Cry-Fi: StarCry Takes Crysis To Spaaace
Do you think Crysis needs more lightsabers? I think Crysis needs more lightsabers. Evidently, the folks behind the original Crysis' four-years-in-the-making StarCry mod agreed, so they chucked 'em in - hopefully skewering an Ewok or 12 in the process - for good measure. Wait, good measure? Why would I ever say such a thing when lightsabers - much like love - are all you need? Mainly because they join 1000 new sci-fi-themed objects, 2000 textures, 20 weapons, and 1000 lines of dialog as part of a seriously formidable overhaul package. Intrigued? Well, unfortunately, the RPS lot is fresh out of sci-fi-themed vehicles for break-traversing purposes. We do have Syfy-themed vehicles, though. Might I recommend the Supergator?
That was a lot of things. However, it was also just a handful of the whole-lot-more-things included in the final package, which you can download here. StarCry definitely strikes me as the type of thing that could end up flattening its own forward momentum with one (thousand) too many sci-fi references, but the dev team apparently made a deliberate effort to avoid that.
"We estimate around eight hours of gameplay for a first playthrough. The mod contains many references to famous science-fiction universes (movies, TV shows, video games - famous or canceled) alongside original creations, while still having a coherent storyline... It is not based on the Stargate franchise, even if some models have a similar design (the main character is a SG fan). Maybe it is a prequel to Crysis 1, a dream, or you are connected to the alien's matrix? You will see."
The creators also tout a ruthless difficulty level and not-so-easy-to-drive vehicles - the latter of which they justify by noting that you're piloting alien tech, not our primitive dinosaur-bone-powered ape cars.
So StarCry might not be for everyone. It still seems like an impressively ambitious piece of work, though, and - for better or worse - I'm quite enamored with the idea of picking through this sort of thing for the inevitable flood of "See what we did there?" moments. Also, we live in a world sadly bereft of virtual Firefly adventures. It seems likely that, if nothing else, I'll at least find one brief, fleeting wink or nod in StarCry. And I will savor it in near-orgasmic fashion, like a person with a tremendous headcold sucking on a lozenge. Then I will weep.