Reviewed: April 11, 2011
Reviewed by: Mitch Cullen

Publisher
Electronic Arts

Developer
Crytek Studios

Released: March 22, 2011
Genre: FPS
Players: 1

9
9
10
9
9.4

Supported Features:

Obviously there is some sort of voodoo lurking inside this latest version of the CryEngine. The game looks and performs amazingly well on the console and seems to scale itself to fit with a wide range of system specs on the PC. Ironically, even on the lowest supported PC the game looks exceptionally better than the original Crysis running on the best of settings, and if you can throw a $2000 PC at this game prepare to be blown away with sights, sounds, and gameplay that are unbeatable by anything else on the market.

While I had serious doubts about just how good a 5-year old console would handle this game, they were quickly squashed once the pre-title level started to play out. Flashbacks of that opening plane ride in Crysis flooded over me as I now found myself in a similar squad of men, only this time in a submarine. Explosions…a hull breach…a rush of water and a mad dash through emergency strobe-lit passages and flooded control rooms and a final surge to the surface brought me face to face with the horrors of near-future New York City under siege by some strange alien virus.

You’ll be playing as Alcatraz, a soldier who inherits a Nanosuit almost immediately after the title credits are finished. The Nanosuit is no stranger to veterans of the first game, although you will enjoy a much more intuitive control scheme this time around, making it much easier to invoke the powers of Stealth, Speed, and Armor. As before, these powers will drain a rechargeable power reserve at various rates. Combining powers or exerting yourself during their use will drain the power bar that much faster, and therein lies a big component of the strategic gameplay in Crysis 2.

While many might think these powers are a gimmick or a cheat to help balance out poor gunplay rest assured that your Nanosuit only enhances the use of conventional weapons. The enemy AI is brutally tough in Crysis 2 and you will frequently find yourself being buried under a barrage of fire just waiting for your suit’s energy to recharge so you can cloak and reposition and if lucky, flank your enemies. Other times you might enjoy invoking the power armor and just wading into a group of enemies as an indestructible human tank. The suit gives you plenty of ways to approach each encounter and the overall way you play the game.

Your suit has additional abilities. You can use your tactical mask to locate points of strategic value and mark enemy targets that will stay highlighted on your HUD once you return to active mode. You can also enhance your suit and weapons with a variety of upgrades that are unlocked using the game’s XP currency. Earn credits by killing enemies and observing key cinematic moments that occur throughout the story. You can purchase many more upgrades than you can install at once, so again, you have some strategy in tailoring the game to your specific tastes of stealth or Rambo tactics.

While most of the game takes place on foot you will have a few chances to ride in vehicles and make use of some powerful mobile weaponry. I wasn’t a huge fan of these parts of the game, but thankfully they don’t last long. There is a good mix of indoor and outdoor locations as well as fighting and exploring within the city or the more outdoorsy park environments. Sometimes things are pretty civilized and other levels look like its three days after Armageddon with uprooted city streets and subway cars teetering precariously over a bottomless chasm. Landmarks like the crumbling FDR and a dismembered Statue of Liberty sell the location while seeing the Freedom Tower rising above the cityscape sells the 2024 time period.

Those looking to explore can seek out NYC souvenirs as well as laptops with emails that propel the story and help add to that sense of completion. There are even certain cars and trucks you should be looking for if you want those perfect stat screens. The good news is you can always go back and look for these items by replaying any previously completed mission and this time bringing along any cool new toys or upgrades you may have acquired.

Crysis 2 is easily one of the best looking games I’ve ever played on the 360 but it does have one annoying issue that keeps it from getting a perfect score. Whenever you or the camera is moving the image will blur, most likely to keep the frame rate acceptable. This is, after all, one of the visually most complex games I’ve seen in the way of architecture, models, and texture detail. But every time you stop moving or stop panning the camera there is this noticeable “pop” back into focus. I thought I would get used to it but it was still annoying me 5+ hours into the game. It’s definitely not as bad or noticeable in multiplayer. Otherwise, the game is amazing with an immersive HUD, richly detailed weapons, creative monster design, and the most lifelike recreation of NYC I’ve ever seen. I even got a chance to play the game in 3D - actually this was my first 3D game - and while I can appreciate the novelty of the concept I had to revert back to 2D after less than an hour. The eye-strain was unbearable and 3D wasn't enhancing my gameplay.

The audio backs up those visuals with a powerful 5.1 mix that often had me feeling like I was watching a sci-fi action movie rather than playing a game. There is great use of positional audio in all of the surround channels, the dialogue was mixed well, and the LFE really enhanced those explosions. Voice acting was exceptional and the story, while a bit convoluted at times, really helped to motivate me to my next mission.

Crysis 2 is a 12+ hour experience with a fairly even pace that pits you against human and mutant opposition. There were a few key moments in the campaign where I got stuck having to stumble upon the one sole solution for a problem. Usually the game is pretty open and you can figure out multiple paths to your objective. The checkpoint system is a bit annoying, often forcing you to replay lengthy portions of a level leading back up to a major fight or choke point. I’d rather have the game soft-save prior to these fights than afterward.

I’m a big fan of multiplayer and after playing in the beta for a month or so I was looking forward to playing the full game and checking out more levels than just Skyline. Sadly, the final game isn’t playing all the much differently from the beta with the exception of some very cool new arenas. There are some balancing issues with the weapons and the Nanosuit powers, and people are quick to exploit them, making many of my matches not so much fun to play. It just depends on who you are playing with, but hopefully a future patch can level the playing field. There is a vast arsenal of weapons and suit upgrades to unlock in this persistent online experience – perhaps not as many as Modern Warfare 2, but no less rewarding for earning them. Obviously, the more you play the more you earn and the more choices you have for approaching future matches.

Crysis 2 is an amazing accomplishment for console FPS games. It’s visually stunning, almost defying our perceived notions of what the 360 could actually do even this far into its lifespan. The story is interesting and the AI ranges from hard to virtually impossible, always making you think on your feet and always having a back-up plan. Fans of the first Crysis as well as any FPS fans in general should probably not miss out on what will likely be a Game of the Year nominee. Crysis 2 meets and exceeds all my expectations as a sequel and a next-gen shooter.