Punch trees in half with Crysis!

We've gone on and on (and on) about Crysis' PC-hurting hardware specs. We've played through a chunk of the game and relayed our opinions. In fact, by now, you might be a little bored of hearing about Crytek's high-powered shooter. In which case you might have ignored the recently released singleplayer demo - which would mean you'd be missing out on probably the best demo ever. Really, we've never had so much fun with a demo. And here's why...

It starts real strong

Everyone loves dramatic entrances. And, taking its cue from the brilliant Just Cause, Crysis begins with an airborne night insertion, plunging you groundward in the very first seconds. Moments later, things have gone bad, and Crysis is immediately off to an exciting start...

It's full of beauty

You'll have to excuse the odd stutter in these vids - that's the Fraps capture program troubling our hardware. Without that running, Crysis is silky smooth.But, see,we had to take footage from the game with all the detail up super high, because this is a truly beautiful game. Everything from the water effects (which drip from your visor on surfacing) to the crumbly physics, and especially this sunset, bathe you in a rich glow of rarely achieved overall quality.

Ben Richardson is a former Staff Writer for Official PlayStation 2 magazine and a former Content Editor of GamesRadar+. In the years since Ben left GR, he has worked as a columnist, communications officer, charity coach, and podcast host – but we still look back to his news stories from time to time, they are a window into a different era of video games.