Crysis 2 is impressive right from the get-go and throttles your attention from the very first cinematic, effortlessly setting the tone for the incredible action, events, set pieces and story to follow.

As you’re slowly introduced to the different characters of the game, the crumbling urban warfare environment of New York City, and the invading alien menace determined to wipe out mankind, you’re given bounteous opportunities to get to grips with the many powers and abilities afforded to you by the super powerful Nanosuit as you crush enemies, turn invisible to outwit your foes and zip around obstacles (living and inanimate) with super speed.

It’s these powers (as well as their upgrades and other abilities) that truly set Crysis 2 apart from any other first-person shooter available, providing you with a non-linear playground to approach missions in almost any way you wish, with all of the trimmings of spectacular visuals, audio and production values to elevate the experience well above similar offerings.

Crysis 2 Singleplayer Campaign

After a crushing introductory cinematic, the adventure of Crysis 2 kicks off proper as you’re injected into the first-person view (and silent disposition) of a US Marine by the name of Alcatraz who quickly finds himself in control of the incredible power of the Nanosuit – a full body suit crammed to bursting with futuristic military technology created to transform regular soldiers (and humans in general) into a literal one man army.

On the verge of death after a surprise attack, Alcatraz is brought back to health by donning the Nanosuit, but is then tasked with completing the previous suit wearer’s ongoing mission – to save humanity, no less!

It’s from this point that you start to discover the current plight of the people of New York City, as a mysterious sickness has spread through the metropolis rendering inhabitants deathly ill, insane and… well, dead. As the city is evacuated a private military corporation, CELL, remains to patrol the streets hunting for Alcatraz and the precious Nanosuit, making the two parties fast enemies. Both Alcatraz and CELL are in for a surprise as a third faction soon makes an appearance - the alien Ceph.

Thus begins a vicious battle for dominance as these three parties scrap it out in the streets, skyscrapers and underground of a devastated New York City, while more characters, factions and intrigue are slowly introduced to add fresh twists to the tale.

Crysis 2 foregoes the large-scale lush jungle playgrounds of the first game and replaces them with the sprawling, stunningly recreated urban environments of New York City. The world is expertly brought to life with jaw-dropping visuals that, at times, approach the hues and details of real life. Crysis 2 is one of the most amazing looking games I’ve personally ever seen, rivalling previous realism-based titles such as Uncharted, and going toe-to-toe with the stylised realism and grit of Killzone 3.

Smoke billows from craters, chunks of buildings, burned out cars and other detritus lay strewn across the streets, the city itself lies in a state of shattered ruin and buckled structures jut out of gnarled, twisted and destroyed high-rises – and that’s before the Ceph’s strange, extraterrestrial organic constructions begin to rip through the city, bursting through from below the surface to shred concrete and tear through brick and mortar as though this sturdy stuff was nothing at all.

Special mention must be made too of the audio in Crysis 2 – it’s spectacular! The Hans Zimmer composed main theme of the game is very provocative while sound effects carry fantastic weight and presence whenever they flit, burst or crash into existence, further immersing you in the world of this urban wasteland.

The New York City of Crysis 2 may never be the same again, but it’s never been so appealing a war zone before thanks to this game’s visuals, the destruction, and the highly engaging game and level design that come together to invite players into a freeform playground filled with reactive enemies, useful objects and lots of interesting, second-to-second combat decisions – my favourite!

At the press of a button you have access to one of three main powers – Armour, Cloak (invisibility) and Agility. You also have the ability to leap great distances, pick up objects (and enemies) and throw them across a room, turn on Nanovision (to see enemy heat signatures in the dark) and power kick heavy objects to clear paths (and crush foes). The use of each of these abilities is governed by a central energy meter, which means you can never use any one of them indefinitely or multiple times in quick succession, so you’ll need to think about which ability you want to use at the opportune time.

Of course you also have access to a huge selection of weapons (rifles, rocket launchers, sniper rifles, energy weapons, grenades, C4, shotguns, turrets and more all feature), with additional movement abilities available, such as sliding and ledge grabbing, to make circumventing obstacles a breeze. And then, in addition to all of this, you have a tactical visor that allows you to mark enemies and munitions dumps on the radar, and get helpful recommendations on how to approach a dangerous situation. The Nanosuit is one awesome piece of tech!

What you do with this incredible range of weaponry and abilities is completely up to you as you try to flank and/or destroy regular soldiers, the crafty and agile Ceph, helicopters, alien gunships, massive armoured alien enemies and towering tripod-like mechanical creatures, all of which will kill you dead given half a chance.

You can go into combat encounters guns blazing without using any of your abilities if you wish, but this is a sure-fire way to get cut down by enemy gunfire and explosives. No, what you really want to do is take full advantage of the capabilities of the Nanosuit, which is when Crysis 2 transforms from a regular shooter into a harmonious symphony of action nirvana.

Instead of walking or running into a firefight, you can leap from a perch down into the middle of a group of enemies and pound the floor to send them reeling, and follow that up with Armour for extra protection as you shoot down a soldier or two before grabbing a third, tossing him straight into a nearby car. As the remaining soldiers flee for cover, you could choose to kick that car straight into them to finish them off, but instead you may choose to Cloak with their backs turned and sneak up around them as they chatter nervously to one another, and then put them out of their misery with a quick melee kill.

Reinforcements arrive, but you’ve spotted an emplaced turret not far away. Leaping and bounding from wall to ledge and back down to the ground before sliding underneath the carriage of a truck, you reach the turret and rip it from its casing, activate Armour again and become a walking tank in the blink of an eye, tearing these fresh enemies to bits as they helplessly attempt to return fire. Done with this ‘challenge,’ you decide it best to Cloak and take the next batch of enemies by surprise…

If used correctly, the Nanosuit’s abilities can help you dictate the flow of combat and turn deadly encounters into exhilarating challenges and tests of your aptitude for adapting to different situations, and then take control of them. Every firefight is an opportunity to take the Nanosuit to the limit, and every jaw-dropping set piece is a showcase of the suit’s amazing power.

After playing Crysis 2, it’s definitely difficult going back to regular shooters that don’t provide you with these selfsame abilities and opportunities.

In the face of this incredible action, it’s unfortunate that there have to be a few blights on the singleplayer campaign of Crysis 2, not least of which is the overall delivery of the story (told in broken bursts with some annoying radio communications and underwhelming level transitions that serve to confuse the narrative), a below average checkpoint system (which can mean replaying large chunks of the game), at times unclear progression paths (leading to minutes of frustration trying to find the right door or way forward), and not a whole lot in the way of pace changers to break up the action.

A more serious problem is related to that last point – there are times when you simply move from one combat encounter to the next against the same kinds of enemies many times over, rather than being introduced to a new set piece, enemy or scenario to mix things up. Similarly, the developers reuse more powerful enemies a few times too often (and recycle regular enemies too), effectively breaking the spell of awe only to be replaced with a feeling of tedium. In this way, Crysis 2 could be accused of forcing players to make their own fun in the provided playgrounds, and while I wouldn’t go that far, it would have been nice if Crytek injected a few more catalysts for action in some of the more dull encounters.

All of this melts away when you’re in the middle of a particularly fierce battle, and by the time you reach the eye-popping finale, you may have even forgotten about most of your qualms – Crysis 2 delivers a cinematic, action blockbuster experience you won’t soon forget!

How are the abilities of the Nanosuit in singleplayer converted into the multiplayer portion of Crysis 2? Well, I’ll tell you.

Crysis 2 Multiplayer

Very well, that’s how! All of the leaping, gunning, cloaking, powering up and speedy action of the campaign has been successfully translated into the multiplayer offering of Crysis 2, and if you get into an online game filled with particularly proficient players you’ll be fortunate enough to witness some amazing acrobatic movements as opponents and allies alike soar from ledge to window to ledge, careen across rooftops, outflank enemies and take them down with a swift melee kill, and generally make your screen look very busy and graceful indeed with moving bodies, gunfire and explosions.

You’ll naturally be able to take advantage of your Armour, Cloak and Agility abilities, although the values have been altered slightly so that each skill uses different amounts of energy than in singleplayer, but like the singleplayer campaign in Crysis 2, you’re able to customise and upgrade these Nanonsuit talents over time to make yourself a more effective killing machine using specially awarded upgrade modules.

Similarly, you’ll be rewarded with experience points for different in-game actions (making a kill, assisting an ally with a kill, performing a headshot, killing an enemy with a grenade or in a special situation, completing objectives and many more) that go towards ranking up in level to unlock different classes, weapons, modules and weapon attachments to further customise your loadout.

There is a deep level of customisation available in Crysis 2 multiplayer and after only a few hours you’ll have the opportunity to create your own class and imbue your chosen warrior with weapons and abilities of your own choosing, foregoing the provided classes to forge a soldier of your very own.

Worth a mention is the use of Dog Tags in Crysis 2 multiplayer. Every time you make a kill, your enemy will drop a dog tag that you need to collect from the place s/he fell. If you collect a certain number of dog tags, you’ll gain access to different game changing abilities, namely Maximum Radar (uncover your enemies on the map for a period of time), Orbital Strike (call in a devastating beam of energy to wreak havoc on the level) and Ceph Airtrstrike (call in an incredibly powerful air-based vehicle to rain fire down on your enemies).

This system is similar to other shooters, but the fact that you need to physically move over to the dog tag to collect it offers another interesting decision during a hectic battle, or even during quiet times of the match – do you become greedy and put yourself in danger to collect the dog tag now, or wait until the coast is clear to pick it up (by which time you yourself may have been shot down).

It’s little decisions like these that add up to deceptively thoughtful multiplayer matches as you decide when, where and how to use your abilities (and the necessary energy) against enemies who are similarly given access to Nanosuit powers.

To mix things up Crysis 2 multiplayer includes different game modes such as Instant Action and Team Instant Action (deathmatch), Crash Site (basically a roving King of the Hill mode where you need to hold areas of the map for points), Assault (an intense mission-based mode where you must get past formidable defences to access special data), Capture the Relay (basically Capture the Flag) and Extraction (capture targets from different locations against heavy opposition).

A good selection of maps are also available (roughly a dozen) each of which are varied enough to easily distinguish themselves from one another, so you won’t be getting bored with the content on offer any time soon (unless your fellow online players vote for ‘City Hall’ over and over and over again…).

With its many opportunities for class customisation, vibrant community of online players, a great range of maps and modes, and the excellent translation of what makes singleplayer gameplay fun, Crysis 2 multiplayer is a fully featured offering that fans of online shooters will be able to sink their teeth into for months to come.

It is a bit disappointing that there aren’t any ties between the singleplayer and multiplayer segments of Crysis 2 (where progression in one portion could have enhanced your abilities in the other) as the game seems uniquely suited to such a marriage of modes with its Nanosuit upgrades, but this wasn’t really expected. Would be nice for Crysis 3, perhaps…

Crysis 2 is a very complete package that delivers an utterly satisfying singleplayer campaign from start to finish (what a finale!) with abilities and scenarios that are unique to the experience and universe of Crysis, making for an explosive action romp of stunning quality. Crysis 2 multiplayer is similarly fully featured and rewarding, and will definitely keep keen online players busy for quite some time (and might even replace comparable multiplayer offerings for a few players…)

If you’re looking for a new benchmark in graphics, first-person gameplay and action, as well as outright spectacle, you can’t do much better than Crysis 2 - highly recommended!

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