English
Gamereactor
reviews
Crysis Remastered Trilogy

Crysis Remastered Trilogy

The collection contains three undeniably solid titles, but new additions are lacking here.

Subscribe to our newsletter here!

* Required field
HQ
HQ

As recently as last year, Crytek released a remaster of the then thirteen-year-old Crysis. In its original version, a game that made every performance connoisseur lose his cool. A graphics experience that quickly was cemented into the history books and gave rise to the now classic phrase "will it run Crysis?" Players came for the graphics but stayed for the freedom, challenging enemies, atmosphere, and the uncompromising actions pieces. Here, of course, there was a golden opportunity thirteen years later to blow another generation of players off the chair with a remake that could once and for all have cemented the studio's status as pioneers in the genre. As is well known, this did not happen - at all. Instead, a remake was released that barely differed from the original. Sure, slightly better textures, slightly sharper colors, and a better frame rate, but with a price tag of just over £30, it was more of a quick cash grab than something substantial. A full year later the entire trilogy has been given the remaster treatment.

Crysis 2 is in my opinion the best game in the series and that feeling persists even after mowing my way through the remaster. Eleven years after its release, it is still an incomparably beautiful dystopian graphic festival that was once again far ahead of its time. The contrast could not be greater, from warm tropical latitudes to a cold New York, ruined and filled with destroyed landmarks. Sneaking along salt-soaked beaches has here been replaced by adrenaline-fueled battles on rooftops and the nanosuit is more often the difference between life and death. The story takes up more space and it is a story about betrayal, conspiracy, and corruption. At the center, the origins of the nano-costume and the survival of mankind.

It's an action-packed script that could fit any Hollywood movie. Cliché, sure, but it works really well in this format. The only problem is that this time just like last year, there are far too few differences compared to the original game.

This is an ad:

We fast forward another two years and the graphics are now even sharper. Already when the trailer for Crysis 3 was released, people, including me, were extremely impressed. Would Crytek succeed again, for the third time in a row? The answer was yes. Graphically, it was another amazing title, even though the input value was already so high that the difference now felt smaller. Crysis 3 was good. I liked it almost as much as I do the second game, but it has aged more aggressively.

Crysis Remastered Trilogy

In terms of gameplay, Crysis 2 was better. The story in Crysis 3 consisted mostly of a duel of cheesy one-liners, together with the annoying sidekick in the form of Psycho and the number of film sequences had greatly increased. It was still a polished first-person shooter which whipped the majority of the competition but it did not reach the same heights as the two previous titles.

The remake of Crysis 3, for natural reasons, looks the best of the three games. It is clear that there are details that have been honed here as well, but I still have some serious problems with actually seeing what has been "remastered" here. It just feels like Crysis 3, again. The very same game released once more. With that said, these are three really good games, with about thirty hours of entertainment for the price of one.

This is an ad:

However, these are games that are ten years old and must of course be included in the calculations. There are no new expansions or any new story mode included in this trilogy, so in terms of content it is exactly the same as before and even though I like all three games, this feels like a pretty lazy cash grab, in the end. Some technically, improvements have been made, mainly via 4K and HDR support. Setting a grade is thus not the easiest thing to do. If you have never played this series, there is no better opportunity than to hit the Crysis Remastered Trilogy.

If, on the other hand, you already own Crysis 1-3, there is more or less no reason at all to throw out hard-earned money on what in the end is most of all just a glorified resolution-update. As I said, difficult to motivate but it is as usual when it comes to remakes. What I really would have liked is a fully-fledged remake of the first game, with today's technology and Crysis 4. Please.

Crysis Remastered TrilogyCrysis Remastered Trilogy
Crysis Remastered Trilogy
07 Gamereactor UK
7 / 10
+
Three great games. Great atmosphere. Solid gameplay.
-
The titles haven't aged the best. The new additions are minor.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

Related texts



Loading next content