Video Game Review: Crysis 2

Around 2009, I first heard about Crysis. It was described to me as a game so detailed and complex that you can measure a computer's capabilities based on whether it could even run the game. So when the sequel came out in 2011, I had to see for myself just how gorgeous it actually is.

Crysis 2 offered its fair share of spectacle. It puts the player in the boots of a special kind of supersoldier. With the simple press of a button, your nanosuit could either become a hardened shell, or invisible. Those two options alone could empower you to either sneak across the battlefield, or take opponents head-on. With this kind of power, your goal is to play through the story--this time, guided through the streets of New York City while it is besieged by the Ceph. You get to be in the middle of it all when ships careen through the air, buildings come crashing down, and hoards of aliens raise mysterious structures in the rubble.

By 2011 standards, the game looks okay. Cut scenes look sharp and clean, while each level is ordained in heavy amounts of detail, gritty-looking textures, and very solid light and shadow effects. Particles are everywhere. However, in six years the game has long been surpassed in quality--today, it looks pixilated, to the point of becoming gaudy. What makes it worse is that movement, especially when aliens cut in front of you, tend to look blurred (and I suspect it's on purpose for some reason). It's far from smooth and clean, although on a good PC maybe it would be clearer. On the plus side, sound, music, and voices are all well-done, and controls are fine for what they are.

The game overall is fine for what it is: pretty typical shooter that only offers the added benefit of the nanosuit. It is a really cool thing to be able to survey a battlefield and plot your course before engaging, thanks to tactical vision. Supplies, guns, flanking positions, sneaking positions, and usable objects become highlighted for you. You have the freedom to progress through areas the way you want to: by sneaking or by fighting. However, the game itself is still very linear--it would be spectacular if the city was an open-world map (and as I understand it the first Crysis was all open). But as it is, the game forces you through episode after episode of straightforward levels and objectives. They aren't bad levels by any means--the first few are very effective in teaching you how the game works, and then there are some impressive battles to be fought. But like any shooter, it becomes exhausting and frustrating to get pinned down or swarmed by countless enemies.

The story for this game is okay. We've all seen alien invasions before, in and out of games. We've all seen the same ol' Call of Duty style combat. in and out of games. We've all seen these cliched characters before--you play the heroic soldier, of course, but there's also megalomaniac commanders, crazy scientists, and self-righteous civilians to guide you to the finale. While not a terrible campaign, I felt it was very typical and broke no new ground.

So, this is Crysis 2. If you play shooters, it'll be familiar territory for you. Only this time, you get a cool new suit and a strikingly vivid urban environment to play around in. But it's not an open environment, you're tunneled through a narrow, familiar, and cliched story. Worth a playthrough if you can handle it (and you probably can, this isn't as hard or frustrating as Call of Duty or anything). Nowadays though, we can probably do better.

3.5/5