Crysis Trilogy Switch - "Can it run Crysis"?

(Nintendo Switch code provided by Sandbox Strategies PR/Crytek) 

By Sam Coles:  

“Can it run Crysis” was a popular meme during the mid-2000s when the original Crysis came out in 2007, for good reason too as the game was far beyond than the existing technology. The game has and honestly still looks amazing visually, and now for me to play not only the first but the entire trilogy on my Nintendo Switch which is crazy to think about let alone play. So, I got a chance to play through the entire trilogy of Crysis games on Nintendo Switch, and I have to say I am impressed especially the first game, so is it worth it? In short yes.  

The Crysis series sees you play as different protagonists in each game, in the first you play as Nomad, the second Alcatraz, and in the third Prophet. In each game you are a soldier in a Nano Suit, which increases the wearer’s abilities, from super strength, stealth capabilities as well as tactical awareness in the battlefield. However, these suits are made from alien technology, where the suits themselves become a part of the wearer’s body which ends up infecting them with a virus. So much so, that the virus spreads to New York, and the US military have to also stop an invading force from the alien entities known as the Ceph. It is an interesting plot throughout the trilogy, it is a fun and twisting military/science fiction conspiracy thriller.  

Gameplay wise it seems like another run of the mill first person shooter, but these games give you a variety of ways to tackle a combat scenario especially the first game. The levels are fairly flexible with how you want to approach a situation, so if you want to go in and kick the doors in with alarms blaring you can. However, you can slap on a suppressor, activate your cloak on your suit and go in like the Predator and watch as everyone panics. Anyway, the way you want to approach a combat scenario is completely up to you, you can activate your armour, go in with a light machine and gun anything down that moves or you can equip a bow (in Crysis 3), cloak and take them down like a futuristic Robin Hood.  

I do favour a louder approach in these games as it is more fun, but sometimes especially in the first game I feel as if the game penalises you for going loud and almost wants you to always do a stealth approach. In the first game, it is generally more favaourable to follow a quieter route in combat, as you die very quickly in confrontation even with armour activated. However, as the games go on, they do let you take a more action focused approach, as they do get progressively easier, especially Crysis 3.  

Visually each game looks incredible and runs really well, yes, they run at 30 frames per second, but they stay locked at 30 fps. The game that I thought would have the most trouble running was the first game, as there hasn’t really been a good console port of it if you look back at the not so good 360 port. No, on Switch it looks great, and runs smoothly throughout in both portable and docked mode. Crysis 2 was the next one I had a bit of trepidation about, as that game ran abysmally on the Xbox 360, we are talking sub 20 fps. However, on Nintendo Switch it runs at a locked 30 fps, and I found myself engaging in combat instead of avoiding it like I did on the 360 back in the day as it is now stably running.  

Overall, I had a lot of fun revisiting these titles on Nintendo Switch, if you are looking for a good set of first person shooters to play on the platform you can’t go wrong with Crysis. To answer the question of “Can it run Crysis”? The answer is yes it can!  

The Punisher (2005) - A PS2 Classic!

By Sam Coles: 

The Punisher is one of Marvel’s most ionic yet controversial characters, mostly due to the violent content it is associated with its source material. People who write it off as mindless violence really don’t understand the character, but I can understand why some maybe turned off by the violent content. The character’s popularity was through the roof in the early to late 2000’s, mostly due to Garth Ennis’ work on the character through the Marvel Knights and MAX line of comics. However, not only that we got two film adaptations, first one starring Thomas Jane in 2004 and the another with Ray Steveson in 2008. So, putting two and two together you would think there would be a game adaptation, and you would be right and we got 2005’s The Punisher.  

Developed by Volition, this game was met with a lot of upheaval with its production as it was refused classification twice by the BBFC and was given the dreaded Adults Only rating from the ESRB. This was due to the extreme violence of the game, mostly because of the interrogation sections where the executions were considered too much at time, which is rather quint by today’s standards. The BBFC refused to release the game in the UK unless they slapped a headache inducing filter on top of it, and the ESRB wanted the same, but also wanted the camera to pan away from the gruesome demise of the unfortunate criminal. Despite the censoring of said parts of the game, what we got is great, so let’s get into it.  

The plot of this game, loosely follows the Welcome Back Frank saga that was published in the year 2000, although there is a distinct lack of Frank punching a polar bear. Anyway, Frank who is once again played by Thomas Jane with the writing chops of Garth Ennis and Jimmy Palmiotti is hunting down the Gnucci mob family among others. The story is told through flash backs, as Frank has been arrested (for his own intentions), and is telling the events that led him to his imprisonment. It is a really good story; it helps that Thomas Jane does a good performance as Frank with his dry wit and cynical nature are ripped straight from the comic book panels.   

Gameplay is rather straight forward; it is a third person shooter that is heavy inspired by Max Payne which includes trench coat physics because of course. Anyway, you shoot criminal goons with a variety of weapons, which most can be duel wielded, yes you can even round around with two assault rifles gunning down goons, which I did so with a gleeful grin. You can take human shields in this game, and this mechanic becomes mandatory in the later missions as the enemies are decked out in Kevlar armour and use high caliber weapons. The shooting feels great, every gun packs a punch even the pistols, the sound design is crunchy and thunderous especially the shotguns.  

Now we get to the aspect of the game that got the game banned/refused classification originally, the interrogations. What these parts entail, is that you must get information out of criminal, this can range from them giving you a code for a door of a hint about a boss etc. However, this is also how you regain health in this game, and it can get awkward in the middle of gunfight when you are shaking a criminal down for info as you tank bullets for the sake of health. If you push them too far, they will meet a grizzle death, from deep frying someone’s head, feeding them to a shark or putting them through a wood chipper feet first. Despite the censoring with this version, the sound design and voice work leave it to your imagination and makes it worse somehow.  

Visually the game looks pretty good for a PlayStation 2 game, bear in mind that this was a late life cycle game and it push the console to its limits. The character models look really good for the time, especially The Punisher’s character model, as he looks to be a mix of Steve Dillion’s drawings of the character mixed with the mountain of meat that he is portrayed as in the MAX comics. Blood and gore effects are great, you really feel every bullet tear through enemies in this game, which is great for a shooter let alone a game based on The Punisher. The only real issue I had with this game was the performance, the framerate was stable for the most part but there was one segment where it was really low and was quite hard to play. I think this is only an issue with the PS2 version, whereas on the original Xbox it runs much better and can be played on the 360 via backwards compatibility.  

The Punisher game from 2005 is an excellent game and understands the character of Frank Castle, it is an explosive shooter that shows the developers absolutely love the source material. It is a crying shame that we never got their open world sequel they were working on, or any good Punisher game since. I feel the industry is in a more mature place now, and I think a story driven third person shooter based on The Punisher would work in today’s gaming environment, but one can only wish.  

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Hellblade II: Senua's Saga - A visual masterpiece.

(Played via Xbox Game Pass, subscription provided by Xbox UK)

By Sam Coles: 

The first time I played the original Hellblade back in 2018, it was an experience that really stuck with me. Senua’s journey really stood out at the time, and that was mostly due to the bold move of Ninja Theory to explore psychosis. It was and still is an unsettling game, especially if you played it with a set of 3D surround sound headphones which I did back in the day. Now we have Hellblade II, a sequel announced all the way back in 2019 alongside the Xbox Series X and it is finally here. Is it as good as the original, in short yes and it had a similar impact that the first had on me.  

Hellblade II sees you step into the shoes of Senua again; this time she is being held captive on a boat as a slave heading towards Iceland. A storm hits the boat, and she is then stranded on shore, where she gathers her thoughts watching as each captive is slaughtered across the island she washes up on. She ends up in a confrontation with the head slaver, captures him and uses him to find the giants that protect Iceland so she can kill each one.  

What immediately stands out in this game, is that Senua is surrounded by other characters whereas in the original she was on her own only surrounded by the echos of her past. It works really well as Senua is having to balance the voices with her psychosis as well as the conversation at hand, so she is mostly distant and delayed with her responses as she is really having to focus and mostly ignoring the scalding of the voices in her mind. The performance from the cast is amazing, Melina Juergens who once again portrays Senua, does a brilliant, haunting and heartbreaking job as the character as there were a few scenes that got to me.  

Now onto the gameplay side of things, and this is the aspect of Hellblade II that has the internet divided and honestly, I don’t know why as it is similar to the first game. The game mostly consists of exploring, solving puzzles, and getting into brutal combat while taking in the story. Yes, it is mostly about walking around while experiencing the story, but it is not a “walking simulator” as some have dubbed it, some of the combat encounters while not difficult had me dying a couple of times as it does require timing with blocks and dodging. The game is very linear, but honestly, I don’t see that as a bad aspect of the game as we are drowning in hundred-hour open world games, and this shorter experience was a breath of fresh air.   

Visually this game is a real showcase for Unreal Engine 5, it is amazing how far we have come with graphics in the past 25 years and this game looks believable with how realistic character models look. It was one of those moments when I wasn’t sure if the game had started, but it did and the graphics are incredible, characters move believably, they capture every emotion, twitch and smirk and it is nothing short of amazing.  

Not just the visuals, the audio design in this game is fantastic! The voice work for the inner voices that are on Senua’s journey are very unsettling, I didn’t play with surround sound headphones this time, but it worked well on a decent stereo set up. You hear them constantly throughout the game, it really threw me off during combat and puzzles but that is the entire point as it makes you question your own capabilities like Senua is in the story. Plus, the audio in combat is great, you really feel every stab, slash and plunge with wet sickening sounds as your opponents bleed out, or blood curdling screams as you slit their throat wide open. It adds an extra layer of brutality to the combat and makes it more immersive.  

Overall, I think Hellblade II is a great experience. It is a thought-provoking tale that is a technical masterpiece with its visuals and audio design. Not only that, but it also shows what actors can do in a video game story when technology is really pushed, as it looks very believable coupled with great writing and performances. Give it a go, especially if you have Game Pass.  

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