Crysis Remastered

Genre: First-Person Shooter

Players: 1

.

Review:

(Note: This game is included in the Crysis Remastered Trilogy bundle, along with Crysis 2 Remastered and Crysis 3 Remastered.)

Crysis is a First-Person Shooter first released on PC in 2007 and subsequently ported to multiple other platforms, with the game finally hitting a Nintendo console when its remastered release came to Nintendo Switch in 2020. For a very long time, Crysis was a game that was considered a high-watermark for PC graphics, with visuals that were truly so impressive that they looked a generation ahead of the competition, and so demanding that the question “but can it run Crysis?” became a meme in the community. And now, as countless others have snarkily commented, the answer to this question as it pertains to the Nintendo Switch is yes, it will run Crysis, and actually quite well.

This may seem like a boast that is not quite as impressive as it once was. After all, we are talking about a game that is now 13 years old. However, despite its age, Crysis is no slouch in the graphics department among its modern peers. While not quite on the level with some of the more graphically-stunning games of the modern era, Crysis can still hold its own, thanks to its highly-detailed character models, environments full of foliage, debris, and other details, and a physics system that brings the world alive by making it clear that more than most games even today, everything runs on real-world logic – shoot a tree and the tree will sever at the spot you hit it, do enough damage to a shack and you’ll tear it apart piece by piece. On top of this you have some nice-looking water and other effects that make this game look very much like a top-notch AAA release even now.

The version of Crysis running on the Nintendo Switch is apparently based on the engine used for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports of the game, which scaled back some of the textures and details from the PC version, and like those versions the Nintendo Switch release of the game also lack’s the PC version’s “Ascension” mission.

However, this is not to say that this is simply a port of the PlayStation 3/Xbox 360 release, either. There are noteworthy improvements to the visuals here even above the original PC release, such as improvements to the game’s lighting (albeit still lacking some of the volumetric lighting effects of the PC version), and the Switch version features denser foliage than previous console ports of the game, closer in line with the PC original. The Nintendo Switch release of the game also adds optional gyroscopic motion control, which works pretty well here.

When it comes to the game’s specs (and thanks as usual go to Digital Foundry for this), the Nintendo Switch release of the game uses a 720p dynamic resolution in both docked and portable mode, with the resolution dipping briefly in busy areas, and potentially rising above it in some places in docked mode. This is presented at a mostly-steady 30FPS framerate, though there is a serious exception in busy areas where a lot of actions and physics effects are happening at once, and in these situations the framerates can dip severely, going below 20FPS. This isn’t the norm, but when it happens it is very noticeable.

So here’s the short version to sum it all up – Crysis looks great on the Nintendo Switch. It’s not on par with some of the best looking modern games, nor does it look as good as the original PC version running on a decent modern PC, but it looks much better than many would expect, given that it’s running on portable hardware, and the only real exception to this are those occasional moments when the framerates bog down.

When it comes to the gameplay, I know that many gamers take the opinion that Crysis is a game that looks pretty but isn’t very deep gameplay-wise, but I’d have to respectfully disagree with that. The open-ended (but not open-world) nature of the game’s levels gives players a lot of freedom to approach situations how they choose, and the game’s central mechanic of a powered suit with different modes further works towards delivering this malleable experience. If you want Crysis to play like an adrenaline-pumping run-‘n’-gun shooter, it can do that. If you want it to play like a stealth-based cat-and-mouse game, it can do that. If you want to make clever use of the game’s environments to take out enemies, you can do that too.

Having said that, this is a single-player-focused First-Person Shooter, meaning it won’t have much longevity beyond its campaign. And while I’d argue that its open design allows for a lot of creativity, there’s nowhere near the sort of ingenuity in world design we see in some other campaign-focused First-Person Shooters like the Half-Life series, nor does it have the same quality of atmospheric storytelling as the Metro series or, again, the Half-Life series. The result is a game that’s very good, but not truly timeless beyond its role as a legendary benchmark.

Still, if you’re looking for a single-player First-Person Shooter on the Nintendo Switch that looks and plays great, it’s hard to go wrong with Crysis. While there are a few rough edges, overall Crysis looks and runs great on the Nintendo Switch, and while the gameplay may not be as timeless as some of the best games in the genre, it’s still well worth playing, especially for fans of First-Person Shooters.

tl;dr – Crysis is a First-Person Shooter that’s been a legendary benchmark on PCs for over a decade, and not only can it run on the Nintendo Switch, but it runs rather well, albeit with the framerate taking a hit in some busy areas. Still, it’s a solid port of a solid single-player First-Person Shooter, and if you’re a fan of the genre it’s a game you should definitely give a look.

Grade: B+

.

This game has been nominated for one or more of eShopperReviews 2020 Game Awards:

Runner-Up: Most Underrated

^{You can support eShopperReviews on Patreon! Please click HERE to become a Sponsor!}