Crysis 2 – Video Reviews

Review by Fabiano “Deimos” Backpack

THE FALL OF NEW YORK

The "real" novelty of Crysis 2 lies in the modified powers of the Alcatraz suit: if on the one hand we find, for better or worse, the same "powers" seen in the first chapter, here they have been revised and corrected to ensure a more varied and fun gameplay. The first real novelty concerns the possibility of combining two powers together of ways to realize a more immediate speed and destruction relationship. Using the suit's powers properly has a great influence on the use of tactics during firefights: on the one hand we can prefer strength, on the other hand stealth tactics and it is in this juncture that Crysis 2 has more fun than ever. The schemes, among other things, have been designed in levels so the player's ability to move by jumping from one side to the other, use force to throw objects in the air or simply camouflage to get behind the player, puts the gameplay on the highest step of the creativity of the user who must work hard to find out what he can really do with the powers of the Nanosuit 2. At these settings, we will also find the possibility of making certain upgrades to weapons as previously could already be done in the first Crysis. Unfortunately, however, if on the one hand we have found a more varied gameplay thanks to the Nanosuit 2, on the other we have noticed that although the schemes are designed in a more extensive way, the invisible corridor will always and only take us in the direction desired by the programmers. Of course, thinking that the levels are "masked" by sandboxes, perhaps the less experienced players will not even notice it but we will have really appreciated a more open and less closed choice of roads to go - among other things, we will be able to use some armored vehicles along the I walk, both for gameplay purposes and to steal it from the military but the few sessions only serve to disconnect from running left and right with your own legs rather than adding something new to the genre.

As for the artificial intelligence routines, on the other hand, I must say that in Crysis 2 there are substantially credible behaviors both with regard to humans and Aliens although it is precisely the latter that seemed to me the most stupid. The military is capable of exploiting the environments around them and joining in evasive tactics to avoid our fire. They do not always think properly but try to defend themselves in the most correct way whether we will use stealth tactics that "we shoot at everything that moves". But sometimes it seems that they go crazy or do not hear the noises just a meter from them ... I happened to kill a soldier in stealth mode followed by a companion with the latter who was unable to notice me at all. With aliens, on the other hand, you notice few tactics and a lot more nastiness - more than anything else they tend to point at you and shoot wildly or jump from side to side without really approaching or protecting themselves and then end up miserably riddled with shots if we take up powerful weapons. Regarding the latter, there are no big news on weapons and in addition to the classic submachine guns (Scar, Grendel, MK 60) and various shotguns or sniper rifles (Marshall, Jackal, DSG-1), we find the usual grenade launchers and missile launchers - among the novelties there is a very beautiful and powerful weapon called the K-Volt that releases electric charges and the X23 that fires a volley of bullets that would knock down an elephant. Scattered around the levels there are also fixed positions with heavy machine guns, in addition to using them stationary, now you can press a button and take them away: really not bad if you are in a tight spot with too many military or aliens.   

I close the gameplay speech by mentioning the overall duration of the single-player campaign which should vary from eight to ten hours overall depending on the difficulty level chosen: therefore, even here we are more or less in line with the current FPS standard. Of course, the beautiful story behind the title, I believe will be enjoyed by both pure science fiction fans and those of modern warfare.

SCARED GRAPHICS 

Going down as graphic details and also going to 1680 × 1024, things settle down considerably and then totally diminish with more standard settings (1440 × 900) and without aliasing effects or shadows in real time (double processor, 4GB of Ram and 512MB video card). The Cry Enigine 3 really amazes a lot also in terms of light and particle effects: fire and smoke seem 100% real, so much so that we wondered if they weren't videos implemented in the graphics engine. The explosions are truly mammoth and the interlude scenes where special effects are widely used, seem to come directly from a catastrophic cinematic colossal. Even more amaze the facial animations that will make any gamer drop jaws who can afford a hardcore detail. Same thing with regards to the general design of Aliens (cyborg style) and means, although in some moments it seemed to us that the character designers took a tad too much from the means seen in the latest Terminator or in the most recent Avatar. Be that as it may, it is just a question of charm that will see a New York completely destroyed or almost with a mammoth detail as regards the environments (wait to put your feet in the scheme set in Time Square at night or in Central Park), with phenomenal textures everywhere and never recycled and with secondary objects such as garbage or cars and trucks left to themselves that manage to give that feeling of abandonment in a hurry. In short, Crytek brings graphics to PC on a very high level and I believe that the Software Houses, from here on, will really have to work hard to recover the lost steps, even though on the horizon we have seen a really panic new Unreal Engine. .

Last but not least, know that the game will fully support stereoscopic for both singleplayer and multiplayer. As far as the technical part is concerned, we cannot conclude the piece by citing the excellent audio of the music that perfectly recreates both dangerous situations and more calm and calibrated interludes but always full of tension.

CRYSIS 2 KINGDOM

Final grade: 9,5 / 10