This game should be called - Call of Halo: Mirror's Killzone. Notice, there is no "Crysis" in that title.
You essentially have Call of Duty scripted level design, with Halo's story and alien bad-guys, on top of Mirror's Edge platforming, and Killzone's over-the-top action shooting - all condensed to run effectively on a console.... and then ported to a PC. That's.... basically what Crysis 2 is. And... to be fair... I would be okay with that - had they also offered the staple Crysis experience as the base: the free-form, sandbox gameplay. But... they somehow forgot to put that part in there. You know... the part that made Crytek what it is today?
Let's talk specifics....
1. There are no tactical military options, otherwise known as "freedom of play." In Crysis 2, you essentially have hubs connected by tunnels, and each hub (where the action is taking place) pretty much is exactly the same, however you run it. You don't attack things from different angles. Let me illustrate this in another way: In Crysis 1, given pretty much any situation, you had a plethora of options. You could decide to use a beach-side insertion, ascend the cliff, and sneak in through the back door. Or, you could basically just bust in there, packing all big and bad, blowing up anything in your way. Or you could go steal a truck, have it run in through the front and blow it up, thereby making an effective diversion to allow yourself to casually hop the fence and walk in with no one being the wiser. Or you could go around an entire area, setting traps and C4, then climb the sniper tower, hit the "explode traps" button, and then pick off anyone who is left standing. In any situation, you had those kinds of options. Crysis 2 does not give you the opportunity to play the game in such a way. And, this is by far the biggest disappointment, and the biggest departure from the original. To me, never mind everything else... this is really what makes this NOT Crysis.
2. There is no exploration of any kind. No, off the beaten trail to find some extra sniper rifle ammo, or some extra grenades because you're out of both. In fact, you will quite literally never run out of ammo. Why? Because this isn't a tactical game. It is a run-n-gun game. And in a run-n-gun game, you have to have bullets, or you can't play. And... that's okay. But it isn't Crysis.
3. There is no ammo conservation or weapon swapping for tactical purposes. No kidding - one gun is effectively no better or worse than any other gun in any situation. On top of that, you only carry 2 guns. Why? That effectively reduces your tactical preparation and options, which means it lends itself to the run-n-gun gameplay. As far as every gun being the same - sure you have the option to switch you gun, but unlike in Crysis, you don't switch your gun to better equip yourself for your plan. No... you change your gun because you think one of them looks cooler than the other. Again... that is nothing like Crysis.
4. There is no silent observing of enemy patterns and guard routes, or at least, there is no need to do so. This game is a run-n-gun shooter with the option of using a cheat mode called stealth/armor. Crysis was not like this at all. The nanosuit modes were tactical options - not "I win" functions. Now, to be fair, on the Super Soldier difficulty, you do have to pay attention a little bit more... but that's beside the point. The point is - each mode was supposed to accomodate the way you wanted to play - not dictate how an area should be played. To put it another way, in Crysis, I would wear Stealth, because I wanted to attack an area silently and stealthily. In Crysis 2, you will have to use stealth or you will have to use armor mode. Not because that's how you chose to use the modes, but because you will die if you don't use them, and it usually depends on what enemies you fight. But anyway....
5. The AI is broken beyond anything resembling what Crysis had going on. This is really the only true flaw of the game, to be honest. The rest of the things I'm talking about here aren't necessarily flaws or broken aspects of the game - they were design choices. But, the AI in the game is clearly not working correctly. I won't go into details about it, but when you play it, or watch any walk/playthrough, it is clearly obvious. And, it sort of makes for a sloppy, typical EA Games product that they have been known to release for the past 10 years, but insist on explaining how much they've changed.
In a nutshell, there is literally nothing here that resembles the Crysis name-sake, except for the fact that your character wears a nanosuit. But even IT works differently - although, I kind of like it this way to be honest... but I digress. That isn't enough to hold the Crysis brand together.
So... okay. In conclusion - I really like Crysis 2. It's a fun game and provides you with a good, action packed, FPS experience. It just isn't what I wanted from a Crysis experience. I expect a different kind of game from Crytek. Crytek was to FPS's, what Bethesda is to RPG's, what Kojima is to Action/Adventure. When you get a Crytek game - you expect a completely different kind of experience than you get from any other developer. To me... for them to make Crysis 2 in the way that they did... it's just bad form and selling out.
Graphics - 9
It looks great.
Sound - 9
It sounds great.
Gameplay - 7
Aside from the AI, and the somewhat redundant run-n-gun aspect from any other FPS on the market, it's decently fun.
Value - 8
You get your money's worth for the SP campaign alone. The MP is kind of... "meh". I wouldn't leave Black Ops for it.
Tilt - 4
This game should have been more deserving... but the fact that it isn't really Crysis - it takes a huge hit.
Overall - 7.4
In a way, this game is more deserving than a 7.4. In all honesty, I feel a little bad giving it such a low score. But.... that's how it came out, and math is fair. So, this is what it gets from me.
The choices they made to make a game less like the sandbox that everyone expected and wanted, is what this game's weakest link is.