Why do people say Crysis 1 is a "generic shooter" ?

[Atmos Duality]

Because it's your typical "Story second, shooting and explosions first" kinda shooter.

Little depth to the world, little storyline involvement, just, go here, shoot these guys.

And in doing that, it did fine. However, the PC market tends to require games that have more depth than that, so I don't recall it selling very well. Of course, Crytek blamed Piracy rather than themselves.

This is why the more "Hardcore" fans like games like S.T.A.L.K.E.R and Metro, the world has depth and meaning.

Took the words out of my mouth...

It took a while to figure out, but I eventually discovered that I find myself far more engrossed in games (not just shooters) with established worlds themes and continuity to them.

That's probably why I love Shadowrun (tabletop) so much; it has a very well-written and firmly established timeline with changing political social structures and events; yet you can play virtually any era under the same rules (prior to 4th edition anyway).

The only real exceptions that come to mind are games of strict competition. UT2004, doesn't really have anything going for it in story (UT3 embarrasses itself trying to explain its competitive game mechanics in the real world. Even Tribes Vengeance did a better job of that).

When I first played Crysis, I was genuinely impressed with the visuals and a few of the game mechanics, but everything else felt like a mechanical retread of Farcry. Fine, if you were looking for a more open-world FPS, but it wasn't much for exploring unlike the smaller-scale "First Person-RPGs" (Deus Ex, STALKER, etc).

 

[ResonanceGames]

I guess I can see someone who can't distinguish between gameplay and plot thinking it was generic, but design-wise it was one of the most interesting, smartest shooters ever made (at least the first 2/3, anyway).

The gameplay genuinely rewarded multiple approaches, but that was never overtly spelled out or crammed down your throat. Doing completely unscripted things like strapping C4 to a truck and driving it at a watch tower, then jumping out at the last second and blowing it to hell is incredibly rewarding, and could never be done in a shooter that was lacking Crysis' incredibly rich simulation systems.

Basically, the game is as smart as the person playing it. If you play it like a generic manshoot, that's what you'll get. If you play it like a tactical, stealth-heavy sandbox shooter, it will provide that experience, too. Great game.

 

[mortalsatsuma]

It's a generic shooter bolted onto a good graphics engine.

 

[The Lunatic]

I guess I can see someone who can't distinguish between gameplay and plot thinking it was generic, but design-wise it was one of the most interesting, smartest shooters ever made (at least the first 2/3, anyway).

The gameplay genuinely rewarded multiple approaches, but that was never overtly spelled out or crammed down your throat. Doing completely unscripted things like strapping C4 to a truck and driving it at a watch tower, then jumping out at the last second and blowing it to hell is incredibly rewarding, and could never be done in a shooter that was lacking Crysis' incredibly rich simulation systems.

Basically, the game is as smart as the person playing it. If you play it like a generic manshoot, that's what you'll get. If you play it like a tactical, stealth-heavy sandbox shooter, it will provide that experience, too. Great game.

I remember the editor was good fun. More enjoyable to create these situations yourself rather than try to force them to happen in the game.

 

[Gorilla Gunk]

I have never heard that said about Crysis. I only played the second one on Xbox but it seemed like a really well put together game, I enjoyed the multiple way's of handling each situation a lot. Apparently it was a step down from the original, sadly my computer cannot run it.

You can download the first one for Xbox now.

Seriously?!?! Is it toned down so that it can run or something? I was under the impression that Xbox 360 and PS3 couldn't run it at all. If it's toned down then i'd rather wait untill I eventully get a gaming PC that can run it.

I'd stick with the second game. First one just looks like ass. Framerate is pretty much locked at 20 and dips down into the lower 10's if there's more than one enemy on screen and the game has more pop-in and late textures than Rage.

And the thing about enemies being able to spot you a mile away lying down behind a rock and shooting at you with pinpoint accuracy is totally 100% true. Not only that but the Korean enemies wear greenish-grey uniforms and are hard as hell to spot in the jungle. The levels aren't free-roam either, at least not on consoles. The maps are just as linear as Crysis 2. It's like playing on Battlefield maps: Really big and wide, but they only go one way and one way only. It's not like you can just run from one side of the island to the other.

I mean for $20 it's not a bad game, but in my opinion Crysis 2 is the better game.

 

[Waaghpowa]

How many shooters can you think of where you can run 60 km/hr and throw a chicken at a Korean soldier so hard that the impact kills him?

Most people said what needs to be said about Crysis 1, so I wont go into huge detail.

The short: Crysis is the best shooter I've played this generation. I've had more fun dicking around with the suit modes than I have with most other shooters. Crysis 2 was crap because, not only did they "dumb it down", but they cut down the suit modes, supposedly to make up for the consoles having less buttons to work with.

For example:
Crysis 1
Speed mode: walking, reload, melee and weapon switch speeds are increased. Sprint makes you an F1 car.
Strength mode: Recoil does nothing, general physical strength increase i.e. punches, throwing objects. Lets you jump 20 feet.
Armor mode: default suit mode, takes energy instead of health when damaged.

Crysis 2
Speed and strength are streamlined, you can't sprint without using suit energy(You could sprint in Crysis 1 without using energy...) and no standalone strength mode means less shenanigins.

Armor mode is now a temporary invincibility button so there's less difficulty involved. You can actually survive just about everything if you wait until your screen goes red from damage then use armor, giving you time to regen. It's just stupidly easy. (Note: Health in Crysis 1 was an actual bar that regened VERY slowly.) I've actually seen a video where the guy completes most of the game by walking normal speed and using that armour trick I mentioned without dying once. Did I mention that he did it on the hardest difficulty?

Edit: Also like to mention that I went out of my way some time ago to try the console port of Crysis 1. Worst. Game. Ever.

Little to no foliage, low frame rate, low res which gave me a migraine and they even changed the suit modes along the lines of what they did in 2, which sucks ass. Also you walk as fast my grandmother.

 

[Wolfram23]

Crysis in a nutshell:

First few levels: Whoaaa! THIS GAME LOOKS AMAZING! OMG I can blow everything up! Bahaha die trees! Woot stealth kills hah they don't know where I am! Wow I can go all the way around these guys and get them from behind! Pew pew pew!

Next few levels: Ok... starting to get repetitive. I hope something interesting happens because this story isn't much

Last few levels: WHOAAAA ALIENS! AAAAAHHHHH!!! WTF is this?? Where am I? Am I flying? WHOAA COOL HOLY SHIT ALIENS AAHH *bang crash pow*

Last level: Mother of god.... BOOOOOOOOMMMMM

End result: That was... amazing.

-Now loading Crysis: Warhead-

 

[Woodsey]

I haven't seen the actual gameplay of it, but if Crysis 2 is any indication at all, I wouldn't expect much.

It's not. Crysis had some huge levels and told you to go at them with what you've got to hand. Crysis 2 went linear with "action bubbles" within levels (i.e. slightly open areas) and created prescribed routes to take, which rather removed any semblance of interesting improvisation.

OT: The story is fairly unoriginal, but the gameplay itself is practically the antithesis to crap like CoD. Unless, of course, 'generic' now means throwing a bin through an iron shack and crushing everyone inside, or beating someone to death with a chicken, or a shovel, or their own helmet after you've smacked it off with the butt of their gun.

It's biggest problem was that the most open-ended levels took place in the first half of the game, and so people felt as if it was getting closed in towards the end, which doesn't leave a great taste; all they needed to do was mix it all in a little better.

It wasn't perfect by any means, but it had a great amount of potential which they completely ignored for the second.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Crysis actually sold very well. It made a 300% return on their investment, selling 3 million copies. Don't know about the expansion, but being that all the assets were pretty much already in place, I can't imagine anything but that one turning a nice little profit aswell.

The expansion is arguably better than the main game in certain ways. First being that it was much better optimized. Second, it seemed like it had a slight difference in visuals. In certain places it looked better than Crysis 1. Third, you play as Psycho, 'nuff said.

 

[The Lunatic]

Crysis actually sold very well. It made a 300% return on their investment, selling 3 million copies. Don't know about the expansion, but being that all the assets were pretty much already in place, I can't imagine anything but that one turning a nice little profit aswell.

Yeah, I just checked up on it.

Despite being "one of the best selling PC games" the developers decided it didn't sell well enough as a PC exclusive.

Crysis 2 ended up being a multi-format, is generally regarded as the worse of the two games and has sold about the same number of copies as the original game.

I imagine that was the fault of piracy as well.

 

[Waaghpowa]

I imagine that was the fault of piracy as well.

Devs love to blame piracy, not that their game was crap. Piracy is the cause for everything, including 9/11! <--obviously joking.

 

[Dark Prophet]

I have never heard that said about Crysis. I only played the second one on Xbox but it seemed like a really well put together game, I enjoyed the multiple way's of handling each situation a lot. Apparently it was a step down from the original, sadly my computer cannot run it.

You can download the first one for Xbox now.

Seriously?!?! Is it toned down so that it can run or something? I was under the impression that Xbox 360 and PS3 couldn't run it at all. If it's toned down then i'd rather wait untill I eventully get a gaming PC that can run it.

I've seen it on a friends x360 And this review says pretty much all there is to say about the x360 version http://www.gametrailers.com/video/review-pod-crysis/722086 but yeah the frame rate thing and save stutter is annoying on the upside it runs on cry engine 3 and it's optimized for consoles so it's still looks pretty.

 

[CBPodge]

I think, although there's a lot of scope to play the game very differently, it does become a bit repetitive. Most people get into a groove of how they approach each situation (mine was always try to sneak, fail miserably, blow everything up). The second half of the game also drastically reduces your options and feels more "corridor shooter" like.

But then it has a level of zero gravity, massive environments, a tank battle and multiple (basically) superpowers. So I would say its a long way from generic.

 

[anthony87]

The only thing that pissed me off about Crysis was that I wasn't aware of the shortcut commands for the different suit powers until I was nearly halfway though.

Super speed to strength jump FTW..........except when you go over a cliff and die.

 

[Waaghpowa]

Anyway, it was not my intention at any point in this thread to rag on the game, or its expansion.

Sorry, Didn't mean to imply that at all.

Crysis actually sold very well. It made a 300% return on their investment, selling 3 million copies. Don't know about the expansion, but being that all the assets were pretty much already in place, I can't imagine anything but that one turning a nice little profit aswell.

Yeah, I just checked up on it.

Despite being "one of the best selling PC games" the developers decided it didn't sell well enough as a PC exclusive.

Crysis 2 ended up being a multi-format, is generally regarded as the worse of the two games and has sold about the same number of copies as the original game.

I imagine that was the fault of piracy as well.

So Crysis 2 didn't even end up selling more than the original? Man, what a stroke of irony.

I know right? Especially considering how Crytek went on about how PC exclusives don't work because of piracy. Now their game can't outsell a PC exclusive on 3 platforms.

 

[s0p0g]

Spoiler

Crysis in a nutshell:

First few levels: Whoaaa! THIS GAME LOOKS AMAZING! OMG I can blow everything up! Bahaha die trees! Woot stealth kills hah they don't know where I am! Wow I can go all the way around these guys and get them from behind! Pew pew pew!

Next few levels: Ok... starting to get repetitive. I hope something interesting happens because this story isn't much

Last few levels: WHOAAAA ALIENS! AAAAAHHHHH!!! WTF is this?? Where am I? Am I flying? WHOAA COOL HOLY SHIT ALIENS AAHH *bang crash pow*

Last level: Mother of god.... BOOOOOOOOMMMMM

End result: That was... amazing.

-Now loading Crysis: Warhead-

first i wasn't sure how i should feel about your post, then i decided to laugh in awe (if that even makes sense) at how it describes my experience, 100%, to the smallest bit

that being said... generic? nope, not at all ^^ come to think about it, never heard that "accusation" before. oh well, whatever... come to think about it, it may be time for another playthrough, and see what other ways there are to screw up the puny humans without powersuits

Crysis 1? - Maximum fun!


yes of course the story's silly, but who cares? for great stories i can play "deeper" games, or read books (which i do), but from time to time it has to be good old plain fun
and sometimes fun means immersive depth (although... it's not the same fun, actually, more like... dunno, enjoyment?) like STALKER or Metro or Deus Ex (the one and only first installment, mind you), and sometimes it means going for Maximum strength! and knock over the guy on the far end of the beach with a burning oil barrel, which blows up right next to him when he was about to get up again (how did he survive my high-velocity ranged blunt weapon assault in the first place?!)

give us the nuclear missile bomb, and finally put back the fun into shooters