Somewhat Nerdy Gaming: Crysis 2 Review

Overall Score: 9.25/10

Genre: First Person Shooter

Systems: I played the Xbox 360 version, also on: PS3 and PC
Release Date: March 22, 2011
Publishers/Developers: EA/Crytek

EA is known for: Dragon Age: Origins, Mass Effect, Battlefield

Crytek is known for: CryENGINE 1 2 and 3, Crysis, Farcry

Gameplay: 9.5/10

Outstanding gameplay
Four difficulty levels to choose from
Ability to change to a lower difficulty mid game if needed
3D capable
Stealth, Armor, Sprint, Tactical Visor, and Super Jump are the Nanosuit 2.0 powers that you will use the most and they gradually drain your energy meter
Energy meter quickly recharges when powers are not in use
Tactical Visor allows you to plan tactical gameplay and will locate guns and ammo caches
Stealth kills are very cool
AI can be really stupid at times, seem to run into walls a lot
Nanosuit 2.0 will talk to you and tell you objectives
Weapons are a nice blend of pistols, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, frag grenades, C4, and rocket launchers
C4 is very powerful
Cover system is pretty good but has slight issues with popping out right and left
The swarmer rocket launcher is insanely awesome!
Tactical Options are very helpful later in the game
Can carry a primary weapon, secondary, grenades, rocket launcher, and C4 all at the same time
Ability to mod weapons with silencers, scopes, etc.
Tip: When cloaked, crouch and move to conserve energy, uncloak to shoot then cloak again
Upgrade suit by killing aliens and collecting the nano they drop
12 upgrades total, can use four at a time
Vehicles are difficult to drive
Lots of mounted weapons throughout and you can unmount them to carry with you

Story: 8.5/10

You start out on a submarine as a marine named Alcatraz.You're floating in the waters of the Hudson River in New York City. You're sub is attacked and you have to swim to the surface. You're on the verge of death and a big dude in the Nanosuit 2.0 comes and saves you. You pass out and the next thing you know you're in the Nanosuit. You see flashbacks of a man named Prophet. He tells you that he put you in the Nanosuit because he's been infected and will die soon. He then tells you to rescue a man named Dr. Gouled. You're their last hope!
Group of military extremists called C.E.L.L. are trying to get the Nanosuit from you.
An alien species known as the Ceph (pronounced Sef ) are wreaking havoc on New York City. They're unleashing an infection called "the spore" that's killing thousands of people. And scientists are struggling to find a cure. It's up to you and the Nanosuit 2.0 to stop them and find a cure.
Story gets boring then exciting again when the Ceph is introduced
Most of the story is told in-game.
The story gets pretty wild, in a good way. And there may or may not be a twist! Play to find out.
Left it open for a sequel

Graphics: 9.5/10

The graphics are amazing
CryENGINE 3 achieves greatness!
Some of the best on consoles
Amazing environments
Battling at night was my favorite because of the amazing vivid colors
Detail on everything is superb, except dead bodies
In cut scenes, everything looked good until somebody started moving there arms, bad arm animation.
Pop in is rare but still happens
Some environments are recycled
Shadows were off a little bit at some parts, but nothing major
Destruction is on par with most other games
Destruction that is part of the story such as the tectonic shifts look very cool

Sound: 9.5/10

The sound is so good!
Right away I noticed how good the menu music was.
Weapons and explosions sound realistic
Music is appropriate to what's going on in the game
If you're able, play with surround sound or a good pair of head phones, I played with my Turtle Beach X11's and it sounded amazing.
Voice acting is very good for the most part

Replay Value: High

Not a whole lot of incentive to replay the campaign except for: four difficulty levels, some unlockables, and the fact that it's super fun

Multiplayer:

This is where the real replay value is
12 maps
Deep progression
Long term rewards
Nanosuit and weapon upgrades
More than 20 weapons
Four classes and five custom classes
50 ranks
Kill enemies and collect there dog tags to earn killstreaks
Maps are pretty fun
The armor and stealth add something new to traditional multiplayer
Firing from the hip doesn't work well even when there in your face
Other people can steal your dog tags
Each weapon has unlocks such as silencers and scopes

The campaign in this game really is fantastic. Although the first few hours weren't anything special, the last 8 or so more than made up for it. The all out warfare in the streets of New York City were really really good, like Halo good. Battling in New York City at night will be one of those gaming moments that I'll remember for a long time. It reminded me of a beautiful mix between Halo and Call of Duty. Killing the alien Ceph was a lot of fun. Fighting the Pinger, a giant alien robot, made for some super intense battles. The only other thoughts I have about the multiplayer is that although it's fun, there are a lot of better choices out there. I recommend this game to all First Person Shooter fans.

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