Times sure have changed since the 2007 release of Crysis was first unleashed into a world of unprepared desktop computers. What was one of the most demanding games to come out on the PC that brought once powerful computer to their knees is now seeing it’s sequel on the somewhat less prestigious console. The whole reason the first Crysis didn’t make it on the console was because it was believed the console couldn’t ever handle its hefty requirements but look where we are now. Now instead of being a graphical testament to what spending $1500 will get you, this time around it could be a testament to your $300 purchase.

Well let’s get this review started with what Crysis has always been known for first and foremost and that’s its graphics. I can say with much certainty that Crysis 2 is one the most stunning looking games I’ve ever seen on the Xbox 360. You’ve got beautiful war torn New York backdrop that’s full of color. There are some nice little effects that were stuck in as well for good measure, one that came to mind was when you walk under a waterfall the helmet is clouded temporarily by water that covered your suit, which reminds me of a lot of the nice environmental touches from the Metroid Prime series. I love the detail that was put into the faces of the characters, which you don’t get to enjoy all that often unfortunately since most the time you have nobody in the level to talk to. Now with all the praise I’ve put on it, I should mention though as far as it pushes the Xbox it still isn’t up to the bar set by high quality PC graphics, the resolution isn’t as high as on a killer PC gaming setup. There are also some hitches like some low-resolution textures that are pretty blatant when you spot them within a level and it’s a wonder they made it in the game where everything else is top notch.

The game’s music has got this alien feel to it, it’s not your usual wartime shooter fair with the inspirational combat music. That goes quite well since the game is about the earth is being invaded by a group of aliens bent on humanity extermination to they use the planet for their own purposes. Anyway it’s a different feel than you’ll be accustomed to it’s a good change of pace. The music’s pace is right for the given moment it’s playing from the low key stealth sneaking to the large scale fights within time square it fits the moment well. As for the voice acting it’s well done and you start to care about characters even though most of the time your only interaction with them in the game with your HUD. Usually the levels has stuff happening whether your character is actually is involved with it or not and along with it comes an array of vocal delights for your ears to take in.

Crysis 2 shares plenty of similarities when it comes to the original game. Just like in the first game you’re still a soldier that has this cool super suit with plenty of perks to go along with it. The perks you’re given let’s it stand out from your usual first person shooter, as the abilities are quite unique. First all your suit’s power can be put towards running and jumping greater distances than you could normally making you feel quite powerful but not overpowered. Your suit can also make you temporarily invisible to your enemies and let’s you sneak your way around the level. This is a fun ability to play around with and you’ll find yourself using it all the time instead of staying and shooting since a lot of the time enemies have the nasty habit of respawning if you stay in an area for too long which the numbers will quickly start to overwhelm you. The other major ability you’ve got to play with is the ability to use your suit’s power to give you a sort of armor. As you’re hit with more and more gunfire the suit’s energy bar will drain until you’re taking damage to your main health. Taking damage to either isn’t that big a deal because it works like most modern first person shooters where if you’re given a moment or two to rest you’re vitals will heal themselves. Besides your basic abilities, you suit can also be upgraded if you recover the Nano Catalyst left over by enemies of the alien sort. With it you can unlock new suit attacks, better ways of spotting the enemy and make it faster and more efficient. One thing that really bothered me is the game has the tendency to be buggy seeing your gun disappear at checkpoints until you reload and sometimes even falling through the level. The level design isn’t quite as open as the jungles in the original PC games but you’re not feeling too cramp and I actually prefer having a little direction instead of wide jungles to navigate through. Overall though I’d say they make the game feel quite different from say your Call of Duty game and is a refreshing breath of fresh air in the well-travelled first person shooter road.

I’ve described your fun toys, but I should talk a bit about what you’ll use your fun toys for. You’re introduced to the game as a marine called Alcatraz who’s part of a squad of about half a dozen marines that’s being transported to New York to extract a scientist who might have some valuable information on the alien invasion that’s happening across the world, a Doctor going by the name Nathan Gould. Without going into too much detail things go terribly wrong and you end up inside super soldier suit after its former owner known as Prophet dies. From there you travel across New York City trying to stop the alien invaders from destroying the city and the world. The story is fine; I just wish they might have taken some time to go over the backstory of the previous games either through in game storytelling or just a cutscene you could watch that recaps. The original isn’t and probably will never be on anything besides the PC so the average console player will not understand a lot of what’s going on and will be left wondering how did the story get to the point where aliens are invading across the world and how does the super suits really fit into all of this.

The game has a pretty fleshed out multiplayer similar to Crysis Wars the multiplayer portion of Crysis Warhead on the PC. You start off with just regular and team death match unlocked at the start. From there you can unlock four more modes including capture the point and capture the flag variants. One of them the modes being Assault which you only have one life per player where you’re defending or capture a point for those who like their realistic type action. All in all I’d say you’ve got a nice package of different multiplayer modes to choose from where you’ll be wanting to level up not just for your new guns and load out but to also unlock the new interesting match type that you’ll want to try and master.

Crysis 2 has a few problems but on the whole it’s the most solid first person shooter that has come out so far this year. The game if anything is absolutely gorgeous but that’s not the entire package has. The sci-fi atmosphere is well used to give you something you won’t find in your runoff the mill game in the genre. The single player will last for several hours and the multiplayer will go on for much more than that. While I didn’t really fall in love with the original Crysis I feel differently about Crysis 2 giving it a wholehearted thumbs up.

Gameplay

Graphics

Sound

Overall