History of Crysis (2007 - 2020)

welcome back everyone I'm Nick 930 and to celebrate the upcoming release of Crysis remastered I want to share with you the complete history of crisis [Music] crisis is a science-fiction video game series created by a German game development studio called Crytek back in the way 2000s the series is best known for its achievements in graphical technology with visual effects that rival even some of the best looking games today hello while it's visual prowess is certainly one of its most recognizable features Crisis was always something more a series not afraid to challenge players with the freedom to approach first-person combat their own way with sprawling sandbox environments and powerful abilities to help make the most of the game's many features Crytek the creators of the game typically avoid creating direct sequels to the properties but Crysis proved to be one series that they could never step away from and now nearly seven years after the last game the series released Crytek is revisiting the series once again only this time to revitalize the one that started it all so how did we get to this point and why did the series disappear for so long in the first place well to answer that let's take it all the way back to the origins of Crytek itself in the late 1990s a German game designer by the name of Shiva early established an unofficial games to do called Crytek and invited several other talented programmers that he had met online to work with him the studio quickly grew with each member contributing their own expertise to help form the backbone of what would later become the studio's proprietary game engine architecture in 99-year Lee and his two brothers traveled to the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles in hopes of finding someone interested in their work the demo he brought with him was called exile and featured a large tropical island populated with dinosaurs and dense vegetation it was unlike anything the industry had seen before with an advanced bump mapping technique along with real-time reflections especially along the surface of the water after the presentation Shevat was approached by Nvidia with an opportunity to package their exile tech demo with the upcoming GeForce 3d graphics cars a deal that would help put the up-and-coming game studio on the map thought the course of the next year they released several updates to the demo unlocking additional functionality and improved visual capabilities as the demo made the rounds Ubisoft took interest and offered to publish a full game based on the technical showcase Sheva eager to publish his first game agreed and the studio began to reimagine their graphical architecture early concepts for the game involved two fighting dinosaurs that have been resurrected by an ancient alien force but as the studio refined their AI they opted to instead populate their tropical island with human enemies introducing a more grounded action experience finally in 2004 Crytek released the first official game Far Cry Far Cry was different from other shooters at the time as it strongly encouraged a more careful approach to encounters with enemies players can always try and go in guns blazing but the advanced AI and deadly weapons make a direct frontal approach nearly impossible in most situations instead players are encouraged to take advantage of the dense jungles and extreme shot distances to outsmart their opponents making the game world less of a background and more of a direct factor in the shooting action Far Cry was met with a positive reception with many praising the game's beautiful graphical design smart AI and open-ended approach to gameplay however it was also met with plenty of criticism including complaints about the difficulty the subpar story delivery and the mutant monkey failed final acts but rather than addressing these issues with the direct sequel Crytek decided against continuing the series the studio wanted to continue to innovate and were afraid of getting stuck working on a single property so they abandoned the Far Cry IP and sought out their next major publisher only a few months after FARC Reds release Electronic Arts officially announced a partnership with Crytek providing the growing German game studio with everything they needed to expand and bring out the most technologically advanced video game of all time with the funding secured yearly asked his art team to create images based on his vision a tropical paradise occupied by a massive alien dome that frozen everything within its boundaries the artists returned with exactly what yearly had asked for locking in the concept and driving the process forward the system engineering team immediately began to overhaul the graphical architecture adding in more complex shader techniques improving the artificial intelligence and incorporating new effects like advanced volumetric lighting motion and realistic water simulation additionally they revamped their advanced physics system allowing for an unprecedented amount of player interaction meanwhile the creative team behind the game brainstormed how they can incorporate their advanced graphical engine into an enjoyable gameplay experience they started by incorporating all the aspects of Far Cry 1 that worked like the open-ended level designs and the guerrilla warfare but decided to enhance it further with a more forgiving health system and more professional narrative approach in order to create the most authentic jungle environments possible they sent a research team out to Tahiti to photograph various types of flora and architecture most of which was recreated entirely to be used as assets for the games many island-themed environments to help nail the cinematic feel of the gameplay they hired were studio to creat a high quality cinematic reel that the development team then worked to replicate using their own game engine finally at e3 2006 Crytek presented a cinematic demo reel of the new CryEngine 2 in action volumetric Klaus real-time lighting enhanced shadows in various post-processing effects like motion blur and depth of field all blended together along with the beautiful photorealistic jungles painting a digital scene unlike anything ever seen before and at the end of it an official reveal of the game's title crisis the response was hugely positive with many in disbelief of just how real it all looked games have incorporated things like realistic physics before but not to this degree in the lighting effects and other cinematic features far surpassed other titles shown on the same stage floor not since half-life 2 and doom 3 had gamers seen such a monumental leap forward in graphical technology and fans were eager to get their hands on the final game with anticipation mounting lead designer baird de mer decided that the final year of development would require an increased focus on improving the actual gameplay experience early jest the game Sall players controlling a standard SpecOps soldier alongside his squad taking down groups of enemies and upgrading their armor with pieces found throughout the environment it was interesting and made it easy to provide beautiful scripted sequences to show off the graphics but they eventually decided against it finding that players were not given enough freedom they also found that the armor system and customization sword the pacing of the gameplay too much and several of the same problems that they faced with the original Far Cry reared their head like overly powerful enemies that made the player feel weak and defenseless to rectify the problem the team decided to redesign the standard help design in favour of a system like bungees halo with a secondary shield that would recharge when not taking fire from here the team discovered that they could add more abilities to the players arsenal to help make the game even more fun like increased speed or increased strength after locking down the set of core abilities the level designers then tweaked each level environment providing long lanes to sprint through and plenty of cover to move between while cloaked the process took months to accomplish and with the release date right around the corner the team was ultimately forced to phone in the final stages cutting out planned open-ended gameplay in favor of a more scripted cinematic finale finally after years of development Crytek released an extensive demo for their game allowing players to play through the entire first level but as excited PC gamers booted up the exe and cranked up all the graphic settings they were quitted with a disappointing realization the game was extremely demanding PC gamers everywhere searched for solutions even resorting to upgrading their hardware thanks to clever crisis based adverts encouraging higher-end video cards inevitably resulting in the iconic phrase can it run crisis as players sought to crank up the games visuals as high as possible and showboat that they had achieved even a few frames more but as gamers managed to lock down an acceptable performance level they soon discovered that Crysis offered something more than just expensive eye candy finally on November 13 2007 Crytek unleashed Crysis onto the world exclusively for the PC platform Crysis takes place on a fictional archipelago called the lingshan islands and centers on a conflict between American Special Forces North Korean militants and a long dormant alien species the game kicks off with a desperate distress call made by a researcher named Helena Rosenthal who explains that the North Koreans have taken over the island are at risk of getting their hands on something their team and managed to uncover the player assumes the role of an American Delta Force soldier named Nomad who is sent to the island to rescue Helena and clear the way for an American ground assault against the KPA Nomad doesn't offer much of a personality he simply follows orders and serves as a vehicle for the story to be delivered his fellow Raptor team members though offer a bit more character there's the group's leader prophet who sets up the general mission objectives and provides the player with frequent radio updates jester who's got a bit of a sarcastic edge to his quips and of course the loudmouth former SAS member Michael Sykes aka psycho who's gung-ho attitude frequently clashes with prophets instructions armed with limited information and their super advanced nano suits Raptor team are deployed onto the island but within seconds are picked apart by a mysterious alien threat lurking in the jungles leaving the character alone to contend with the islands dangerous and Abbot's choices his general plot structure shares a lot of the same narrative threads established with Far Cry a lone soldier stranded on a tropical island with an overwhelming military presence forced to fight his way through established camps and Rowin structures only to find something more sinister at the heart of it all the lingshan islands play host to a powerful alien race who have begun to awaken from their hibernation within the island central peak Crysis also delivers a more cinematic presentation than predecessor cutscenes for example are incorporated more frequently throughout the campaign it helped to reestablish key character personalities all captured realistically thanks to the game's advanced shader system in animation design voice is his story well I'm not necessarily the most memorable thing to come out of the world of gaming in 2007 marked a major improvement for the team at Crytek and works hand-in-hand with the highly immersive new gameplay direction at first glance Crysis looks and plays like any other first-person shooter but the incorporation of the Nanosuit helps to give crisis its own unique style weight from the start players have access to every suit function there's maximum armor that serves as the suits default mode and minimizes damage received from incoming gunfire maximum strength that reinforces the users muscle fibers align them to jump extremely high or throw heavy objects with increased force mechs speed that allows the user to sprint at insanely fast speeds and clear huge gaps and then there's cloak that turns the user partially invisible useful for bypassing enemy patrols or repositioning safely during combat to balance these powerful abilities the Nanosuit has a blue energy bar that requires a recharge after excessive use this means you can't stay in closed mode forever or sprint at super speed across the entire island instead players need to carefully plan their actions it could swap between different suit functions using a handy Comoros interface this interface also includes a fifth option the weapon customization menu which allows players to modify any weapon they're holding with found attachments including scopes suppressors flashlights laser sights and under barrel launchers all without pausing the action the large combination of weapon attachments help to make the disappointingly small arsenal firearms more interesting weapons include the severe combat assault rifle aka the scar the North Koreans FY 71 pistols that can be dual wielded a pump-action shotgun an SMG and a long-range sniper rifle s players start to face off against more powerful enemies more powerful weapons can be found like the experimental Gauss cannon the handheld minigun and the rocket launcher that can fire three guided rockets perfect for dealing with enemy armored units and helicopters unlike Far Cry the player is now limited to only holding two primary weapons encouraging players to plan out their actions more carefully where's game for example pick enemies off silently using a combination of the Nanosuit cloak ability and weapon suppressors or grab an assault rifle and throw caution to the wind shooting everyone while jumping across rooftops and blowing up massive fuel depots naturally this high level of customization pairs perfectly with the dense jungle environments on the island players can venture across gorgeous tropical beaches and sprawling valleys often broken up by heavily fortified military camps along with the mammoth alien structure at the core of a tall and while these locations are certainly visually interesting they also play a crucial role in how the player tackles objectives crisis level structure are designed to take full advantage the players manasu while also encouraging the use of creative physics space alternatives you can throw barrels crash vehicles into buildings or rip apart trees with sustained gunfire the game constantly encourages exploiting its many physics based tools providing an experience that feels more experimental than intentional to help traverse these wide-reaching levels Crysis also lets players pilot several different types of vehicles including trucks boats heavy armor and even a VTOL at one point then of course there's the opposition the enemies start off fairly straightforward with human soldiers equipped with handguns and rifles patrolling the area and popping off flares to request reinforcements but they scale upwards rather quickly fortifications begin to feature mounted machine guns and sniper towers and are even surrounded by landmines requiring the player to make use of all those suits capabilities and acquired weapons to come out on top some soldiers are even equipped with knockoff nano suits capable of turning them invisible or wielding powerful mini guns the game takes even more Jesse turn about halfway through after the player enters the heart of the central alien structure the island becomes consumed by a frozen energy sphere and the action flips entirely into direct confrontations with different types of flying blue aliens it's arguably one of the weakest aspects of the game despite its very interesting premise and it's hurt further by the increased demand on hardware and the more linear nature of the final few missions but still even when considering the slight misstep in the final act crisises campaign provides an enjoyable demonstration of what CryEngine 2 is capable of while also incorporating some solid shooting mechanics and the freedom to approach the gameplay in an endless number of ways and then of course there's the online competitive multiplayer that takes all the aspects fans loved about the campaign and applies it to a competitive space players can choose to play as either the US or the North Koreans both of which are equipped with equally powerful nano suits and fight for control over decently sized island based environments there's only two modes instant action that serves as a simple free-for-all death match and the much more popular power struggle that sees two teams fight for control points in an effort to destroy the enemies main base of operations much like counter-strike players can earn points for killing enemies and spend those points at captured outposts to equip more powerful gear including weapons and gadgets and even vehicles this mode offers a large-scale 32 player multiplayer combat in the same vein as battlefield and the enemy territory games only with super-powered Nano suits and mini nukes added in to help make it feel unique like many multiplayer games from this time the service has been permanently shut down with the closure of game spy requiring longtime fans to install community made modifications in order to access this part of the game Crysis also paired with its release a robust editing tool called sandbox 2 that allows users to create their own level designs and enemy configurations for hours of additional gameplay a decision that was likely made to gauge interest in licensing out their architecture in the future crisis was met with an overwhelmingly positive response from audiences it was praised for its beautiful technological achievements along with this immersive gameplay mechanics and smart level design however it also acquired a reputation for having poor optimization as nobody could run the game at the highest graphical settings without compromising the performance significantly though the game was never really designed to run perfectly on Hardware back in 2007 Crytek specifically built the game to scale upwards with newer technology hoping that processors would evolve into featuring higher clock speeds on a single core rather than the multi-core design that we use today because of this even the most powerful gaming computers struggled to run the game smoothly especially whenever there's a lot of physics based rendering or particle effects on screen but the game's technical hurdles weren't the only criticisms the game received crisis was also criticized for having a shallow story and lackluster combat scenarios the rush design of the final levels even pushed some critics into assuming the game was designed purely to sell hardware but fair conclusion conserving some of the ads that released around the time still despite the harsh criticisms the original Crysis remains one of the most popular entries to the series and stands as a crowning achievement in graphical evolution that many still argue remains unsurpassed to this day before crisis had even hit store shelves work had initiated on an expansion pack aim to incorporate ideas and concepts that wouldn't be included in the base games release the started off simple enough with additional vehicles and weapons being tossed in along with some missions that allowed players to see the other half of the island but as the project grew in size Crytek decided to reach out to the newly formed Budapest studio to take over transforming the expansion it to a full standalone release using a slightly more optimised version of CryEngine to Crytek Budapest spent the course the next several months building new environments and testing up new ideas all while addressing many of the concerns players had with the base game their first goal was to improve the gameplay variety in each level many of the missions in the original game are built to take advantage of one particular approach that takes an onslaught for example are the most efficient way to traverse the treacherous valley as there aren't enough extra rockets or hard cover to take advantage of on foot so team Budapest incorporated needs a similar approach at first like a vehicle centric shooting gallery but then built additional ammo hubs and clusters of enemies off the beaten path giving players a choice in how they approach the gameplay in each level they also broke up the levels into sections avoiding making any one particular action sequence dominate the entirety of the levels theme the next work to rectify the way aliens were implemented into the combat the design of the alien based final levels and for that matter the Nanosuit all came in very late in crisis's development but with warhead the team are already familiar with these fundamental mechanics and were able to design their levels to take full advantage of them after only a year of development the expansion had been completed and Crytek released their second entry to the series Crysis warhead again exclusively for the PC Crysis warhead tells a story that runs parallel to the plot of the original game only instead of Nomad players assume the role of psycho as he pursues a container suspected of containing a nuclear warhead however as it was already revealed in the main game the North Koreans are actually looking to exploit the power of an ancient alien technology hidden beneath the mountains and psycho is thrown into a three-way battle between the u.s. kPa and emerging alien creatures there's a few fun moments throughout but warheads narrative is much shorter and gives off a very low-budget feel reinforced by weirdly scripted and drawn-out cutscenes that were intended to evoke stronger emotions from the player warhead also introduces a couple new character like Sean O'Neill a friend of psychos that was supposed to be part of Raptor team but was replaced by nomads and Colonel Lee a vicious new lead antagonist that really loves to use his taser whenever you meet up with him but even with the new characters and redesigned cutscenes the story just feels like the b-side to a tape and while it does shed some light on what psycho was doing in between his meet us with nomads it really doesn't add much to the overarching plot of the series what it does do though is add way more action to the game play this game wastes no time getting players right into the fight as soon as the player is given control enemy mortar fire forces them forward into a heavily fortified beachside resort followed by some intense battles with armored vehicles and kPa checkpoints all the same weapons returned like the scar and FY 71 only with a few small modifications like a new weapon skin and some balancing tweaks there's even a few new weapons like the SMGs that could be dual wielded and an experimental plasma cannon that can be used during the games finale warhead also introduces a few new vehicles including a heavily armored APC complete with a powerful turret and a personal hovercraft that can glide over frozen beaches as the player dodges alien Scouts bursting through the ice warhead also sees the return of the competitive multiplayer mode only this time the mode operates on a separate client called Crysis Wars Crysis wars' incorporates all the maps and modes from the original games multiplayer mode along with a few new features like weapons vehicles maps and a team deathmatch option that players requested previously however just like with the original game this multiplayer client proved not to fare well in 2008 as many other multiplayer shooter games dominated the scene keeping the community from ever growing enough to stay active the server's were eventually shut down with gamespy and the mode is only accessible now using community modifications and it's a real shame because back when Crysis warhead released it was received very well by fans and critics the new campaign was praised for its more interesting lead character along with the improvements made to the optimization that made the game run a bit better of higher-end machines however despite Crytek Budapest's best efforts warheads still suffered from a lot of the same issues as the original players began to note that the combat felt stiff and the alien enemies just weren't any fun fight against others complained that the game was still too demanding pointing blame at the developers for not optimizing well enough but most importantly warhead was criticized for being short coming in at roughly two hours of playtime from start to finish earning it a reputation for being a cheap cash grab the game was nominated for a few awards but ultimately failed to achieve the same fame as its older brother and later entries to the series would only further doom Crysis warhead to obscurity meanwhile Beckett Crytek's central frankfurt offices efforts to update the groundbreaking cry engine had already commenced with an increased focus into making the engine function properly with the more complex CPU architecture incorporated into console platforms for the longest time the studio has centered their development efforts on high-end pcs convinced that the hardware available in the average game console would limit the creative freedom but after reports came in showing a high rate of piracy for their alien fighting adventure Yuli decided that the only way for Crytek to growth in the industry would be to make room for both PC and console gaming all while maintaining their established pedigree for high-fidelity graphics to achieve this reality the graphical engineers led by lead R&D specialist Diego Souza spent the better part of 2008 overhauling the CryEngine allowing it to more efficiently process their advanced post-processing effects they had to work within the confines of the ps3 and xbox 360s low memory capacity and multi-core processor design the lighting was then reworked to incorporate more natural global illumination techniques eliminating the need to drop in wasteful baked lighting effects throughout each environment as the team continued to improve the engine's architectural pipeline they also began to construct a drastically different world than Crytek's typical tropical atmosphere they decided that for this new entry to the series players would need to become familiar with a new concrete jungle set on the streets of New York City complete with the iconic landmarks skyscrapers and urban combat according to an interview between savate and Game reactor this decision was not made to account for console limitations but it did certainly help align them to focus on hybrid textures and effects rather than dense dynamic foliage in long sightlines on top of this her tech also wanted to revamp the core gameplay design to function more comfortably with the console controllers input limitations this redesign greatly improved the flow of the combat creating a gameplay experience far removed from its predecessor finally after several years of development the curtains were drawn back on Crytek's the next major project with an e3 reveal in 2010 you only took to the stage and revealed an official sequel titled Crysis 2 and provided audiences with a brief glimpse of a battle torn New York City devoid of human life and infested with an invading alien force there was even a brief demonstration of the game in action showcasing a battle with an alien tripod inside Grand Central Terminal after a three the team returned to work hoping for a holiday release but inevitably were forced to delay the project into early 2011 a decision though it proved to be even more damaging than they could have ever expected only two months prior to the game's new movie state a massive leak of the game's beta bill made the rounds online and many justified illegally downloading it as a sort of insurance afraid that the game would have performance issues again with the damage already done Crytek was forced to soldier on and after a brief multi-part testing phase they officially released Crysis 2 for the PC Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in March of 2011 Crysis 2 story begins three years at the events on the link shan islands with the threat of an alien invasion imminent and being compounded by unusual weather patterns and a deadly viral infection spreading through manhattan to assist with the evacuation of new york city the u.s. contract sell a private military company associated with the crime net program the very same responsible for the nano suits but a cell's presence grows within the city it becomes clear that they have their own agenda and become the new lead human antagonists in the series with little to no mention of the North Koreans meanwhile profit discovers that the alien race now referred to as the Ceph have several more doormat hives located underground throughout the world and he rushes back to Manhattan in hopes of preventing what he believes to be the start of a massive alien invasion force but by the time he arrives in New York it's too late the Ceph have begun to emerge from underground and the city quickly turns into an apocalyptic war zone all as a deadly alien virus ravages the civilian population players assume the role of a u.s. marine named Alcatraz whose unit is sent in to help protect the city but they're quickly met with set resistance and Alcatraz has left mortally wounded on the shore he's then rescued by prophet who after exposure to the virus decides to sacrifice himself remember and bequeath his life-saving Nanosuit to Alcatraz along with the responsibility to put a stop to the Ceph before it's too late the campaign takes players through several iconic locations in New York including Wall Street Times Square Grand Central and even the floating remnants of Central Park all while Alcatraz wrestles against both the invading alien threat and the lingering memories of profit embedded deeply into the suit's membrane it's without a doubt a far more cohesive plotline than what was in the original crisis and the removal of familiar characters like nomad and Helena Rosenthal helped to distance itself further providing an ultimately unique experience what's more Crysis 2 also includes new data logs in its environments providing additional background info to expand upon the universes lore the gameplay experience has also seen a total redesign while still a first-person shooter built around player choice Crysis 2 is a lot more linear than its predecessors environments are much smaller and the new urban lanes create clear paths to and from objectives limiting the potential for exploration and creativity by a large margin but this more limited scope does at least benefit the combat design the shooting feels tighter and more consistent and the controls are better streamlined to improve the flow of the movement as I mentioned before changes had to be made to account for the limited input available on a console gamepad so features like being able to lie prone were removed and players can only lean when standing at the edge of cover additionally the signature Nanosuit has also seen a total overhaul no longer do players have to cycle through powers in the Comoros but can now activate some of the less practical abilities automatically when interacting with the environment speed mode for example is now tied directly to the player spring meaning sprinting through the game will rapidly drain the suits energy and likewise kicking cars or throwing enemies will consume energy for utilizing maximum strength therefore the only to toggle nanda see powers are now shield and cloak that are tied to the left and right bumper on a console controller respectively by streamlining the nano suits abilities Crysis 2 redirects the players focus on more engaging combat with faster pacing and more varied weapons to choose from each with distinct stats like damage and accuracy displayed with a more detailed Nanosuit HUD like before players can zoom in with by knocks two tagged enemies and analyze objectives and can also enable a night vision mode only now with new thermal capabilities new to crysis 2 is a Nanosuit upgrade system much like the weapon customization menu the Nanosuit module screen allows players to activate passive abilities for their suit these abilities include simple things like better armor more efficient cloaking and faster climb speeds but also include a few new tricks like the ability to see enemy footprint trails silent movement and a powerful air stop move weapons include a redesigned scar with varying attachments depending on the variant you find in the environment shotguns SMGs and snipers just like before and a few new weapons like the m60 LMG a semi-automatic rifle and a few futuristic weapons like the cave vault in x-43 Mike perfect for melting through the far more varied enemy resistance enemies include cell that function a lot like the kPa from before with foot soldiers and powerful armor and air support and then you have Seth who are now much more interesting to fight than their blue ancestors D Seth are composed primarily of bipedal infantry units with the ability to jump high and take cover there's the grunts and stalkers that make up a book of the SEFs military force and are occasionally reinforced by the tank like heavies the swarming ticks alien air support like drop ships and gun ships and the devastating tripod pingers a sort of evolution of the scouts that seems ripped straight from War of the Worlds just like with the story the gameplay feels more properly realized in the past two games with smart controls more thoughtful level design and better enemy variety but the lack of player freedom feels like a disservice to the series's core values and Crysis twos campaign ends up feeling like a roller coaster of scripted action set-pieces and narrative plot threads that never lets you off until you breach the credit as with most games in the early 2010's Crysis 2 decided that its multiplayer would need to borrow heavily from infinity ward's hugely popular Call of Duty series the large 32 player power struggles are replaced with more basic team deathmatch skirmishes built around weapon and Nanosuit loadouts all the improved combat controls can be found here providing a much more fast-paced shooter experience but many fund the multiplayer to be a step back claiming that it was dumbed down to appeal to the average console gamer but despite this crisis too was met with mostly positive reviews it was praised for its intuitive control scheme its bold new city environments and its beautiful visual design however some did complain about the linearity of the levels and the story not being quite as memorable as other alien invasion stories offered in games like half-life on top of that PC players felt betrayed by Crytek who is seemingly sold out to the mainstream console market complaints from PC gamers included less graphic options in the menus along with smaller environments and less of a sandbox feel to the gameplay these criticisms echoed even louder due to widespread illegal distribution of the game online making it the most pirated PC game of 2011 when the dust had settled Crysis 2 greatly underperformed critics light the game but the sales numbers ended up being lower than the first crisis and while Crytek acknowledged these concerns they had already at this point turned their focus towards future projects after crisis - the focus for the developers at Crytek began to shift rapidly CryEngine 3 provided a solid foothold into multi-platform game design and enabled the expansive network of Studios to generate even more titles including a sequel to chaos Studios homefront and an upcoming Xbox exclusive called Ryse son of Rome but at the same time these projects greatly strained critics resources and pulled key step away from the crisis IP leaving the planned fourth entry to a skeleton crew of roughly 100 individuals still despite the lack of manpower and a much lower budget the development team remained confident that they could deliver the most ambitious Crysis experience to date like before Crytek started by addressing common complaints chief among them being the limitations of the New York City setting but instead of simply bringing the game back to an island Crytek came up with a creative solution a return to New York City but this time consumed by a lush jungle environment with this core concept in place the development was accelerated they tweaked the CryEngine to allow for more advanced visual effects but many of the assets like weapon models and general gameplay mechanics were carried over directly greatly shaving down the development cost this also allowed more time for the developers to improve the flow of the gameplay combining the smooth gunplay from crisis to with the more open-ended level design of Crysis 1 as they were building the bigger environments Crytek eventually landed on the idea of turning the player into a hunter armed with a powerful bow and arrow and stalking enemies through fields of tall grass assess adapt attack these were the core tenants that the development team worked around encouraging hit and run tactics work Tec also saw potential in improving the game's narrative and reintroduced who they felt were the series of strongest assets to help make the most epic narrative in the series so far then after only two years of development Crytek released the final entry to the crisis trilogy Crysis 3 Crysis 3 takes place 24 years after the previous game with the Ceph invasion seemingly halted and cell working around the clock to hardest leftover alien technology to control the remains of the world meanwhile prophet whose consciousness eventually absorbed Alcatraz's via the Nanosuit travels with his old colleague psycho to help put a stop to the aliens once and for all but before they're able to do so cel captures them both it attempts to painfully strip them of their alien infused nano suits the player takes control of prophet and is given control after he's broken from cells containment by an Anna suit free psycho but as the two reached the doors into a large walled off structure it becomes clear what has happened sell in an attempt to contain the remaining SEF stragglers have built a gigantic bio dome around the ruins of new york city transforming it into a lush jungle monitored by powerful automatic turrets located along the central support beams this is where the adventure truly begins as prophet and psycho worked together with a local resistance group to disrupt cell operations but as the story progresses it becomes clear that the final set invasion is still very much in the works and another three-way conflict for the fate of the world ensues crisis 3s plot is a clever combination of aspects introduced in crisis 2 and the elements of the series started with back in 2007 characters are now more fleshed out with several dramatic moments between psycho and profit expanding on themes of human versus technology and while it's certainly one of the shorter entries in the series it does at least come full circle at the end wrapping up the chill G with a somewhat satisfying conclusion as far as the gameplay is concerned Crysis 3 shares a lot of similarities to the previous game the field the movement is mostly identical and many elements like the 2 weapon limit the customization menus and combat controls remain intact however Crysis 3 does introduce a few nice changes first off love environments are much larger and more open-ended allowing players to approach objectives with a bit more freedom it's still not quite as large as the environments in the first crisis but the opportunity to bypass enemies with stealth is an actual realistic option again what's more Crysis 3 also toys with the idea of player creativity thanks to the inclusion of the new predator bone this weapon allows players to silently dispatch enemies while remaining completely cloaked with various jaw strings to choose between to balance the power versus speed but the boat can also be equipped with special arrow tips including impact explosives or my favorite the electric bolts that can fry enemies waiting in pools of water in addition to the predator power players can also equip many of the same firearms from crisis - like the scar the Grendel cave vault and feline along with the typhoon that sports an impressive 30,000 rounds per minute additionally thanks to the Nano suits acquired alien DNA bears can now equipped weird new alien specific weapons that can have a devastating impact against enemy resistance the enemies themselves have also seen a few tweaks sell for the most part appear the same as before though their AI is enhanced a bit to allow for more realistic search scripts to account for the increased focus on stealth so also makes use of a few new defensive weapons in the environment including high-tech landmines and automatic turrets both of which can be remotely hacked and turned against the enemy the Ceph have similarly returned with a lot of the same bearings as before though there's a few new species mixed in including the flamethrower equipped cept Scorchers the mastermind that can use telekinesis to attack the player and most powerful of all the Alpha Ceph the leader of the CEPS earthbound invasion force with new enemies more open-ended level designs and the more powerful weapons Crysis 3 provides an experience worthy of the crisis name assisted further by a remarkable visual presentation that is still arguably one of the best looking games out there but it's also one of the shortest campaigns in the series in its unique setting never feels properly explored Crysis 3 also includes with it another take a competitive multiplayer complete with the standard team deathmatch modes and several maps designed to take full advantage of the Nanosuit capabilities but one of the best new additions to the multiplayer is the hunter mode in hunter mode two players are chosen to become the hunters equipped only with a predator bow and the ability to remain closed indefinitely if a hunter kills one of the many survivors those survivors then respawn on the hunter team slowly tipping the scales until there's no survivors remaining Crysis 3 even sees the return of vehicles in its multiplayer with players able to pilot the tripod pingers to devastate their opponents but again despite its somewhat returning to its roots Crysis threes multiplayer just wasn't as popular as other shooters released around the same time and it quickly lost its main audience with only a few players left playing it today Crysis 3 as a whole was met with a lukewarm reception industry professionals praised the gorgeous visual design especially on the PC and still used it as a benchmark to this day but the campaign was not for being too short and many called Crytek out for playing it too safe with its story and gameplay mechanics sure level environments were bigger and the new bow and arrow was a nice touch but Crysis 3 failed to live up to the type of open-ended gameplay design that fans wanted in fact most levels still retained a heavy sense of linearity to them and the enemy AI proved to be too easy to outsmart making the game of repetitive and ultimately forgettable experience with lower reviews and disappointing sales numbers Crysis reproved to be the final nail in the coffin for this once-great series and with the story coming to an ultimate clusion Crytek made the decision to close the books on the series for good a decision that would soon be followed by years of misfortune for the company as the video game industry prepped for a transition to next-gen consoles Crytek struggled immensely development costs mounted substantially in each title released under the Crytek name failed to meet sales targets by 2014 many reports started surfacing revealing that Crytek employees were not being paid on time an issue that inevitably resulted in its founder savate yearly stepping down and being replaced by his two brothers to address the high development costs Crytek stepped away from retail game development and focus instead on a new free-to-play distribution model with significant support being attributed to their multiplayer only shooter Warface karthik was then forced to shut down several of their worldwide studios including offices in Hungary Bulgaria South Korea and in China they were even forced to sell the rights to the homefront series along with the UK studio working on it a move that greatly impacted that games development cycle however one of their newer Studios Crytek USA remained operable in the studio proceeded with work on a new cooperative shooter game based in the 19th century after the Crytek restructuring in 2014 many members of this particular studio parted ways leaving the game in a state of uncertainty but by 2017 news that the game had resurfaced and hunt showdown would go on to release as a competitive multiplayer experience in 2019 built using an updated version of the CryEngine far surpassing the visual and audio capabilities offered in Crytek's previous games aside from some VR titles hunt showdown was the first major title to release under the Crytek banner since the near collapse of the studio in 2014 and it received some generally positive reception with many praising the game for its creative gameplay and unique setting Crytek had finally returned at least to some degree though hope regarding the future of the Crysis series remained low but then something unexpected happened during a reveal of Crytek's updated CryEngine technology Crytek showed off a familiar tropical scene accompanied by a distinct musical score from the original crisis at first many wrote it off as just a simple throwback to critics origins but others saw it as something else a potential teaser of what was to come then in April of 2020 the crisis YouTube channel dropped an official teaser for crisis remastered showing nomads turning to face the camera in as iconic Nanosuit this remaster is set to release for the PC Xbox one ps4 and surprisingly the Nintendo switch and will likely take full advantage of Crytek's latest engine while also challenging an entire new generation to see if their computer hardware is up to the task for now details are being held tight to the chest but if the Xbox 360 and ps3 ports of the original crisis are any indication it's possible that this remaster will play a bit differently from the 2007 classic with a more intuitive control scheme and more advanced lighting effects though I guess we'll just have to wait and see if they managed to retain the revolutionary physics that turn heads over a decade ago no release date has been announced so far but chances are the game will release on August 7 2020 the same day that Raptor team first encountered the set on the Latian Islands and I'll be sure to provide plenty of coverage of the game when that happens including a full review and in depth direct comparison so be sure to stay tuned in the coming months for more info crisis despite its short life time within the whole of the gaming industry has made a major name for itself thanks to its revolutionary graphics open-ended shooter mechanics and its cinematic alien invasion storyline with only three main entries and a standalone expansion this sci-fi saga is probably unfamiliar to many young gamers but its impact can still be found throughout the industry crisis represented the launch of a new era for PC gaming with more cinematic high-quality experiences becoming the new norm and it also pushed developers to rethink how they approach their graphical presentation before other developers could even catch up though Crytek took several more steps forward and retrofitted their powerful CryEngine to provide even more impressive visuals within the confines of the limited tech afforded by seventh generation game consoles it was an incredible undertaking and despite the somewhat underwhelming gameplay scope still improved greatly on the formula with tighter controls and a better written narrative but the jumps of the console platform also hurt the trust Crytek had established with its PC fan base with many complaining that crisis had become too casual and wasn't as ambitious as before involve a small team of developers behind Crysis 3 tried their best to address these concerns the damage was already done and the crisis IP was left to gather dust throughout the majority of the 8th gen consoles but even after all these years Crysis is still recognized as one of the most technologically impressive video games of all time and Crytek having nearly collapsed under itself in 2014 is primed for a potential come back with a remaster of an experience that had us all asking can it run Crysis but what do you guys think which Crysis game was your favorite and where do you think Crytek should take the series next let me know in the comments section now I want to give a special shout-out to my patrons for helping to make this documentary possible including Chad trapline no great mystery kung-fu hot dog Uriel Tom soft and B ma'am your support is greatly appreciated if you'd like to join this growing list of supporters please check out the link listed below where you can get early access to documentaries behind the scenes content exclusive discord access and personalized shout outs all while helping me to improve the quality of these projects and of course don't forget to Like and subscribe for more videos posted every week [Music]

Channel: Nick930

Views: 303,778

Keywords: Crysis, Crytek, Warhead, Nomad, Prophet, Ceph, CELL, Comparison, Documentary, Remaster, Remastered, History, Analysis, Retrospective, Story, Gameplay, Features, Impression, Summary, Full, Fan, Favorite, Best, Professional, High Quality, Nanosuit, SCAR, Tropical, Frozen, Alien, Invasion, UFO, Tripod, Multiplayer, Crysis Wars, Crysis 2, Crysis 3, Cevat, Yerli, Future, Science Fiction, Sci-Fi, Action, FPS, Shooter, History of Crysis, Rise and Fall of Crysis, Crysis Retrospective, Crysis Remastered

Id: 43V16tXFE8g

Length: 46min 12sec (2772 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 13 2020