Crysis 2 Review

Crysis 2 if one of those in the future when we get invaded action shooters where you take on the role of a combat marine named Alcatraz. Your mission, to leg it through the ruins of New York – following the radio commands of those who need you to check out crash site, and fetch them stuff they stupidly left back at the lab!

So there is a lot of to and fro in this game – which gives you ample opportunity to get used to the controls and the upgrade system.  Upgrade what?  Why your nanosuit of course!

The action starts of amid the usual bunch of squadie jokers talking a fine game in the games opening scene. You then come under attack and after several bleary in and out of blackout sequences you find yourself ashore in the flaming city, with a shredded Statue of liberty in the distance, alone, and then taken in by a former commando who then gives you your power suit before committing suicide. It is now up to you to finish what he started as you roam the city taking on the enemy military as well as foes from outer space!

As far as a story goes, well, you know it is just the excuse to have the action. The action itself can be a bit fiddly at times if you have not spend the right amount of time getting used to your controls.  You are often given the opportunity to view the scene you are entering and tag areas of interest – We never figured out if these tags actually did anything beyond that (like tagging an enemy would be useful if you then drew your gun and it targeted them directly).

There is also an annoyance with your battery power.  Anytime you use a suite feature – like the invisibility- it drains your battery all too quickly – and if you take aim and fire you become visible again which means you have to be stupidly careful when taking on areas with multiple foes.

But the game does get points of its visual style, graphics and general game play.  It may not be the guilty pleasure that the recent Bulletstorm was – but thankfully there are also less roaming mutants and horrible beasties!  There are beasties- but thankfully more the sci-fi robotic sort, than those from the Lovecraftian horror pit.  Call me squeamish. But I just don’t enjoy zombies, spiders and skyscraper sized man-eaters!

But having said that – things do go more than a little pear shaped for out antagonist as he dashes from place to place taking on new enemies and troubles as the story unfolds. The game manages to keep up its momentum, and whilst it takes a while to get into it (and it was a good couple of hours in before the this reviewer got the knack for it!  So please take your time, and ignore the confusingly hurried start the game has) – and over the fear of it becoming repetitive, the game does pull out a few surprises along the way. The further you explore your characters abilities, quite frankly the more enjoyable it is taking down the enemy. Crysis 2 is up for one of the year’s better shooters so far.

Steven Hurst

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