Crysis 2 Review

If you remember Crysis then you will remember a truly awesome game with fantastic graphics, a good storyline and a single player that would allow you to face objectives in your own way; whether they were to jump straight in and shoot everyone, or to sit back and slowly but surely move around the map picking off people left and right.

Crysis 2 is no different: the game play is pretty much the same. The story takes place 3 years after the original and now the spread of the virus has moved into the cities which allows Crytek to render an urban jungle, which is a nice change to the jungle infested areas you have played in any of the other Crytek games.

The graphics are wonderful which takes full advantage of what we have to work with in the current platform line up. Everything is beautifully rendered and I must admit running around a city while killing bad guys and running to object points is a nice change compared to any of the other FPS titles that are currently on the market.

Saying this, some of the insides of buildings have a lot to be desired and while some of the parts of the levels are destructible you will find that other titles at the moment have more destructive areas. However this isn't a major problem as the game really does show the engine off a lot better when you are in a open area, for example walking down a street in New York. This really does show the attention to detail that has been put into this title and you really feel immersed in the game.

The game starts off with you playing as a Force Recon Marine codenamed "Alcatraz", who after a mission gone wrong is granted with a nano suit 2.0 which allows you to use basically the same skills as you had in the previous game; the suit allows you to use different modes to allow you to get the upper hand against the sensational amount of enemies for you have to face off against. The storyline is solid and as the tension built, I truly did believe that all the things that happened within this game. Piecing together flashbacks and tying the story up is a great way to tell this new branch of the storyline. I am rather tempted to tell you how this game ends because it really does add something to make you get this game however I'll leave it for you to find out yourself. I found myself wanting to move onto the next objective in this game without feeling like was doing it for no reason. I suppose this could be down to the mix of playing styles I had at my disposal - if I was getting bored of sneaking around I could always choose to go in guns blazing and tear the place to shreds instead.

The skills you get within the Nano Suit 2.0 have been combined to form three key power-ups comprising the skills you may know from Crysis:

Armor mode power-up makes the suit stronger and allows you to take less damage for a small amount of time. This can be really useful in a big firefight, or when something has gone wrong and you have been exposed. With this, it is possible to run out of a situation and not get killed on your way out.

The infiltration mode allows you to go invisible and sneak around enemies. This tactic is best approached with soft and slow movements as getting too close to enemies while cloaked may still alert them to your prescence, and they will react and end up shooting you. The other advantage of this mode is that you can activate stealth kills which allows you to take down enemies without firing a single shot or raising the alarm of others nearby.

You also get a tactical mode which allows you survey the scene around you, allowing you to find areas for you to use, ammo resupplies or just tagging enemies so you know where they are at all times. This mode is effective when searching for a flank position to take advantage of your enemy with, or even to restock and resupply after a heavy firefight.

Additionally, you can get a speed boost which will allow you to run faster but drain your energy if you hold the sprint button down. The same again for the Jump and Melee attack, if you hold down the button for this it will charge using energy but provide a stronger attack or leap.

As well as having these four skills at your disposal your will also have the ability to customise weapons as you progress through the game, allowing you to modify weapons by attaching silencers or even laser sights to allow for increased long range accuracy, or quieter kills.

Another thing to note as well is the fact that you can upgrade your suit how you want to, allowing you to focus on key areas of the suit which you will use more frequently and give you the biggest advantage in a battle situation. While most games allow some kind of perk option in multi-player not many allow this in the single player. This is a great addition and makes me think of multiple playstyles to try and see other combinations of upgrades.

Be careful as the new nano suit does seem to have a lot less energy than the previous one and on more than one occasion I have found myself running out of energy fairly quickly in a firefight or moving around stealthily. I suppose this is down to the fact that you can use the jump or run as well as the stealth or armour bonus at the same time, meaning you are causing a huge drain on your suit. So be careful as you may find yourself in a dire situation as I did, appearing when you didn't want to or suddenly dying due to your perks wearing off.

The Human AI in this game is really fun to play against and you will hear them chatter constantly while in battle with you giving advice and shouting out your latest position while you are trying to pick them off. However I have noticed that even with this advanced AI which will try and rush you and also move from cover to cover, there is still a few bugs - on a few occasions I have had enemies in corners doing nothing more than stare at a wall or even running on the spot due to a pillar being in their way. All in all though the AI does a good job of keeping you on your toes and even though there are these small flaws I can forgive them at least.

The multiplayer element of Crysis 2 is a massive upgrade to the previous one which was in Crysis. This system seems to be along the lines of Call of Duty multiplayer that allows you to customise different weapon loadouts and suit modules, not unlike the perk system in any Call of Duty game. Again like Call of Duty, you will unlock more pieces for your weapons and modules the more your character levels up. This is done by experience gained after completing one of the six game modes which are mostly the bog standard features of Capture the Flag and Team Deathmatch to name a couple. The one problem with the multiplayer is that there is no way to customise your nano suit visually but with the amount of loadouts you can have for your nano suit I am pretty sure most FPS multiplayers won't be disappointed here.

Crysis 2 is a visually stunning game and even from the first few moment you start playing you will realise what I mean. Screenshots do not do this game justice. If you can forgive a few problems with AI and few problems with your nano suit (lack of energy), your single player session will be set for a awesome ride. For multiplayer it is pretty much the same as any FPS title on the market and while it is fun to tweak your nano suit out with new abilities, I am not sure if Crysis 2 has the staying power on the multiplayer to keep people from straying back to Call of Duty.