If you ask hardcore PC gamers, they'll tell you that there are few things they like more than the latest FPS to show off the awesomeness of their new gaming rig. This generally began with 3D games like the original Quake and was exacerbated with the introduction of 3D accelerators. Since then, countless titles, like Doom 3, Half-Life 2 and Far Cry, have all come out to demonstrate the bleeding edge of PC gaming.

The winds are changing, however, and many FPS titles that once would have been PC exclusive have gone over to consoles, and generally multiplying the sales as a result. As such, the number of games built for "future" PCs has dwindled. One shining example of this hardware hogging tradition is Crysis, which scoffed consoles for a PC exclusive release.

We take a closer look at one of the most graphically complex games ever created.

EA will take this Crysis
According to the NPD, Crysis has been among Top 10 PC games since debuting at number two back in mid-November. Crysis has been a consistent seller since then, taking the number two spot for November 2007 and the seventh slot among December's best selling PC titles. According to EA, Crysis has sold over a million copies worldwide.

The success that Crysis has had is more impressive when you consider the competitive market into which it was launched. Crysis was directly competing for consumers' wallets during a holiday season when Valve's The Orange Box released and Activision's Call of Duty 4 simply dominated both PC and console sales. This is not to mention the release of Halo 3, which while not available on PC, was certainly part of the crowded shooter market.

Crysis' performance also demonstrated that there's still a market for high-end retail PC games. Perhaps this market isn't the size that it used to be, and maybe an Xbox 360 version of Crysis would have sold more copies, but there's obviously enough hardcore PC gamers who are willing to purchase the game (and not pirate it) as a true test of their no-doubt expensive gaming rig. Maybe Crysis is part of a dying breed of games built from the ground up to take advantage of bleeding edge PC technology, but it may be one of the best "hardware show-off" games ever.

Stunningly photorealistic visuals... if you have the proper rig

More than just a pretty face?
Like Far Cry, which was also developed by Crytek, one of the main selling points for the shooting action of Crysis is the openness of the environment. This "open world" design allows for players to explore environments, pick up a number of items, and generally mess around with the world's dynamic physics engine. While this approach was mostly praised, some critics pointed out that there was little to do other than complete objectives and shoot bad guys within the open environments, leaving some feeling that this "open world" was something of a missed opportunity.

Crysis, however, is about more than just running around and gunning down North Korean soldiers and freaky aliens. One of the major gameplay draws for the game is the "Nano Muscle Suit" granting your Delta Force solider the ability to make himself virtually invisible, gain enhanced strength or speed, and more. The suit grants players some freedom in deciding how they want to fight through the various battles in Crysis. Also worth noting is that the game has a nice selection of vehicles to control, from tanks to trucks and aircraft, which helps vary the gameplay.

Ultimately though, there's one main reason many people would play Crysis and that's the graphics. Normally, this isn't a notable reason in and of itself for people to pick up a game nowadays, but Crysis is a special case because of how much focus was put on the visuals. The game is a showcase for Crytek's new CryEngine 2, and it has some of the most detailed and realistic visuals to ever be made for a video game, presuming one has spent enough on their PC gaming rig to make those high-end graphics even possible.

In fact, the system requirements for Crysis are so high that it was probably the most oft cited criticism of the game. Some critics also savaged the game as being basically average at its core when you strip away all of the pretty visuals. Still, it was very well received by most critics, receiving a 91% on GameRankings.com.

"Gamers looking for the most technologically sophisticated game of the year should head directly for Crysis," said Steven Wong's 9-out-of-10 GameDaily Review. "The artificial intelligence can be quirky, but the open-ended gameplay, spectacular graphics and incredible nanosuit powers more than make up for it. Crysis has some pretty severe system requirements, but those with powerhouse computers are in for an amazing experience."

Crysis Instincts inevitable?
The promotional campaign for Crysis wasn't quite as high profile as other shooter titles in 2007, but it still had its fair amount of hype. Where the excitement really began was in early 2006, where a trailer demonstrating the amazing visuals of CryEngine 2 gave a teaser look at Crysis. Hardcore PC gamers were locked into every trailer and piece of information that came out, culminating in a TV spot that set up the game's plot while highlighting the graphics, and showing off the finished product to the uninitiated.

While Crysis did well enough to be a success, many would point to the numbers that The Orange Box and especially Call of Duty 4 put up to show how much of a difference launching your games on consoles can make. While those systems might be cannibalizing gamers that, perhaps, in years past were solely interested in PC shooters, there's no doubting the potency of releasing multiplatform. Despite the fact that Crytek has kept Crysis PC exclusive so far, the recent announcement that CryEngine 2 would be shown running on the PS3 and Xbox 360 at GDC makes us wonder how long that's going to be the case.