Crysis Nanosuit

In Crysis, your character, Jake Dunn, wears a Nanosuit, a high tech combat suit that has the ability to make you run faster, lift heavy objects, block bullets, and even become invisible.

The Nanosuit can direct its energy to one of four modes: Armor, Cloak, Speed, and Strength. Each mode depletes Nanosuit energy, but the energy regenerates over time. Certain support functions are available at all times. The Nanosuit also includes an auqualung, which automatically engages on submersion, allowing you to breathe underwater for a limited time, and a night vision mode (accessed by pressing [l]), which runs off of an independent power source that is quickly drained.

All of the suit enhancements can be accessed with a click of the third mouse button and then selected by rotating a radial menu. Or you can flip them on directly with hotkeys.

Table of Contents

Armor

The setting diverts energy to the Nanosuit's defenses structure to boost the level of protection given by its armor. Any damage taken reduces suit energy rather than health but once this is depleted, you become vulnerable to health damage.

Best used when in a big scrap with lots of enemies and no cover is readily available, maximum armor is a last resort power that gives you the ability to withstand more damage than normal. You can fire it up by choice right before attacking an enemy position head-on, though. It also clicks on by default whenever the power runs out when you have cloak activated.

When activated, Armor will let incoming bullets sap your energy levels instead of your health. When you run out of energy, your health will start to go down as normal, but this effectively gives you a second life bar, which will let you survive that much longer in a firefight. Armor will also let you regenerate health more quickly when you've been wounded.

Cloak

The clock generates a highly effective cloaking shield, which renders you virtually invisible. Unfortunately the Cloak system's high power requirements drain suit energy, so it can only be used for a limited time. Firing your weapon in Cloak mode makes you instantly visible.

Given the massive number of enemies in Crysis, this power is the one that you will use the most. By which we mean all the freaking time. Cloak can be employed in all situations, although it is at its best when you want to pop up in the midst of a gang of enemies and take them by surprise, or when you need to sneak past an enemy patrol. It is also invaluable when approaching enemy positions like bases or machine-gun nests, as it gives you the ability to run across open stretches without being seen (and shot into itty bitty pieces).

The only drawback with cloak is its power draw. It sucks your suit dry in moments, especially if you're running, so you have to be careful that you don't run out of juice in mid-sneak and wind up turning visible in the middle of a clearing. Power consumption is really cut down if you're crawling, though. So if you've got the patience, drop into a prone position and creep forward. This will be rewarded with oodles more time to invisibly flank enemies. In other situations, you can always try to find a hidden corner away from enemy line of sight, turn off your cloak for a second, regain your energy, and flip it back on before resuming your movement.

Cloaking can also be used to escape enemy attention while you're inside one of their bases. If you cloak while an enemy is looking at you, they'll continue to fire, but if you can escape their line of sight (by ducking into a building or around a corner), activate your cloak, then quickly reposition yourself to another area, your foes will typically keep searching for you where they last saw you, allowing you to make your getaway.

Speed

An injection of nanobots into your bloodstream allows you to move at up to twice normal speed. Walking speed is enhanced at no cost to suit energy but running greatly depleted energy, limiting the amount of time you can sprint for.

Another big-time power drain, maximum speed is best utilized when either attacking gangs of enemies or running away from gangs of enemies after realizing that you've bitten off more than you can chew. It is also a plus when you're trying to make good time running down roads. Doing this can sometimes cause you to race into trouble, though. You move so fast that you can easily wind up in the middle of an enemy patrol before you know it, with your suit running on empty. However, keeping speed activated without sprinting will also increase your movement speed by a small but noticeable amount if you keep your energy topped off.

Strength

The setting gives you double the strength of an un-enhanced human. The muscular exoskeleton of the Nanosuit is activated, allowing you to lift and throw larger objects, jump higher, cause greater damage in melee attacks, and stabilize weapons for reduced recoil.

This can come in pretty handy when infiltrating a base, as it'll let you jump over otherwise impassible low walls, but it's of very little use in combat, as you're generally taking on so many enemies in firefights that getting up close and personal with one leaves a half-dozen or more with clear shots at your back.