ALL that hype is true. Crysis, the biggest PC title this year, is the prettiest and most absorbing action game you'll play in 2007.
The storyline is fantasy. You're an American special forces trooper fighting North Koreans and aliens.
But when it comes to an immersive game world, Crysis' eye-popping graphics do what great games do once in a while - raise the bar for the genre.
When you trek through the jungle, the noon sun filtering through the leaves casts soft, moving shadows reminiscent of a long march in Tekong.
And the gentle lapping waves from the ocean make the island you battle on look like the Maldives in a postcard.
But you won't just gawk at the surroundings; there's no time for that. When a grenade explodes nearby, your vision blurs, disorienting you for a bit. A shoulder-fired rocket hits the fuel tank on a truck and a fire ball explodes.
If a picture speaks a thousand words, those 'photo-realistic' screenshots are now giving us the real deal.
Thank goodness, too, that developer Crytek, which was behind the just-as-pretty Far Cry shooter years ago, has not forgotten about gameplay.
Missions have continuity as several linked objectives must be completed before the dreaded load screen appears.
In the first mission, there is barely a pause as you get a briefing on a plane, parachute off it and start fighting your way to find your buddies on land.
You'll face dozens of North Korean troops, who seem intent to hijack a secret archaeological item that American scientists have uncovered on the island.
This will lead you to a duel with aliens that are killing both your buddies and the North Koreans.
Your coolest weapon is your futuristic combat suit, which gives superhuman strength and the ability to cloak yourself.
For me, the best part of this stealth mode is sneaking up to an enemy. Then I grab him by the throat, fling him, and finish him off in mid-air.
Okay, sorry for the violence. But it's just one of the many things that can happen in a firefight. Each time it's different because the environment is so unpredictable. Plus, the enemy does not always react the same way, especially if they hear you moving.
Speaking of sound, it's top-notch. When you trek through vegetation, turn up the speakers to hear how noisy you are, disturbing the grass.
There is so much going right in Crysis - from graphics to gameplay - that it's 2007's best action game for me.
It would have scored a perfect 10 if not for the fact that it needs so much PC horsepower to run.
To turn on the pretty visuals, you need at least dual-core chip and the latest graphics cards, preferably with an Nvidia 8800 chip.
I had a power rig with an Intel quad-core chip and an 8800GTX graphics card, so I could run at 1,920 x 1,200 - a high resolution giving sharp images - and had the graphics settings at High.
But I suspect many users may have less powerful hardware and may be frustrated with lower graphics settings.
Perhaps Crysis best sums up the joy and pain of gaming on the PC. It beats the Xbox and PS3 hands down when it comes to truly 'next-gen' graphics, but you'll need the hardware to go with it.
Cheatsheet
CONTRARY to what the trailers suggest, Crysis isn't about gunning down hordes of North Korean soldiers.
Get smart: sneak up on them with your suit's cloak function, then pick them off one by one.
This is useful as you almost always face superior numbers. You can kill with accurate shots from afar (with the Precision Rifle, for example) and quickly hide from a volley of return fire.
Or, you may cloak yourself and run in close to kill the guard before the disguise wears off.
If you get in undetected, grab him by the throat to kill him instead of firing and alerting others.
There's another good reason to use stealth mode: enemy fire is highly accurate if they spot you.
When jumping into a fire fight, make sure you get the high ground. This could mean using your suit's 'strength' function to jump onto the roof of a hut, which usually blindsights enemies right below you.
Faced with a boat or vehicle and a machine gunner, find cover first, then use a long-range rifle.
Also, customise your weapons well. Unless you need a silent kill, take out the silencer on the rifle so the damage is higher.
