Welcome to the jungle

Anyone who was lucky enough in 2007 to be able to play Crysis ot only got to enjoy a very cool sci-fi first-person shooter in a jungle scenario, but could also count themselves among the top ten thousand in terms of hardware. Because the game from German developer studio Crytek brought even the high-end computers of the time to their knees on the highest settings, I had to play it on low to medium on release. Incidentally, it's nice in this context that the recently released remaster of all three Crysis-games will probably continue this tradition 15 years later, which is why I stayed away from it straight away.

So I'm left with the pleasant memories of cozy walks on the beach in the Nanosuit's stealth mode, which allowed me to sneak up on my unknowing opponents before grabbing them and beating them into orbit in strength mode. Ah, memories... I digress. Crysis was a good game, as was its successor Crysis 2, which created a fluffier gameplay by simplifying the modes of our super-soldier-strangler, but whose 08/15 Call of Duty-world-saving-city-bombing-explosion-fetishism appealed to me less. On the other hand, I didn't even play part 3.

Games from the Crysis-series

Crysis (2007)

Crysis 2 (2011)

In mathematics, one would speak of a linear flattening of my interest - or something like that. To be honest, I never really paid attention. I simply lacked the applicability in everyday life. Back then, I much preferred listening to the soundtrack by composer Inon Zur, which I liked so much at the time that Crysis and its addon Warhead got a total of six 5-star tracks and helped propel the franchise in my Top 10 Sci-Fi Scores to number 4.

Now, for each of my reviews, I listen to the complete score again in meticulous preparation in order to check whether Past Mattis was a true music connoisseur or not. And for the first time, I was shocked to discover that I had to make a few downgrades. Of course, I knew all the candidates concerned, as they run up and down my playlist. But when your finger habitually twitches towards the skip button, it doesn't bode well. And that's what happened.

In fact, I have to admit to myself that my ratings from 2007 (or a little later) were probably due to my lack of alternatives. When I gave them 5 stars, they were some of the first in my collection and ranked alongside games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion or Battlefield: Bad Company 2 . But just as at some point you can no longer listen to the edgy indie band of yesteryear (looking at you Ash), so it seems to be with some of these tracks. However, as this isn't supposed to be a falling-out-of-love story, here's the 15-year-late review of the soundtrack from the very first Crysis.

First of all, the positive side: with 22 tracks and a duration of around an hour, the score is pleasantly extensive without being bloated. There are no total failures, a few nice bright spots shine through the palm canopy and, what is particularly important to me, we have a real theme. One that doesn't just play in the main menu or in the intro, but actually recurs and is incorporated into other tracks, giving the game's music its own identity.

Overall, the Crysis-score (not to be confused with Crisis Coresounds like an homage to the first Predator-movie with Arnold Schwarzenegger. You know, the one that was less Hollywood action and more survival thriller - a setting that Crysis also depicts, at least at the beginning. As we sneak through the thicket and hide from the initially human opponents, the soundtrack builds up a pleasant jungle atmosphere, mixed with a sense of danger that could be lurking around every corner.

Sometimes more focused on the thrill aspect (Terminal, Loss of Pressure, Only a Way in), sometimes more tempo-oriented (The Nexus, Gaining Ground, Losing Time) and apart from that sometimes a bit psychedelic (Scavengers), the interplay of percussions, strings and horns (even pan flutes!) works oppressively well. This impression is supported by the integration of SFX and voicelines (By a Thread, Strickland’s March), which bring some variety to the standardized music, although I'm rarely really a fan of them. Here I can just about overlook that.

In addition to the Predator-references, I also have associations with other franchises. First Light exudes pleasant Uncharted-vibes and conjures up images of dense jungles and ruins before the recurring march character of the main theme is heard for the first time halfway through. It's not incredibly exciting, but at least it's something ... even if I'm not really sad that it wasn't used in the subsequent parts. In contrast, Infiltration with its strings sounds like a piece borrowed from the Soul-Reaver-series and the theatrics of Sometimes You Lose bring back memories of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars meets Medieval 2 Total War marries The Chronicles of Narnia.

Now my mental connections say absolutely nothing about the quality of the actual soundtrack, but are only intended to explain why the score no longer ranks as highly with me today as it did back then. Because for me it sounds like things I already know and which become too unspectacular to really grab me. The ambient action tracks in particular (Legion, Reactor, Shotgun) sound more like they've been borrowed from a tabletop RPG adaptation and less like flashy shooter fare - and certainly not sci-fi. The exception here is Grave Danger, which begins comparatively quietly before working sonically with the main theme, creating a nice, diametrical contrast.

Last but not least, there's Undercurrent, which could also come from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare in a similar form, as well as my highlights of the score, Sometimes You Win and Pyrrhic Victory. Both already hint at Zur's style, which he was to play brilliantly in Dragon Age: Origins two years later and are simply great fun.This fusion of cascading strings and dramatic brass provides a heroic soundscape that an adventure on a desert island doesn't really deserve, but which it desperately needs in order to break out of the uniformity of the tribal atmospheric background music and prevent the score from becoming one of many.