Crysis 2 Impressions

With all the games coming out this spring, I admit that Crysis 2 almost slid under my radar. I played the multiplayer beta a while back, and was impressed but not blown away. Well now the game is finally here, can it possibly live up to my non-existent expectations? (Answer: probably!)

Let me start this by saying that I never played the first Crysis. Unfortunately my computer is a little less powerful than a solar powered calculator, so I didn't even bother trying. From what I heard though it was a beautiful game with really impressive physics and a story that left something to be desired. So does Crysis 2 bring some of this magic to consoles?

Well, yes and no. The game looks great. Not mind-blowing but some of the effects look amazing in their own right. The resolution is a little fuzzier then what you'd probably get on the PC, but it's by no means bad. The physics are also toned down a bit from what you'd expect. You can't blow up walls or barriers. But you can use or pick up just about every small object in any level. Most things like cars or dumpsters that are too big to lift can be power-kicked. I know it's a small touch, but it goes a long way in making it feel like a more believable world. Picking up a guy and saying "Remember when I said I'd kill you last?...I lied.", then chucking him off an overpass never gets old.


What the game lacks in the horsepower department, it makes up for in other ways. For one thing, the writing is actually...good! I know, I never thought I'd say that. I mean, it's not Shakespeare. But it keeps the story moving along and gives you a compelling reason to keep fighting. Your character is the standard mute soldier protagonist, but the dialog and radio chatter you hear along the way raises a lot of interesting questions and kept me playing to find out more. If I had one complaint it would be that they throw too much at you all at once in the beginning. Maybe if I had played Crysis 1 I'd have a better idea what was happening, but for the first hour or so I was pretty confused.

Where Crysis 2 really shines is gameplay though. This is not another CoD clone. It's hard to get a good feel for what it's like just watching gameplay videos, but Crysis 2 is much more like a PC shooter than anything else I've played on a console. It usually gives you a point you need to get to, but how you choose to do it is up to you. Your nano-suit has all kinds of options for you to use. The 2 main ones are stealth and armor. You can cloak and sneak up on guys for a stealth kill, or put up your shields and go in like Rambo. Your suit has a tactical visor that you can use to scope out the area, mark enemies on your radar and plan your attack. It also has a thermal vision option. All your powers use energy that recharges over time, so you have to balance how much you use each one. My favorite thing to do is cloak and turn on thermal vision, then I stalk enemies like the predator from that movie whose name I don't recall.

There is a good variety of weapons from your standard SMG and rifles to the more exotic (and my favorite), the microwave gun. Each weapon can be customized by adding silencers, scopes or attachments by holding down select (or back). If you tap select (or back), you can customize your suit's other abilities like air stomp, motion tracking, or enhanced armor. It's a system that manages to be very robust but doesn't overwhelm you or bog down the gameplay.

So from this I guess you can gather that I like this game. Well good for you, smart guy. It was a very pleasant surprise, and turned out to be just the kind of game I have been jonesing for lately. If you're looking for something different than your typical corridor shooter, then you should definitely check out Crysis 2.