Crysis 2 Review

A perfect example of why gameplay is always more important than graphics in the development of video games..

Nintendo, everytime you make a new mario game and its looked down upon due to the low 480p resolution, just look at Crysis 2 and be proud. Crysis 2, where do I begin? The game is more upsetting because I see potential in there but I also see it mauled down and thrown out the window.

Crysis 2 begins with an ugly interface, and sure you may say that I'm 'Knitpicking' here but it is a real turn off when the menu looks ugly while your trying to go through it. Speaking of the menu, the soundtrack of the game is horrendous, its the most generic action music you have always already heard. In the menu, the music is a 6 second loop that replays itself, this is not the NES or Atari 5200, even back then we had longer songs in menu's, c'mon EA and Crytek.

After crossing the ugly interface, you will enjoy the games beautiful graphics. Everything in Crysis 2 feels more vibrant and photo realistic than most other games. However, the artists could have taken some time on to work on the character designs as some of them are bland and repetitively used.

Crysis 2's gameplay is not bad, it is actually quite fun to control, satisfactory and provides good response. It is just that, after having a good gameplay mechanic, Crytek made the most un inspiring game around that gameplay mechanic.The repetitive missions will have you fall asleep as enemies just come in wave after wave to be killed. Sure the game tries new things every now and then by allowing you to choose stealth, armour or strength (something like that) powers, you are disabled from using the powers in a more creatively fun manner due to the games AI system and level design. The games AI system and level design does not allow you to fully use those powers and options. Speaking of AI and level design, the AI is dull, sometimes enemies can see you if you make the slightest movement whereas at other times they are completely blind and you can perform numerous manoeuvres without being seen. The level design is appalling, it is extremely lazy as you walk through on corridor or hall to another shooting enemies that come in either a group or in multiple scattered forms.

The story of Crysis 2 is the worst story I have experienced this year, and also one of the most annoying story's ever made. The game makes you care less about it by throwing generic plot lines towards you. In the game you will not care about anyone, especially your own character, the protagonist, as he is constantly silent, has no personality and takes orders from others constantly. Speaking of orders, during the whole game you follow a persons voice as they give you basic instructions such as "go there, kill that, get that". This gets so F*ing annoying in the first hour, yet the game stretches it for 10 hours. For a man who has a suit with the power to save the world from aliens, why the hell does he have to constantly take orders from other people whose role is not fully explained. Maybe the characters roles are explained but as I played through the game, I was so bored that I could not grasp any bit of information from the 'already done' call of duty inspired loading screen movies. By the end of Crysis 2, I was so happy to see the credits and thats a sign of a bad game as I wanted to finish this game as fast as possible for all the wrong reasons.

The multiplayer in Crysis 2 is the standard first person shooter modern warfare-esk multiplayer. You earn xp to get unlocks, a complain here is that a lot of the unlocks are seriously useless and do not tempt you into 'earning' them. The maps get painfully boring extremely quickly, the game modes are the standard ones you can get anywhere else, with the exception of one which is quite enjoyable. Conclusively, Crysis 2's multiplayer ends up becoming a distraction which would only work for a couple hours. That is, if it ever works, the games multiplayer community is almost dead and finding a game is getting harder and rarer by the minute.

I cared about Crysis 2, I was looking forward to it but this has been the most disappointing game of 2011. The technical aspects of the game are beautiful and sometimes you might catch a glimmer of beauty, but it will only last for a second as it is overshadowed by the bland created of everything else on top of it. Crytek and the Crysis series needs some creativity, this new entry is pathetic. It showcases an attempt of them trying to grasp some of the 'Call of duty' market and for a series like this, Crysis deserves more respect and should get a substantial instalment, not an attempt at capturing another games audience by altering the original material. Even putting that aside, Crysis 2 has such a massive lack of originality that it will put you to sleep even with the sound of the gunfire going off everywhere.

I Give Crysis 2, 4 super power suits out of 10

4/10