Crysis 2 Review (PS3)

Sandbox shooting for the cerebral gamer.

Woop woop, it’s finally here! The sequel to one of my favourite PC AAA titles has brought some nice sandbox action to console players, and offers a refreshing world in which to shoot stuff. Crysis 2 continues the story of the Ceph invasion, and pits Alcatraz, a US marine who inherits a powerful biosuit against vastly superior forces intent on both capturing him and destroying the world. What this boils down to is a hugely different take on the creaking FPS framework, by opening up new options to players and changing the way you think about playing a shooter. No longer does the player work their way down a set of corridors and streets fighting along a prescribed route. Instead, each level is split into two or three massive open areas, populated with enemies, weapons and routes for a variety of different tactics. Your suit, too, adds further layers to your combat – featuring invisibility, armour and super speed, you start each section from a viewpoint, and can utilise the suits tactical visor to plan your route to the next checkpoint. So, what does this actually mean? Well, you can enter an area, mark some of the enemies (to track them as you move), power up your stealth suit, kill a sentry, steal a heavy gun, enable armour mode and then gun down a group of superior forces. Or perhaps sneak the whole way without killing anyone. The planning phase is integral to your success, as often the direct approach leads to a very quick death. However, often your best plans will quickly go awry, forcing you to adapt to new challenges on the fly and think your way through the firefights. This new play style is incredibly refreshing, and in many ways makes Crysis 2 closer to titles such as Rainbow Six or Ghost Recon, than COD or Half-Life. This, however, is also the titles achilles heel: for every gamer loving the cerebral challenge, there will be another two who will hate the lack of “all guns blazing” firefights, and this is further hampered by two of the biggest problems prevalent in sandbox gaming – glitching is more common than it should be (I have seen several helicopters parked in a building, preventing the gaming script from continuing), and the AI can at times be shocking. Too often the enemy AI did one of two things: either a stealth shot lead to an entire army suddenly assembling from four corners of the map to attack me, or completely fail to notice me throwing their colleagues through a car parked next to them. This was frustrating, as it often killed the excellent atmosphere that Crysis brings – despite never leaving central New York, each area and section really did a great job of defining itself , and helped relieve what could have potentially been a very repetitive experience. Controls are excellent: console gamers have access to an intuitive and easy to use system for accessing the abilities, and it’s very easy to become quite the badass guerilla soldier from early on. Visually, Crysis is amazing: despite having a dubious resolution and the occasional jaggies, everything moves smoothly with a serious lack of lag or frame drop. Add to this the awesome lighting effects and sheer scope of design, and Crysis 2 is certainly one of the most gorgeous console titles out to date. Sound is great too, with a rousing cinematic score matching great voicework and some truly intense sound effects. Its certainly very easy to get immersed into the game world, which should be roundly applauded. The main feature that most gamers will relish is the opportunity to really take control over how their missions pan out: despite a straightforward objective, the ability to attack in your own way has already lead me to replay several sections of the game, just to see what I can get away with. Upgrades also carry over once you have completed the campaign (which weighs in at a good 10 hours – FPS developers take note!), allowing you to further explore areas, and scour for collectibles you may have missed first time round. The scripted sequences can often be breathtaking too – the city literally falls apart as you play, and often the Ceph really do seem to be throwing everything they can at the under prepared human forces. Crysis 2 also ships with a good multiplayer component too – offering the usual suspects of deathmatch, team deathmatch, “Capture the Flag”, and variants of traditional FPS capture and hold match styles, alongside an initial 12 maps taken mainly from the single player. Players rank as they play, gaining perks and abilites, and also have access to some of the suits powers to aid play. It certainly is a lot of fun, as beta demo players will already know: the first time I rounded a corner with enemies chasing me, turned on cloaking and hid before popping up behind my attacker with a stealth kill, I literally jumped out of my seat with excitement. It really does add a second layer to the tired format of many shooters, but I am concerned that this will also quickly lead to the multiplayer becoming inaccessible to new players. Only time will tell, but I would certainly hope that the community grows with the title. Crysis 2 has an awful lot to recommend: a great gameworld with clever AI (at least at the higher difficulty settings) blend swell with awesome presentation, and the multiplayer is an engaging and deep experience for those prepared to invest some time. However, issues with some glitching, the often incomprehensible storyline and the general Marmite appeal of the title really make Crysis 2 something to try for a lot of shooter fans. Certainly, I love it, as do many of my friends, but many players will quickly get frustrated at the time needed to really get the most out of each section. And that’s a shame: for such a bold leap into what is predominantly a PC field, Crysis 2 really does tick many of the right boxes.