 (1680 MS Points). Crytek UK in Nottingham is largely responsible for the port. However, only the single player campaign is included, the online multiplayer mode Crysis Wars has been completely removed.

Crysis was announced as the first part of a trilogy. In addition to Crysis , Crytek has also registered World in Crysis as a protected trademark in the USA. Crysis 2 was released on March 24, 2011. Crysis 3 was released in Germany on February 21, 2013.

reception

Meta-ratings Database Rating Metacritic 91/100

• Best Graphics Award 2008 at the Austrian Gamers' Choice Award
• Game Critics Award 2007 for best PC game
• Best of GC Award 2007 for the best PC game
• Spieletipp-Award in the test of Spieletipps (score 91%)
• Games Hit Award in the test of the magazine Games Aktuell issue 11/07 (evaluation 91%)
• Gold Award in the test of the magazine PC Action 12/07 issue (score 92%)
• Platinum Award and Award for special graphic splendor in the magazine GameStar 12/07 (score 94%)
• Gold Award, Graphic Reference Award and Sound Reference Award in the magazine PC Games 12/07 (score 94%). This is the highest rating for PC games since the introduction of the motivation curve system in 2005.
• The US edition of PC Gamer magazine gave Crysis a 98% rating. This is only the second time in the history of PC gamers that such a high rating has been given.
• Crysis received the award for the best PC game and the best first-person shooter at the “GameStars 2007” awards, at which the two magazines GameStar and GamePro honored the best games of the year. Thus, the game was able to prevail against The Witcher , Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and BioShock .
• On Metacritic , Crysis achieved 91 out of 100 points, the German-language press on Critify gave similarly high ratings.

Crysis Warhead

Crysis Warhead
Studio	Crytek Budapest
Publisher	Electronic Arts , Valve ( Steam )
composer	Peter Antovski
Erstveröffent- lichung	September 16, 2008
platform	Windows
Game engine	CryEngine 2
genre	Ego shooter
Game mode	Single player , multiplayer (Internet or LAN )
control	Mouse , keyboard
medium	2 DVD-ROM
Current version	1.1.1.711
Age rating	USK PEGI

Crysis Warhead was released on September 19, 2008 in Germany. Initially planned as an add-on for Crysis , due to the large content, towards the end of production, the decision was made to develop Crysis Warhead as a stand-alone . Thus the main game Crysis is not required to play. The plot runs parallel to the one from the main game. Crysis Warhead was rated 84 out of 100 by Metacritic.com.

Innovations

The development goal was set to revise and fix all criticisms of Crysis. The AI , especially that of the aliens, has been revised. As further improvements, new enemies, three new weapons (grenade launchers, one-handed submachine gun and EMP grenades) and two new vehicles ( hovercraft and an armored vehicle) have been added. Likewise, many items from the multiplayer mode of the main game have been integrated into the single player mode of Warhead.

action

In the game you take control of Psycho , a comrade of Nomad , the protagonist of the first part, from the "Raptor" squad. The plot of Warhead begins after capturing a North Korean port on the island, after which Psycho receives a special assignment. During this mission, his plane was shot down and he had to continue on foot. The player is supported by a pilot named O'Neill , who was a member of the Psycho team until four years ago, but was fired. In the course of the plot, it is found that the North Korean Colonel Lee is trying to bring a container with alien technology from the island to North Korea, which the Americans initially believe to be an atomic bomb . With the help of O'Neill, Psycho succeeds in preventing Lee's plans and recovering the alien technology. In the main game, however, the content turns out to be a still fighting alien, which wakes up right after Nomad's arrival on the aircraft carrier, whereupon it is destroyed.

System requirements

The following system requirements are listed on the sales packaging:

• Operating system: Windows XP / Vista
• Processor: at least 2.8 GHz under XP or 3.2 GHz under Vista (with dual core: XP 2.3; Vista 2.6)
• Memory: at least 1 GB RAM under XP or 1.5 GB RAM under Vista
• Hard disk space: at least 15 GB
• Graphics card: at least 256 MB; from NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or ATI Radeon 9500; no support for laptop or onboard graphics chips

Crysis Wars

In Crysis Wars is the multiplayer mode of Crysis Warhead. This is located on a separate DVD that comes with the main game. The balancing, which was separated from the single player mode, has been improved. In addition, new community features and the new weapons and vehicles from the single player mode have been added.

reception

Crysis Warhead didn't do quite as well as its predecessor with an average rating of 85%.

Fabian Siegismund from GameStar says, “Playing Warhead is a bit like watching unused scenes from your favorite film.” Warhead is a must for Crysis fans, but the incoherent plot is difficult, especially for those who are not familiar with the main game.

Novel to games

• Nikolas Wolff : Crysis . Panini Verlag , 2010, ISBN 978-3-8332-1933-7

Web links

• Official website of Crysis
• The German-language Crysis Wiki

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Does DirectX 10 take longer than expected? . In: ComputerBase.de . December 23, 2006. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
2. ^ Crysis for PC Reviews . In: Metacritic . Retrieved December 5, 2014.
3. ↑ ^{a b} Crysis planned as a trilogy - Two more parts announced . In: GameStar . November 19, 2007. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
4. ↑ Crysis Remastered is actually coming! Crytek confirms the new edition of the shooter classic . April 16, 2020. Accessed in 2020-04-16.
5. ↑ ^{a b} Crysis on Consoles features Parallax Occlusion Mapping and 3D support ( English ) In: gamingbolt.com . September 14, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
6. ↑ nowgamer.com: Crysis On Consoles Supports 720p, 1080p (English) , September 26, 2011, accessed October 3, 2011
7. ↑ ^{a b c} nowgamer.com: Crytek: 'Crysis On Console Looks Better Than PC Version' accessed on October 3, 2011
8. ↑ ^{a b} Crysis - release date for XBLA and PSN confirmed . In: gamepro.de . September 26, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} MyCrisis.com: Crysis 1 Interview: Sten Huebler ( Memento from December 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
10. ↑ GameSpot: On The Spot - Gears of War 3, Vessel, Crysis, Bit.Trip Saga on YouTube
11. ↑ ^{a b} eurogamer.net: Face-Off: Crysis (English) , October 15, 2011, accessed October 15, 2011
12. ^ "[...] the forthcoming Crysis [...] is set in 2019 and begins with the United States and North Korea wrangling for control of an asteroid-impact zone." - Seth Schiesel: A Limited New Lineup From Electronic Arts, the Video Game Giant . In: New York Times, May 4, 2006, accessed September 22, 2008
13. ↑ eurogamer.de: Crysis: Story slightly changed from July 16, 2007, accessed on September 22, 2008
14. ↑ Presse.Electronic-Arts.de: Crysis will be released on November 16th! ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
15. ↑ Gamestar issue 03/06 or at GameStar.de , accessed on September 22, 2008
16. ↑ 4player.de: Update: Demo and pre-order from October 26, 2007, accessed on September 22, 2008
17. ↑ Heise.de: Crytek discontinues patch development for Crysis
18. ↑ overclock.net: Reference to the interview in the magazine "PC Gamer UK" 07/2008
19. ↑ Four Years Later, Crysis Comes to Console ( English ) In: kotaku.com . September 9, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
20. ↑ The console version is an inexpensive download title, not a multiplayer . In: gamona.de . November 9, 2011. Retrieved December 5, 2014.
21. ↑ Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval for 78709643 (English)
22. ↑ Trademark Applications and Registrations Retrieval for 77120140 (English)
23. ^ Meta-evaluation Crysis (Windows). In: Metacritic . CBS Corporation , accessed April 23, 2015 . 
24. ↑ spieletipps.de: Conclusion of the tester , accessed on January 8, 2011
25. ↑ metacritic.com: Crysis , accessed on September 22, 2008
26. ↑ critify.de: Crysis (PC) , accessed on September 22, 2008
27. ↑ ^{a b} metacritic.com: Crysis Warhead (English), accessed January 8, 2011
28. ↑ GameStar.de: Test: Crysis Warhead from September 17, 2008, accessed on September 22, 2008