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Post your Crysis 2 Reviews here. Since it's now available worldwide, posting in the North American thread is no longer necessary.
I'll start with my musings.
Crysis 2 Campaign Musings: Spoilers are not included, no worries. This is not a review but comparison and my thoughts on Crytek's decisions for game plot.
These are musings of Crysis 2 after completing the campaign which took 8 hours. I played the game with skill, head shots and using the most what I thought were the most effective weapons on Veteran mode. I played tactically, using stealth often, and sprinting from point to point and getting kills as fast and clean as possible. The game could be played in other ways, but this I think is the fastest and most effective way to kill in Crysis 2.
I won't be talking about graphics as there are plenty about that, and DX11 patch rumor suggest the patch should be available next week. As said these are just musings, thoughts.
Crysis 2 is a departure from Crysis/Warhead. My impression Crysis is the brainchild of Cevat Yerli and the story is likely written by him. But following the success of MW and other games like it, Cevat Yerli hired Richard Morgan to write the story for Crysis 2, and it shows. The story from Crysis and Crysis 2 are so different, that you don't need to have played Crysis at all to understand Crysis 2. Crysis 2 is inconsistent with the previous game. The previous game you are sent rescue scientists in what appears to be a CIA operation on a jugle island that is also being investigated by the North Koreans. The North Koreans seem to be a step ahead by incorporating the help of US Scientists to excavate alien technology. Crysis 2 fails to utilize any of the previous plot for any continuation in what anyone would consider a trilogy.
In Crysis the Alien technology comes to life and are antagonistic and intelligent. They are ruthless while being cautious. Hiding among rocks and then unleashing a barrage at you. They look like armored tentacles. The large battleship like aliens cruise the skies while the smaller brethen seem to hover with their tentacles ready to kill. In Crysis and Warhead expansion you face behemouth Aliens the size of battleships, size of buildings. They look alien. In Crysis 2 the new aliens are bipedal and humanoid. Even their inquisitive AI behavior is human and the way they tilt their head as they search for is very human like. They no longer seem alien, but humans in futuristic, heavy armor. They are confined to the ground, and in general are slow. They are not flying through the air quickly. Even the noises they make are a departure from the previous game. You can even go as far as to say, this species of alien seem alien to the previous species in the Crysis. I admit that Crysis 2 deserves new alien models to freshen the game, but at least make the aliens appear similar. The coloration also differed. The previous aliens displayed dark colors with florescent blues. This new species are now silver with red florescents. They now look heavily armored that look to be manufactured in a human factory. The previous aliens armor looked to be biological and a true symbiosis of technology and biology. Even the largest alien in Crysis seemed to be a large organism in perfect symbiosis with technology. The large tank like enemies in Crysis 2 again resemble a weapon manufactured by humans and piloted by a human. These in particular don't seem alien at all, but just fighting a futuristic weapon.
The human enemies are also a departure from the first game. In the first game the North Koreans were your enemy and you were working with the CIA, and Delta Force. But you are now working with and combatting a private research firm with their hired mercenaries, private sector. The North Koreans had managed to reverse engineer the Nano Suit and combatting Koreans who were able to sustain massive damage, being as fast and agile as you while stealthing was far more interesting than shooting at mercenaries. Crysis 2 has no mention that the Nano Suit technology has been replicated and is being used by another nation.
Crysis 2 should have taken place in Seoul, South Korea. If the Aliens were as intelligent and advanced as Crysis suggested, then the logically they would attack Korea, and Seoul, South Korea being the largest city on that Peninsula makes it the logical choice. Seoul, South Korea boasts a population and density that rivals and exceeds New York city with the world's most advanced technology in all facets of lifestyle. Everything from architecture to advanced subway systems, to the best South Korean technology industry has to offer. And unlike New York City, Seoul retains some of it's 4,000 year old history and heritage making the city far more unique and I think interesting than New York City.
Why choose New York City? Unless you have spent a lot of time in a city or lived there, it doesn't matter which city Crytek have chosen I think. Crysis is not just an game of US audience, it's an international hit. Choosing Seoul, South Korea makes it far more logical choice going by the previous game, since the choice of city doesn't matter that much if Crytek just wanted an Urban Jungle.
In this aspect, I think Crytek failed. Crysis 2 does not seem to be part of a trilogy that began with Crysis. There doesn't seem to be any continuation from the first game. Maybe Crytek felt they had to do this since Crysis 2 is the first game to be featured on consoles? I think that is an unconvincing arguement. With CryEngine 3, Crytek could have easily outsourced to another studio to port Crysis for consoles.
The nano suit has welcome improvements but it has it's downsides also. The quick key Q and E for armor and stealth was a great idea. But the customization and additions to the armor made the game too easy. The nano suit can now be upgraded to extend energy efficiency in stealth mode and armor mode. It can now detect when enemies are in close proximity, and detect in which direction the bullets are flying. They further with easy moves with slam as you jump down.
The previous simplicity of the nano suit made you think a lot more and strategize. Even on the most difficult level, you can barrel through like an unstoppable machine in Crysis 2. You can run for long periods stealthed and sustain damage for extended period. Your nano suit can even deflect bullets now. The previous method forced you to decide from moment to moment what you would do next and use your available energy far more efficiently. Jumping into a mass of soldiers with armor wouldn't work, as your energy would deplete quicly leaving you vulnerable.
Crysis 2 is still a better game than anything Epic or Activision has produced in years. Crysis 2 is still a fun game with excellent visuals. But as part of a trilogy, it's a failure. And the nano suit while has great improvement in control, it's upgrades make the game too easy and does not encourage creative or intelligent play. The game is played to me like a straight forward tactical shooter.
Crysis 2 6 minute combat footage
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=XFQXUM0Q
Youtube video is terrible quality, further degradation with color matrix conversion and also distorts the chroma of the video. Yes the file is 650 mb, but this was to show what the game looks like at extreme settings. And x264 did compress this from 8GB down to 600mb, so I'm impressed and it looks nearly lossless. If you are unsure about how great Crysis 2 actually looks then take a peak with this video.
This video demonstrates how OP the Nano Suit 2 is. On Veteran difficulty, you can bulldoze through any gun fight.
Game Settings:
Extreme Graphics
Veteran Difficulty
VSync On
Added to system.cfg
cl_fov=78
pl_movement.power_sprint_targetFov=78
g_skipIntro=1
i_mouse_accel=0
i_mouse_accel_max=100
i_mouse_smooth=0
r_HDRBloomMul=0
Video settings:
Video: h.264 1280*720 (x264 @ CRF 18)
Audio: AAC (Q 0.5 (192 VBR))
Tools used: virtualdub (appending, demuxing), x264/avisynth, eac3to
Crytek does have some humor. You can find this early in the game.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=TG6JT49S
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Just finished the game today after playing 17 hours (according to xfire) on the hardest difficulty (just coz anything lower than the hardest difficulty are wayyyy too easy
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Great game & I enjoyed it. Gameplay is way better than Crysis 1 too. -
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i know warhead wasent a mod lool but he said with the "texture mod for warhead was untouchable"
now mabe we can stop with the arguing
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Crysis 2 Reviews: Post em here
Discussion in 'Gaming (Software and Graphics Cards)' started by mushishi, Mar 27, 2011.
