
A team of American civilian archaeologists, led by Dr. The game begins in 2020 when North Korean forces led by General Kyong take control of the Lingshan Islands. If the player has not been detected in the area, enemies will exhibit relaxed behaviour, but if aware of the player they will draw weapons and become combative. AI soldiers will respond to noise caused by the player, including using signal flares to call for reinforcements. Enemy soldiers employ tactical maneuvers and work as squads. The player can engage enemies in a variety of ways using stealth or aggression, bullets or non-lethal tranquilizers, ranged rifles or short-range weaponry, and so on. A particularly useful utility is the binocular function, which allows the player to zoom in and electronically tag enemies and vehicles from afar, thereby tracking their movement on the tactical display. The view is electronic in nature, shown in-game through things such as a booting readout and visual distortion during abnormal operation.

The suit's integral facemask has its own HUD, displaying typical data including a tactical map, health, current energy levels, and weapons information. One of four modes can be selected: Armour deflects damage and recharges the suit's energy faster Strength allows superhuman strength in hand-to-hand combat, the ability to throw objects and enemies with deadly force, much higher vertical jumps, steadier aiming and reduced weapon recoil Speed increases running and swimming speed to superhuman levels, as well as other forms of motion such as reloading weapons and Cloak, which renders Nomad almost completely invisible and suppresses movement noise.

When the suit's energy is depleted, no modes can be used and the player is more vulnerable to damage before the suit recharges. The player is also capable of selecting various modes in Nomad's military " Nanosuit" which draws power from the suit's energy.

The player's weapons can be customized without pausing the flow of time, for example changing firing modes, changing scopes or adding sound suppressors. The player controls a US Army Delta Force operator codenamed Nomad. As with Crytek's previous game Far Cry, Crysis is an open-ended first-person shooter game with many ways to meet objectives.
