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Crysis 2
Considering the immense popularity of the original Crysis, both as a game and system benchmark test it is no surprise that the sequel has been so anticipated. When it became clear that it would be a cross platform developed game the PC crowd was understandably up in arms. It would be showcasing the new CryEngine 3 but the question was, could it live up to the standards set by the original, let alone surpass it? From the get go it is clear to see that console owners who have up until this game not been able to experience the Crysis universe has been taken into consideration when it came to the plot. The game opens with some dramatic footage showing New York reeling from a deadly alien virus that is turning humans into mush. Your character, who is a marine called Alcatraz, is sent in along with a squad to locate a certain scientist who might be able to shed some light on the events. Things go horribly wrong from the start however as the aliens, called the Ceph, launches an attack. Without giving away too much, Alcatraz becomes the proud new owner of a nanosuite that bestows super human abilities to the wearer, before setting out to save the world. The game takes place three years after the events of the first game but bar a familiar face or two there is little that ties the two storylines together. Even the aliens look different and are now bipedal armoured squids that bear little resemblance to the creatures from the first game. You will only encounter them later on in the game as your initial resistance come in the form of Crynet Enforcement and Local Logistics (CELL) soldiers. These people are basically hired soldiers working for the Crynet Corporation which seems to have sinister agendas of their own. They view your character as an abomination despite your best efforts to help and will attack on sight. Since the game is now set in an urban environment and not the lush jungles of the first game it is not as fun to mess with the CELL soldiers s it was with the Koreans. Despite being a lot more linear, you are still given more room for different tactics than say something like a Call Of Duty title. Most of the time your objectives will simply be to move from point A to point B but that does not mean that you cannot have a bit of fun along the way. The star of the game is the nanosuite, which lifts the gameplay up from just standard first person shooting fare. The suite controls have been streamlined from last when we saw it in the original game. Now there is only "Stealth" and "Armour" modes to switch between. Speed mode is activated when you hold down the sprint key and strength is a pale shadow of its former self. While easier to operate, it does feel somewhat dumbed down and some strategies that were possible in the first game can no longer be executed. While stealth mode will render you practically invisible to enemies and armour mode protects you from bullets everything is still tied to a finite power source that has to recharge when it runs out. This means that unless you are playing on the easiest setting you cannot abuse the power that you have at your disposal. While it is possible to go on a rampage, you will just end up in the open with low suite power and enemies zeroing in on you. Each time you enter a new area your suite is able to highlight some tactical options for you but half the fun is completing everything your own way. More often than not, I used my silenced ranged weapons to pick off any stragglers before cloaking and going in for some close-up kills. Usually at some point, all hell would break loose whereupon it would become a desperate battle for survival as enemies swarm in. While they did not seem quite as intelligent as in the first game, they were still able to give me a run for my money. Most of them are bullet sponges so you really have to make sure that you hit them in their weak spots for maximum effectiveness. You have a nice selection of weapons at your disposal, which makes it a pity that you can only carry a few around with you at a time. It is possible to move through most of the open sections in the game while cloaked but doing so is a lot less fun than engaging the enemies. Killing aliens also allow you to harvest them for upgrades to your suite. As in the past, your weapons can also be upgraded to get the most out of them. While there is not much room for exploration, you will find souvenirs and dog tags scattered about the gaming world for you to find and collect in return for some unlockable concept art. Crytek promised that the game would be one of the best looking ones on the market and I have to say that they did a pretty good job. The ruined city is indeed very nice on the eyes but it was with a sense of deja vu that I played certain parts of the game. I do not know whether it was intentional or not but the game seems to have taken a lot of inspiration from Half-Life 2. Environmental destruction seems to have been toned down considerably which is a pity seeing how much fun it was in the first game. You will still be able to hop into a few vehicles along the way but everything feels much more closed-in than what Crysis veterans will be used to. A few on-rails sections further add to the Arcade-like feel of the game. The lack of advance visual tweaking options were very upsetting to PC players upon release but a few patches has since improved the situation a bit. Things like checkpoint only saves makes it feel like preference were given to consoles during the development cycle but it is at least not as bad a I have seen with some other ports. I quite liked the audio although I wish there was a way to turn off the suite voice, which becomes somewhat grating after a while. There is no way to switch it to a more soothing female voice like in the first game either. Sound effects and music is suitably epic however and fits the game perfect. It is debateable whether or not the shift to consoles was to the detriment of this title. Everyone who used the first game as a benchmark to see how far they can push their computers will obviously be disappointed. As a game however it is quite fun despite the muddled plot and very forgettable characters. It is definitely not the last time we will see the nano suite in action either.
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System Requirements
TAGS: Crysis 2, Nano Suite, New York, Aliens, Invasion, Ceph, Prophet
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