Crysis Defeated

You know it's true.

Upon enjoying hours of Far Cry 2's open-world, brush-fire-setting goodness (Smokey hates me now, I know), I'm prepared to make an alarming, controversial statement: Crysis has been dethroned. In fact, it doesn't even compare. Graphically, I will admit that Crysis has an edge; but albeit its advanced engine features, it absolutely dumps on computers and looks less impressive than Far Cry 2 when its settings are lowered to playable levels. Graphics discussion aside, Far Cry 2 steals the show with flying colors.

Whereas Crysis has fun pretending to be an open-style game, covering flanks with mountains and seas with sharks, Far Cry 2 actually allows you to go anywhere, do anything, and tackle missions in any order. Who do you kill, where do you go, and with whom do you form an alliance? Don't ask me, because only you can answer those questions as you play the game!

Freedom of choice is just one gameplay element that pushes Far Cry 2 ahead of Crysis and most of the rest of the competition. Other elements, such as wear and tear on weaponry, safe houses allowing save and respawn points, weapon shops, and even faction wars and alliances give the game an amount of depth not often seen in action-packed shooters. The world also feels more "alive" than in Crysis, as the time of day is constantly changing in real-time and a broad assortment of wildlife can be seen roaming the environments in packs. When taking into consideration Crysis' lame scripted day-to-night cycles and animal collection consisting of seagulls, frogs, and chickens, it's difficult for me to say that it even competes with Far Cry 2 in terms of making you feel as if you're in a living, breathing world.

In conclusion, Crysis may feature a more advanced game engine than Far Cry 2, but it is most certainly not the superior game overall. When taking off the hype glasses and using the fire extinguisher to blow out the flames caused by Crysis' NASA-computer system requirements, it is made painfully obvious that Far Cry 2 is simply the deeper, more enjoyable, larger, and longer-lasting game. There can be no arguments held against this, as it is fact. Sorry, fellow PC gamers. I know that it hurts, but our flagship title has just been sunk.