Crysis was one of the most demanding games for it's time requiring a powerful computer to run it even at minimum settings. Even until today it is still one of the best looking games and its still used to stress out people's computer to check their hardware. Crysis 2 almost follows that same tradition requiring a powerful computer to even look half decent. But because of it's availability on PS3 and Xbox 360 a few things had to be toned down in order to get it running on both consoles. That is not saying the game is bad looking because it is one of the best looking games I've seen but that's because I haven't played Crysis to make the compareson.
You take the role of Alcatraz, a Marine sent in to get rid of the alien infestation that is going on in New York. You're entire team gets wiped out and Alcatraz is badly injured. He is then found by Jake Dunn also known as Prophet who wears a suit that enhances one's abilities called the Nanosuit 2.0. Alcatraz is then given the Nanosuit to perform and finish Prophets mission. This causes a whole issue of mistaken identity that is played throughout the first half of the game.
Throughout the game you will face off against humans or soldiers from a different organization called crynet and aliens. Crynet's mission is to bring in prophet alive but the main captain of the squad Dominick Lockhart has a different agenda and want's Prophet killed. For the first half of the game you will be guided by Gould who gives you directions on where to go. This sort of sends the protagonist through a cat and mouse type of game where he will give you directions, you follow them and it turns out he wasn't there to begin with. The only thing mission is for him to say Sorry Alcatraz but our Princess is in another Castle. However the chase isn't as dull as you might think. You get to kill Crynet soldiers and aliens along the way or watch the soldiers get killed by the aliens and vice versa. Also throughout every level you can collect a souvenir, dog tags, New York vehicles and email conversations that gives you extra content in the extra's menu.
There are various weapons in Crysis 2 from Assault Rifles to guns that shock your opponent. Of course my personal favorites were always the Assault Rifles and Snipers with the Rocket Launcher. You of course also get Grenades and C4 but when I first played the game I forgot which button brought out the grenades and the C4 were useless and don't really work unless you throw it to an enemy that squaring you. The game tries to give you this reality that you must use stealth to take out your enemies and for that you must use strategy on your attack first. This was pointless to me as I just went in guns blazing in the air and shot anything that moved. Granted it got me killed a few times but I got results faster. With a game as linear as Crysis, you don't want to bring out the Solid Snake in you because there are hardly any places to hide and your Nanosuit can only stay in stealth mode for so long before it runs out of juice.
Your suit running out of juice is one annoyance in the game that I wished they would have changed a bit. Your nanosuit will act as a cloaking device as well as an armor but you can only choose one or the other and you must turn it off before it depletes completely leaving you vulnerable to attack. The reason you are left Vulnerable to attacks is because running and high power jumps take power from the nanosuit. Your visors also take power from the nanosuit so if you're stuck in a dark area and you're power runs out too bad. The nanosuit will recharge itself withint a few seconds but those few seconds could mean life and death. Couldn't they have made it to where you can still run without taking power from the nanosuit and couldn't they give him a better visor that runs on batteries and not on the nanosuits power? Yes you got a billion dollar suit but you cannot afford a good battery pack?
The suit does give you the option to upgrade your abilities but most of them are Bullshit that you might not even want to do it. You can upgrade your suits abilities by collecting Nano Catalyst which acts and the suits currency. Collect enough and you can purchase an upgrade. You can have up to 4 upgrades but each upgrade has to be from a separate category. The only useful ones for me were the Nano Recharge which recharges your nanosuit faster and the Air Stomp. The other ones such as: Threat Tracer, Proximity alarm, Cloak Tracer, etc are bad and I wouldn't recommend you using your hard earned Nano Catalysts on it. Each alien enemy gives you a set amount of Nano Catalysts form the lower end ones giving you 100 to the final boss battle which gives you 5000 for every defeated enemy during the final fight.
I will say that Crysis 2 is amazing when it comes to graphics but with those graphics there is a price to pay. I am currently running a GTX470 with 8GB of Ram and a 3.2GHZ Dual Core Processor(I know it sucks) and I can run Crysis 2 at 40FPS but when a few enemies show up my frame rate drops to only 24FPS. It's still very much playable but it will lag from time to time. Besides the environments some character models look very mediocre. These models however are of human soldiers that don't really play an important role but if it's stressing my system it might as well give me real life like personnel.
The Systerm Requirements are as follows:
- OS: Windows XP, Vista or Windows 7, with the latest Service Pack
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo at 2Ghz, or AMD Athlon 64 x2 2Ghz, or better
- Memory: 2GB
- Hard Disk Space: 9Gb
- Video Card: NVidia 8800GT with 512Mb RAM or better, ATI 3850HD with 512Mb RAM or better
- Sound: DirectX Compatible Sound Card
- DirectX®: 9.0c
So why does my system lag considerably when I overkill the system requirements. Who knows I guess well just say aliens have something to do with it.
Controls are also rock solid but like I said before I actually forgot how to bring out a frag grenade to throw at enemies. It turns out you have to press the Weapons switch button twice or in my case since I'm using an Xbox 360 controller the Y button twice. You also bring out the weapons customization menu by pressing and holding the Back Button on your controller. Just thought I'd mention this as some people might get confused while playing the game.
Voice acting in this game is great. You can actually get into the character and what type of person they are just by hearing them talk. I specially liked the performance done for Dominick Lockhart one of the main antagonist. He is very well done that while playing the game there's no doubt in your mind that he's a douchebag. Alcatraz of course does not speak until the very end and it's kind of decent. I mean all that set up just to have him say one line is kind of a let down. The music is also amazing and can be unlocked for your hearing pleasure at the end of every level.
How long is Crysis 2? I can honestly say that Crysis 2 gives you your money's worth of entertainment and then some. The campaign alone probably took me more than 10 hours to complete. I would play in short bursts of an hour or so every day and at times I wouldn't even complete the level. Yes I would dies many times but that's besides the fact. Multiplayer will also keep you going for many hours as it's entertaining as the game. You get most of the abilities as you would in single player and you are ranked based on how well you do in the match. There is really nothing exciting about the extra's menu besides the music and collecting souvenirs isn't as much fun when you get to see them.
Verdict: Buy
Is Crysis 2 the best game ever created by mankind? No. Is it the best looking? Probably. Crysis 2 is not the best game because there are a few annoyances that I wish would have been handled differently and for the first half of the game you practically take the role of a UPS man. The stealth part of the game doesn't really work out and at times your friendly AI will just get in the way. But when it comes to the gunz(No I didn't misspell that by accident) blazing shoot anything that moves part it is enjoyable and a truly fun game. If you have a system that can handle Crysis 2 and you have an itchy trigger finger I say this game warrants a buy.
GamePlay: The game could have used a few tweaks to make this game more inviting to players but it still does a good job in entertaining the player with all various weapons and enemies and the Nanosuit adds more to the experience. The stealth part of the game does feel slapped on but the high pace action feels just right. 8.5/10
Graphics: There's no doubt that Crysis 2 is one of the best looking games out there but it does require that you have a powerful system. If not remember that it's also available on the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. 10/10
Sound: Great voice acting by the cast it really defines the person whom they are playing. The soundtrack is also solid and can be unlocked to listen in the Extras menu although it does suck that they dont let you transfer them to your Zune (FUCK APPLE). 8/10
Story: Need a package delivered? Call 1800-Alcatraz. Seriously this is the first part of the game but it still keeps the player entertained. For the second half things get more serious. 7.5/10
LifeSpan: 10+ hours of gameplay with a great online multiplayer truly gives you your money's worth. 10/10
Total Score: 88/100
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