Developer: Crytek
Publisher: EA
Platforms: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Crysis 3 is the 3rd Crytek game developed on the seemingly flawless CryEngine, and a wittier person would make some intelligent comment about the main character making people cry, or something. But I’m not that person, so I’m just going to liken him to a super sci-fi Batman. 

Prophet, the man (well, he’s sort of a man) inside of the remarkable Nanosuit, is the ultimate killer. With a suit that turns him invisible, hardens or can even make him invincible, a silent and inhumanely accurate bow, swift stealth kills and a jungle-version of New York City to hide in, he really is the hero NYC needs. Like I said, wit isn my forte - but you get the idea. At first the story feels incredibly absent, but it escalates with burning buildings, a growth in alien presence and the revelation of the main enemy - the Alpha Ceph. Prophet makes some friends, enemies, and faces some ridiculous situations along the course of the campaign, and there are never any lulls.

The suit’s visor can track where enemies are and target them, even through walls, and you can upgrade it to track their individual footprints. Then, with the predator bow, you silently kill enemies with one-hit-kills from a remarkable range. The bow has various arrow types, too - one has an electric tip that can take out multiple enemies if shot at water, then there are two explosive tips, and your regular combat tip. This single weapon alone makes the game worth playing with its huge tactical influence -  it’s a real shame arrows are  occasionally hard to find, and you can’t upgrade how many you can carry.

If you aren’t interested in the bow you can use silenced weapons – and there’s a pretty huge library of weapons – or you can use stealth kills to sneak up behind enemies and take them out one by one, or you can just run in with your guns blazing.  Each of the fairly unique levels gives you a range of different options. With the inner sanctums of jungles, huge cell factories, dry and barren plains and tall grass with alien ‘stalkers’, there are so many different ways to approach situations, and no location can ever be approached in the same way.

For one - I’d occasionally have trouble getting through an area, playing on the ‘hard’ difficulty. The alien enemies are tough, relentless and have so much variety. There are big guys, like Halo’s Hunters, guys with flame-throwers in their damn mouths, little flying bots and loads more to make the combat potentially overwhelming on the harder difficulties. So, sometimes, I’d just run through a level and make it to the end, though there’s no way that, erm, ‘tactic’ would always be successful. The necessary player decisions regarding tactics and influence on prior assessment of environments means this really feels like a game YOU play - it never plays you.

Crysis 3 is a remarkably gorgeous, dynamic and scarily addictive game. There’s some sick pleasure in hearing your enemies yell about how they know you’re nearby, only because you’re picking off their friends one by one without a single scratch. Its atmosphere is constantly tense, it’s smooth, engaging and I highly recommend it to sci-fi fans, stealth fans or someone who’s simply looking to spend 6 or so hours drooling over what may be the best looking formation of pixels in existence.

By: Alanah