The world has been ravaged by a series of climatic disasters and society
is on the verge of total breakdown. Now the aliens have returned, with a
full invasion force bent on nothing less than the total annihilation of
mankind, starting by trying to rip the heart out of Earth's most iconic
city. In New York, terrifying alien invaders stalk the streets and a
nightmare plague strikes down the city's myriad inhabitants with brutal
epidemic speed. The city's systems are in chaos, its streets and skyline
are smashed and in flaming ruin. This is New York City like you've
never seen it before. Neither paramilitary law enforcement nor the might
of the US military machine can stand against the invaders, and all who
choose not to flee are dead men walking. Just to survive in this
maelstrom of death will require technology beyond anything any modern
soldier has ever seen. One man will inherit that means to survive. One
supersoldier, wielding the combat enhancement technology of the future
with Nanosuit 2, will make the last stand to save humanity from
destruction in the urban jungle that is New York City.
Cue Crysis 2, which not only saw a release on consoles, but made the
cardinal sin of being simplified at the same time. Except in this case,
it's not really a problem. Unlike previous attempts at “consolization”,
Crysis 2 doesn't dumb down its mechanics – it streamlines them. The main
gameplay feature of the original game was the Nanosuit, a suit of
powered armour that gives your character cloaking, armour, super
strength, and super speed – but only one at a time. The suit returns for
the sequel, but this time, there are only cloak, armour, and default
(i.e. nothing special) modes, and it finds other ways to use the old
suit's acrobatic abilities. And it works. The suit's capabilities are
rounded out with stealth kill and “powerslide” abilities, a visor that
can tag important objects, and the ability to customize most weapons
with scopes and secondary functions on the fly. This all coalesces to
give you a fluid, entertaining shooter worthy of its predecessor. So no,
“consoles” shouldn't be so offensive. At least, not as much as
“glitches” should be.
I'm not sure if it's just the PC version (in which case, a cry of “CONSOLES!!!” is indeed in order), but Crysis 2 is one of the most ubiquitously glitchy games I've played in some time. I'm usually wary of docking modern games points for having glitches, since you know they'll be fixed in an update a few weeks down the line, but at the same time, these are obvious, painful problems: the melee attack doesn't work most of the time, multiplayer unlockables don't necessarily stay unlocked, and the enemy AI, while competent most of the time, will, far too often, get themselves caught on debris or look straight at you and just not care.
In fact, if Crytek had taken the time to iron out these problems, I might even say Crysis 2 is better than the original. At its most basic, the story concerns the aliens from the first game releasing a virus into New York City before invading the city proper, whereupon the player character – codenamed Alcatraz – is given a Nanosuit which seems unusually perfect for killing them. The plot progression is quite improved from the first game (although the first game's story can be summarized with “Aliens are attacking and North Koreans are jerks”, so that's not saying much), although it has the bad habit of stealing twists from other recent games. Also, that awful VTOL level is gone, and most importantly, multiplayer has been revamped and rebalanced, complete with a very deep experience system.
Most of the things Crysis was noted for are present, as well: the graphics are jaw-dropping, of course, but the level design seems to have become the new focus. The destruction of its New York setting is so unbelievably realistic that I can't help but wonder if didn't they just collapse a few buildings in Manhattan I hadn't heard about and then recreate every detail of the carnage. The score is surprisingly good too, striking a nice middle ground between the overdramatic symphonies of modern shooters, and the melody-centric tunes of gaming classics to create something quite memorable. The game is considerably more linear than Crysis, which is apparently the worst thing a game can do these days, but that's really just on the surface. The actual challenges still give you full freedom to sneak, climb or blast your way through the obstacles, so it's by no means restrictive.
So why isn't Crysis 2 the better game? Well, for starters, it's nowhere near as original. Crysis wasn't exactly a powerhouse in this department, but the never-before-seen Nanosuit was so fully realized that the only additions the sequel brings come off as entirely superfluous, or have already been done in several previous shooters (the “new” upgrade system, for example).
Secondly, not every change Crysis 2 makes is for the better. The excellent Power Struggle multiplayer mode from the original (a large-scale combination of a ton of other, more standard modes, the likes of which I've never seen) is mysteriously absent, for one thing. In addition, while the original forced you to go on the offensive most of the time (raiding outposts, etc.), most of Crysis 2's objectives are variations of “get from point A to point B”, making it laughably easy to just go invisible and casually waltz by most of the enemies. And just to contrast that last point, the challenge level of a few of the mandatory battles can make you angrier than the first PC gamer to see “Press Start” at the title screen. The difficulty spike is especially egregious during the battles with giant robots that launch EMPs that drain all your suit energy...while you're standing right beside them trying to get a bead on their weak spot.
All that being said, Crysis 2 is a much larger game than the average shooter, and all of its mechanics are put to substantial use – no one-off vehicle levels here. But the expansive multiplayer is what really constitutes the replay value. The basic gameplay and modes are all right out of the Call of Duty textbook. However, unlike recent Call of Duty games, it's also superbly balanced, and unlike any Call of Duty game, you have the ability to both turn invisible and give yourself powered armour. In addition to being a novel twist on multiplayer shooters, this should also be nicely appealing to those who haven't particularly enjoyed the recent shooter trend of dying in two shots. There are also some interesting modes. One is pretty much just Capture the Flag with the twist that the flag is an alien bug that gives your team bonuses to their stealth and armour, and the other sees a poorly-armed but Nanosuit-outfitted team must steal data from the heavily-armed, otherwise ordinary team.
It's easy to judge Crysis 2 with “They just cared about graphics”, but just as with the “consolization” complaints, that's not quite the case. There's a great game buried under all that anti-aliasing and particle effects. It's not a giant of innovation and the bugs are a little hard to swallow, but give it some time and you'll find it to be an intriguing game with equal parts explosive action and atmospheric tension, and an impressive multiplayer experience to boot. Oh, and apparently it's getting a DirectX 11 patch sometime soon, so maybe even the console-cursers will finally be content to shut the hell up.
I'm not sure if it's just the PC version (in which case, a cry of “CONSOLES!!!” is indeed in order), but Crysis 2 is one of the most ubiquitously glitchy games I've played in some time. I'm usually wary of docking modern games points for having glitches, since you know they'll be fixed in an update a few weeks down the line, but at the same time, these are obvious, painful problems: the melee attack doesn't work most of the time, multiplayer unlockables don't necessarily stay unlocked, and the enemy AI, while competent most of the time, will, far too often, get themselves caught on debris or look straight at you and just not care.
In fact, if Crytek had taken the time to iron out these problems, I might even say Crysis 2 is better than the original. At its most basic, the story concerns the aliens from the first game releasing a virus into New York City before invading the city proper, whereupon the player character – codenamed Alcatraz – is given a Nanosuit which seems unusually perfect for killing them. The plot progression is quite improved from the first game (although the first game's story can be summarized with “Aliens are attacking and North Koreans are jerks”, so that's not saying much), although it has the bad habit of stealing twists from other recent games. Also, that awful VTOL level is gone, and most importantly, multiplayer has been revamped and rebalanced, complete with a very deep experience system.
Most of the things Crysis was noted for are present, as well: the graphics are jaw-dropping, of course, but the level design seems to have become the new focus. The destruction of its New York setting is so unbelievably realistic that I can't help but wonder if didn't they just collapse a few buildings in Manhattan I hadn't heard about and then recreate every detail of the carnage. The score is surprisingly good too, striking a nice middle ground between the overdramatic symphonies of modern shooters, and the melody-centric tunes of gaming classics to create something quite memorable. The game is considerably more linear than Crysis, which is apparently the worst thing a game can do these days, but that's really just on the surface. The actual challenges still give you full freedom to sneak, climb or blast your way through the obstacles, so it's by no means restrictive.
So why isn't Crysis 2 the better game? Well, for starters, it's nowhere near as original. Crysis wasn't exactly a powerhouse in this department, but the never-before-seen Nanosuit was so fully realized that the only additions the sequel brings come off as entirely superfluous, or have already been done in several previous shooters (the “new” upgrade system, for example).
Secondly, not every change Crysis 2 makes is for the better. The excellent Power Struggle multiplayer mode from the original (a large-scale combination of a ton of other, more standard modes, the likes of which I've never seen) is mysteriously absent, for one thing. In addition, while the original forced you to go on the offensive most of the time (raiding outposts, etc.), most of Crysis 2's objectives are variations of “get from point A to point B”, making it laughably easy to just go invisible and casually waltz by most of the enemies. And just to contrast that last point, the challenge level of a few of the mandatory battles can make you angrier than the first PC gamer to see “Press Start” at the title screen. The difficulty spike is especially egregious during the battles with giant robots that launch EMPs that drain all your suit energy...while you're standing right beside them trying to get a bead on their weak spot.
All that being said, Crysis 2 is a much larger game than the average shooter, and all of its mechanics are put to substantial use – no one-off vehicle levels here. But the expansive multiplayer is what really constitutes the replay value. The basic gameplay and modes are all right out of the Call of Duty textbook. However, unlike recent Call of Duty games, it's also superbly balanced, and unlike any Call of Duty game, you have the ability to both turn invisible and give yourself powered armour. In addition to being a novel twist on multiplayer shooters, this should also be nicely appealing to those who haven't particularly enjoyed the recent shooter trend of dying in two shots. There are also some interesting modes. One is pretty much just Capture the Flag with the twist that the flag is an alien bug that gives your team bonuses to their stealth and armour, and the other sees a poorly-armed but Nanosuit-outfitted team must steal data from the heavily-armed, otherwise ordinary team.
It's easy to judge Crysis 2 with “They just cared about graphics”, but just as with the “consolization” complaints, that's not quite the case. There's a great game buried under all that anti-aliasing and particle effects. It's not a giant of innovation and the bugs are a little hard to swallow, but give it some time and you'll find it to be an intriguing game with equal parts explosive action and atmospheric tension, and an impressive multiplayer experience to boot. Oh, and apparently it's getting a DirectX 11 patch sometime soon, so maybe even the console-cursers will finally be content to shut the hell up.
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