Welcome geeks and geekettes to my first ever video game review here on my blog. I hope you enjoy!
Crysis 2, the console follow-up to the 2007 PC hit Crysis, developed by Crytek and published by Electronic Arts for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. For this review I played the game on Xbox 360.
Crysis 2 has a decent storyline. It follows a character named Alcatraz, who is part of a special ops team sent to Manhattan on a mission that goes wrong from the beginning. Alcatraz is saved by super-soldier Prophet and imbued with the suit Prophet had been wearing.
Along the way Alcatraz has to traverse the city landscape battling opposition forces and invading aliens through eighteen missions to reach the endgame of the central alien location in an attempt to use the suit to defeat them.
But the storyline isn’t the important part of this game. Most first person shooters have porn-level writing talent on them anyway. The important part of Crysis 2 is game play, intuitive features and incredible graphics.
There is a vast assortment of weapons available in the game range from simple pistols to electro “railgun” type weapons. Each has strengths and weaknesses, as they should. But none of them leave you wanting or wondering “how did this pistol take down a helicopter?”
Did I mention you get to drive and wield the firepower of a tank? Yeah, you get to do that. It’s awesome.
An interesting part of the game is player development. As you progress in the game you collect “Nano’s” from the alien creatures you destroy. These act like credits you can use to upgrade the suit in twelve different ways in four different categories. The upgrade function is controlled through the left hand of the suit, pressing the button on the controller moves the corresponding finger allowing you to move through the upgrades. But unlike some games that allow you to power up to ultra-levels, the upgrades can only be used one at a time in each category. Meaning: as you progress through certain levels you may switch back and forth between upgrades, they aren’t tiered versions of the same thing. Ingenious.
The graphics are incredible. Down to the smallest detail the landscape of Crysis 2 is designed to make you feel that the world you are playing in is real. As with any game there are barriers to the world, but the field of play is so vast that you rarely reach that barrier (unless you feel like going for a swim).
If you are a fan of first-person shooters, visually striking games with excellent game play with solid replay value, then I highly recommend picking up Crysis 2.
Not discussed above is the multi-player function of the game. In today’s age I tend to shy away from getting into that realm, mostly due to serious beat downs in Halo 3’s online arena. But based on the quality of the story game, graphics and intuitive design I can’t believe the multiplayer format would be a abject failure.
Have thoughts? Questions? I welcome your comments below! I am a man of the people!
