We've got another Crysis on our hands!

     Welcome back fellow gamers! Here's a new rant for you to enjoy. This time I'm going to be talking about Crytek's new shooter called Crysis 2. Most people remember the first Crysis as being the pc game that was only playable with a monster system, and that was true. Thankfully the team at Crytek developed the second game in the series on both the pc and current consoles (sorry Wii no love for you). So I can hear what you're thinking. "Wow, another shooter huh? Aren't there enough of those already?" You would be correct in thinking that. Let me tell you why I think Crysis 2 stands on it's own in a vast sea of first person shooters.

    

     First off let me briefly tell you a bit about the story. You play as an unspoken hero named Alcatraz. You end up being rescued from death by a super soldier who gives you his nanosuit and tells you it's up to you to save everyone. Save everyone from what? Well you start out fighting against a large organization called C.E.L.L. who wants the nanosuit for their own use. Then an evil alien race known as the Ceph land in New York, and of course they're not friendly. So you have the awesome task of killing the alien horde and saving the world. Yes, this is one area that Crysis 2 doesn't stray too far from the norm. The story is good, but we've all seen games where aliens attack Earth and you have to defend it.

     One area that Crysis 2 does not let you down in is the graphics. The first Crysis, when played on a good pc, looked awesome. The pc version looks the best, but only if you have the pc to run it! On the PS3 and Xbox 360 the game still looks gorgeous. This is one of the best looking games that I've seen in a long time. The colors are bright and lighting effects make the world and objects more realistic. The trees, litter, and embers from fires flow in the breeze. Even the graphics in the multiplayer don't take a hit. Everything runs silky smooth and looks fantastic.

     As far as enemy a.i. goes the game is sort of a mixed bag. Most of the time the enemy will sense you coming and try to flank you. If you're not careful you will find yourself surrounded and outnumbered. There were times when the enemy would seem to get stuck between objects and "wobble" awkwardly and not attack. This didn't happen a lot so it wasn't as if the game was broken. I also had an instance where as a level started up my character's gun was completely invisible. I could still shoot and reload, but the gun could not be seen. I don't know if this was just a glitch on my copy of the game but it was funny none the less.

     Something that I really liked about this game was the way you upgrade your nanosuit and weapons. Now if you're not familiar with what the nanosuit is, it's basically a super suit. It gives you the ability to sprint really fast, become invisible, have heat vision, super armor, and a few other tricks. The way the game presents the ability to upgrade your nanosuit is pretty slick. Instead of pausing the game to go into a clunky menu system, your character holds up his left hand. On each finger of your hand is a different suit ability that you can upgrade. You earn points to upgrade your suit by killing the enemy aliens and "collect" data from them. The same thing happens when you want to upgrade your weapons. You will hold up your gun and it will map out the different areas where you can add attachments. Both the weapon and nanosuit upgrading process is done while the game is still in motion. So you can't do this while enemies are present unless you want to get mowed down!

     Now let me get into Crysis 2's multiplayer. The best way I can describe the multiplayer is if Halo Reach and Call of Duty got together and had a baby. Yeah, ponder on that image for a moment. Just like in Call of Duty you will gain xp (experience points) for your character. This will unlock new weapons, attatchments, and nanosuit abilities. The way this game reminds me of Halo Reach is the different nanosuit abilities. All of the cool moves you can pull off in the single player campaign can be done online. This makes for some serious competition. People will cloak themselves, send decoys out, and use enhanced armor to keep the pressure on you. You also earn different dog tags (challenges) that act as your gamer tag within the game. One different area is the killstreak rewards. To earn these you have to collect so many dog tags from enemies you kill. There are plenty of maps in the game and they are all pretty large and mapped out well.

     So hopefully if you were on the fence about Crysis 2 this rant has helped you. I think most shooter fans will find plenty to love about the game. For me just having something a little different from Call of Duty Black Ops was great. There's a lengthy campaign and a robust multiplayer to keep you coming back for more. If the developers add more maps with future dlc, I think Crysis 2 will continue to be a popular game. If you're a shooter fan and haven't played this game go do it now. You won't be disappointed.

Final Verdict: 10/10

Written by: Alter Ego 83