Crysis 2 Review - New Game Network

Crysis 2 is an energetic shooter and a worthy sequel to the original PC exclusive. The breadth of the levels may have been reduced but the gameplay depth remains. It includes more vertical space in some surprisingly open levels. Action is packaged into smaller areas but concentrated in a way that maximizes that area. The different suit may take a while to get used to but it’s very much worth it. The AI usually impresses but tends to break badly resulting in brain dead or stuck enemies. Multiplayer emulates Call of Duty but the suit changes things appreciably. The story is also more appealing than the original.

The open levels are impressive and not just visually

You play as Alcatraz, a new character to the series, saved from a damaged submarine and an Alien encounter. The aliens (Ceph) are invading New York and a virus is exterminating the human population. Human CELL soldiers believe you are infected and will attempt take you down by any means necessary. Alcatraz acquires the Nanosuit 2.0 from a familiar face during a lacklustre linear piece. After about 30 minutes of tutorial examples the game arbitrarily lets you use both Stealth and Armor powers. At this point the game opens up and continues to become more absorbing until the credits roll. The story is certainly more satisfying than the original with clever science fiction aspects toward the end. It’s refreshing for a Crytek game to have a satisfying ending without a contrived boss battle or unnecessary linear section. Most levels are very consistent with only a few that seem out of place.

Levels in the sequel are certainly more restrictive than the early levels in Crysis 1. You can’t take a boat and circle a small island, nor run through dense jungle for minutes. Instead you’ll be fighting in courtyards, intersections, toppled buildings and fractured cavernous areas below the pavement. The open sections are typically connected by brief linear paths where you might catch a glimpse of the virus exterminating humans or alien roaches cleaning up the mess. The improved atmosphere and more engaging combat areas go a long way toward winning the player over. The levels make good use of the constrained space with plenty of ways to flank enemies. It’s unfortunate that there are some poor scripted levels which prevent you from engaging on your terms. The levels may not be as expansive but all the gameplay fundamentals remain because of the Nanosuit.

The Nanosuit 2.0 is a different beast than the suit worn by Nomad in the original. Although it may not have the raw speed or intricate flexibility as the first it makes up for it with fluid movements. Speed and strength modes have been amalgamated into the suit as passive powers, holding jump or sprinting will drain energy in the same way. The visor supersedes binoculars acting as a guide showing you areas of interest such as weapons, ammunition and lets you track enemies on your HUD. Nano-vision (thermal optics) drains power and allows you to see threats with greater contrast.

Man, this man says ‘man’ frequently

Optional upgrades for the suit include tracers on enemy bullets, air stomp, tracking enemy footsteps and air friction which can be enabled at any time once unlocked. You can slide under objects or into enemies to knock them over. There is also ledge grab which is very useful when doing large jumps and moving up through the multi-tiered areas. The new abilities along with the upgrades available make Nanosuit 2.0 different but also more efficient compared to its ancestor. Once you get used to how the new suit operates you’ll start to see that the core gameplay is as satisfying as ever before.

The game lets you flank enemies in cloak, take a sniper position from above, borrow a vehicle, take a mounted weapon or just go guns blazing. Enemies will hear your cloaked footsteps but you can move through distant cover spots to avoid patrols. Armor allows you take serious damage, more than the prequel, making you feel like a one man army. If you use the powers incorrectly, shooting in cloak for example, energy drains and you are extremely vulnerable. This balance between superiority and danger is great on Veteran difficulty. Sadly there usually isn’t much room to take vehicles far so they tend to be more useful as gun emplacements. The visor helps plan your moves when you approach a combat area, what happens next is up to you.

Don’t expect a full recovery from this virus

You are the gameplay designer in Crysis 2. You decide when it’s time for stealth kills, when to sneak through patrols, when to snipe or when it’s time to just shoot anything that moves. On higher difficulties stealth is much easier than guns blazing but both are rewarding. My preference was to move through the front lines cloaked taking out a few lone stragglers. When I was sure I knew where all enemies were I would begin my aggressive attack from behind. It didn’t always go to plan. Sometimes a sniper rifle was needed to punish a CELL solder who had mounted a gun emplacement. Other times I would attack to disrupt enemy patrols and hide to watch their reactions. Not all the levels leave the options up to you, with some unnecessarily trying to script action with Marine allies tagging along. In one section I was having difficulty with the AI soldiers so decided to just sneak past them without firing a single shot.

The AI is undoubtedly the biggest strength and weakness in Crysis 2. Usually the AI is incredibly adept throughout battle making suitable adjustments to your actions. They spot dead bodies and move to investigate the area. They dart quickly away from thrown grenades and know where rockets have been fired from. If they see you they will move to your location and scout around looking for your hiding place.

The ground based Ceph operate in a similar way to the humans but they are far more aggressive and much more nimble in the multi-tiered areas. The Ceph also have a shockwave that brings you out of cloak if you are nearby. They tend to scout further and are usually better at anticipating where you are. Some of the Ceph really make you work for your kills. The AI does have a range of real issues that occur even on Veteran difficulty.

Why hello there my red eyed alien friend.

AI routines have problems spotting you, climbing on objects, respawning and even seeing through solid walls. Early on enemies could see through objects that should have blocked their view. More than a few times the AI would get stuck, walking against a wall or object, trapped in a loop broken only by player interaction. Some CELL soldiers, and even Marines, respawned into the battle right in front of my eyes. Times Square had particularly horrendous respawning in a sealed off subway entrance. Humans also liked to climb on objects during battle or even group up unnaturally. Occasionally enemies would just stand still instead of going on their patrol routes. The experience would be almost perfect if the AI maintained the relatively high standard. The problems don’t end with the AI though.

More bugs continued to take me out of the enjoyable experience. Melee sometimes stopped working which is only noticeable when you are standing behind an enemy. The nano catalyst material, used for upgrades, failed to register after collecting it from Alien corpses. There was even one point where I was drowning in three inches of water unable to get out. Restarting the game seemed to fix many issues but there is no excuse to have them in the first place. A few more months of development would have done wonders. The game looks great but is not as crisp as the original.

There’s an iconic statue in this picture if you can find it!

Crysis 2 creates a visually impressive view of New York being torn apart. The cityscape looks fantastic and moving across rooftops with trees and birds is brilliant. Embers and Alien spores float through the air in a wonderful tangible mist. Buildings collapse in the distance and dropships and choppers move above through the beams of light. The fractured urban locales create interesting areas to move about in. Interactive destruction has been reduced greatly with only some walls crumbling when shot.

The cinematic quality and the indoor areas are several steps above similar locales in the first game. However I found the game very blurry with overused HDR effects and ghosting from the AA technology. User tweaks are a great way of reducing these issues but they do not work in multiplayer. Blur techniques washed away a lot of the visual detail and helped hide many low resolution textures. The game still looks great with a different flavour to the original but is not superior.

On PC there is an array of visual options completely missing from the main menu, with only three visual presets available. Keys have been repurposed with Q and E now used for suit powers. Lean is mouse zoom around corners which actually works surprisingly well unless you have the zoom on toggle. Sadly the Sandbox level editor is missing which will reduce the prevalence of custom levels. Perhaps it is no surprise but the specific care for the PC version is missing in comparison to the PC exclusive predecessor. Multiplayer is an enjoyable experience, maintaining a high speed and relying on careful energy management.

Ticket Please! *insert angry alien clicking sounds*

The translation from campaign to multiplayer is just as seamless as using any of your suit powers. The multiplayer feels more like Call of Duty in contrast to the Battlefield feel of the original. Maps are smaller and the action is dedicated to player vs player with the Nanosuit playing a bigger role. The maps are well designed with some similar to the campaign. Levels are multi-tiered with places to hide below and areas to snipe from above.

The gameplay is rather satisfying because it allows you to use Stealth, Armor and pull off some impressive skill kills. It is quite customisable too with unlockable weapons and additional upgrades for your suit. Special assistance can be called in after killing a quota of enemy soldiers but the catch is you must collect their dog tags. Assistance might be radar scan, orbital strike or a Ceph gunship. These rewards rarely take the focus away from the player vs player action due to their relative rarity.

There are quite a few game modes and modifiers that ensure all player preferences are covered. Standard modes include capture the flag (relay), king of the hill (Crashsite) and deathmatch. Crashsite seems to be the most popular mode outside deathmatch. In Crashsite you take position around short lived alien pods to gain points. These pods, shot down from an alien ship in the sky, are a good location for cheap grenade kills. Deathmatch is probably more satisfying than a lot of other shooters due to the Nanosuit. With fewer players the gameplay naturally becomes more stealth orientated. The game seems well balanced but modifiers can create different twists on the rule set.

And then I go and spoil it all by doing something stupid like explode you

Modifiers alter the gameplay with changes to the standard rules online. Pro mod disables the HUD, turns off kill cam and removes the collection of dog tags to create slower rounds and more reliance on energy management. There is even the Classic mod that removes the suit completely bringing the gameplay down to earth. Unlocks from the campaign are also available like tracking footsteps, tracers or air stomp. Strangely the game sometimes forgot items I unlocked forcing me to unlock them again. The range of unlocks and the three key suit modes work together to create dynamic engagements.

Energy management becomes crucial and makes the gameplay feel fresh and intelligent. Mastery of the suit and clean movement through levels will make you feel even more powerful than during the campaign. Units can de-cloak in front of you and you die very quickly in battle if you use the wrong suit power. There is rarely a dull moment in the 8v8 matches although the spawns can be a little absurd.

The server browser works very well and allows you to easily filter the map, game mode or mod you wish to play. Crysis 2 uses dedicated servers but with a mid game lobby system that lets you customize your gear and vote for maps. The technique is the best of both worlds and I rarely had any issues connecting once the game finally remembered my CD Key. The multiplayer is well polished complement to the campaign.

Who needs tropical islands when you have views like this?

Crysis 2 is a superb game excluding the myriad of problems with AI, bad respawning and a few poorly scripted levels. The problems are disappointing because with the new Nanosuit, smart Ceph AI and open levels the game is regularly magnificent. Replaying some of the levels in stealth against the Aliens almost makes the entire experience worth it. The battles change because your tactics modify in reaction to genuinely clever AI. The multiplayer is a step up from Crysis Wars unless you aren’t fond of gameplay similar to the latest Call of Duty titles. Crysis 2 proves that Crytek can continue to produce tremendous adaptable, open gameplay that allows you play at your own pace.