We check out Crytek's latest foray into the world of Crysis. With a sequel on the horizon, just how does it stack up?
The gameplay of Crysis 2 focuses on the use of your Nanosuit in each fight. The Nanosuit has a variety of features and tools at its disposal as well as being able to add in the use of human and alien weapons to your arsenal. Being able to run faster, jump higher and wield incredible strength thanks to your augmentations certainly has its advantages and Crysis 2 really stresses the ability to approach any situation as you see fit. As well as being able to cloak and turn on an "armour mode" (which basically drastically increases your resistance to damage); there are also a number of additional abilities that you can purchase and use throughout the game in an RPG-style twist, giving the ability to further tailor the combat to your play style; whether that be stealth, action or a combination of the two. These are purchased with the use of Ceph DNA, collected off the corpse of any alien, the amount varying on the variety of enemy. You also have the ability to use Binoculars to tag certain specific locations to your immediate HUD before entering a fight, which include things like ammo cases, turrets, weak points in the enemy perimeter and the like. This is immensely helpful during combat and allows the player to take advantage of any and all benefits in the area. If that weren't enough the player can also tailor their current weapon on the fly. Short range fight? No problem; put a Holographic sight and a grenade launcher on your assault rifle. Long range stealth? Switch to single shot, place a silencer on and add a Rifle scope. Want to be the Predator in a dark underground car park? Activate heat vision, cloak yourself and mercilessly kill your enemy by kicking a car into their face. Easy done.
The actual shooting and controls are similar to that of Call of Duty or Battlefield. Nice and responsive while still maintaining the semi-futuristic realism present throughout the game.
The story of the game is incredibly well done as well. You are Alcatraz, a marine sent to hunt down Professor Gould who should be able to help you combat the deadly Ceph and reinstate order amongst the chaos. All the games actual story is fed to you straight from the viewpoint from within your Nanosuit. No cut-scenes or moments where player control is effectively taken away other than during loading screens where a kind of mission briefing occurs. The game is full of incredibly cinematic, almost jaw-dropping moments and these are given even further impact because it's all seen from player controlled Alcatraz's view. The music of the game is masterfully done, each piece suiting the action on screen and somehow managing to suit however the player is acting in game action scenes. This is the best soundtrack I've ever heard in a game and it really pumps you up and makes you really want to push on and experience more of the epic story. Graphics are fairly amazing in game as well, rivalling that of Killzone 3, surpassing it even in character modelling and faces. The often beautiful set pieces are still almost unrivalled today thanks to their impressive scope and the power of CryEngine 3 which runs the entire game.
The multiplayer has all your standard game modes and types. It's the fact that everyone are in Nanosuits that makes it interesting. All the maps feature good verticality, meaning you can easily climb and get the drop on your enemy, literally. There are killstreaks and class loadouts but what distinguishes one player from another are the suit augmentations s/he chooses. Similar to the main story, you could go stealth with a shotgun, long range with shields, whatever you wish. The multiplayer switches frequently from loving it as you get kill after kill as you really feel the power of your Nanosuit, to hating it as you get beat down again and again by high levels with overpowered augmentations of their own.
Crysis 2 is a masterful achievement from developers Crytek and really they should be congratulated for creating such a balanced game. There is plenty of incentive to go back and play the campaign on harder difficulty levels by trying new combat scenarios and approaches as well as collecting all the Souvenirs and trying for each Trophy/Achievement. The multiplayer offers sheer fun and frustration in equal measures to each other, while offering a unique online package that you can't find anywhere else.
Crysis 2 is probably the best shooter I've ever played. It doesn't skimp on any detail and offers a huge amount of almost-sophisticated enjoyment, especially if you are sick of all the Call of Duty clones getting around.
This is a great game and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone, no matter your game preference.