Considering that the game has been out for some time now and that there?s plenty of in-depth reviews, by professionals, available both here and on other sites I?ll keep this limited to opinion. For ease of reading I?ll subdivide this opinion piece into three sections: glitches, gameplay and whole package. Oh, yes, there are a few allusions to the story in the game so, if you haven?t beat it just yet you may consider a few of the passages below as ?spoilers,? you?ve been warned.
Campaign Glitches:
It seems like every multi-million dollar game these days can?t, or don?t care enough to, escape from producing a few of these annoyances and ?Crysis 2? has more than its fair share of glitches to account for. In total I have three gripes I?d like to share with you, the reader, concerning the campaign?s glitches.
Freezing- I had been playing the campaign for about 5 out of the total 9 hours it would take me to complete the game before I encountered anything fishy. I was in the train terminal building having just beaten that boss character that looks like one of those Star Wars AT-Walker things?except with a tail. Upon leaving the area, right after a save point, my whole Xbox froze, not the game, the whole system. So, I unplugged it, rebooted it and loaded it up again only to have it happen again?and again. After a few moments forum-hunting I had found I was not the only one to confront this problem on ?Crysis 2? nor was it the only problem one should expect. The solution, unfortunately, was to restart the whole level and hope that the problem didn?t find me after that save point again. Fortunately, it worked but, I did come across this same problem again at a later time in the game; fortunately, again, the same solution worked.
Cracks in the Map- The second specific glitch hit me during the last battle of the game verse those four super-Ceph. After dying a few times trying to figure out how I was to kill those damn things I finally killed all of the available foes only to find, after much searching, that the last one of the bunch had somehow fallen into a piece of the landscape. This happened after having played the game for over 9 hours and staring the ending in the face. Let?s just say that I was pissed and found myself restarting yet another level due to Crytek?s faults.
Artificial Stupidity- Now the occasional frozen console does strike any game and, it may have something to do with the fact that I like to beat my campaigns in one sitting, excluding anything from RockStar of course. And, unlike many of the its big name competitors ?Crysis 2?s? campaign lasts more than 5 hours (e.g. Bad Company, Modern Warfare, etc). However, there was one more persistent problem that I only really began to notice after I got to face the alien Ceph with some frequency, that is, their shitty A.I. Coming from just beating ?Call of Duty: Black Ops?? campaign as well as ?Bad Company 2?s? I wasn?t exactly primed for great A.I., like one will find in the ?Halo? series. But, the mistakes and funky Ceph behaviour I witnessed more and more frequently as I progressed in the campaign did eat away at the awe inspiring visuals. Watching the Ceph continuously walk into walls waiting for me to break their neck or ?patrol? in a circle formation no larger than a sombrero begs the question, was this game rushed by some deadline? Even if that was the case the poor A.I. makes what could have been a great campaign just a good one (i.e. a game I?ll beat for the achievements but not one I?ll actually pop back in just for the fun).
Multiplayer Glitches:
Graininess- So far I?ve only experienced two glitches while playing multiplayer and neither of them were ?game breaking? in my opinion. The often bitched about graininess did in fact strike me a couple of times but, only momentarily, quickly dissipating allowing me to go back to playing. In fact it happened for such a short time that I didn?t think of it as a full-blown glitch, more an occasional processing hiccup. I only mention it because it seems to have affected others quite a bit. Perhaps I lucked out.
Apparently not ?Tooled Up?- The second glitch did bother me quite a bit but, according to some sources it will work itself out after I reach rank 50 on the MP and reboot. Yes the ?Tooled Up? achievement decided to not unlock after I had dedicated 40+ hours of online gameplay to its completion. Now, there seems to be a bit of confusion out there in the cyber world concerning what this glitch is. Apparently there?s two separate glitches associated with this achievement where one, the achievement doesn?t pop after unlocking all of the weapons (i.e. the glitch I?ve got) or two, the achievement is rendered impossible because the player doesn?t receive the requisite number of weapon unlock icons to acquire their new toys (i.e. it may have something to do with game sessions being lost after getting the unlock icon, thus the icon is lost in limbo along with your achievement).
**Update** Just rebooted and still not achievement! Before the reboot I had every weapon unlocked but, the weapon unlock meter-thing read 19 out of 22 despite there only being 20 weapons in the game. I'll keep the rest of the review unchanged but, the readers should know that I will be putting "Crysis 2" down until I hear that theres been a definitive fix.
Campaign Gameplay:
Not being one to watch TV regularly I hadn?t even heard of ?Crysis 2? before I bought the thing on EBay because it was suggested as something I would enjoy, damn you spyware! Anyways, as I always do, I endeavored to complete the campaign achievements before moving on to the multiplayer to both familiarize myself with the controls as well as the lore behind the series. Initial reaction to the sights, sounds, controls and story was positive. The game is beautiful and, for the most part, the controls feel cozy.
Aside from the above mentioned glitches the game itself is quite well done. The graphics, of course, steal the show but, the level design shows that some consideration went into it allowing for multiple approaches to key areas ahead. If one must compare to understand I?d say these levels fall somewhere between the narrow passageways of ?CoD? and great expanses of ?BF?, allowing the player choice but, not great freedom.
The blending of the cinematics into the gameplay is a nice touch allowing the player to continue playing while some truly epic events unfold before them. This stands in contrast to other shooters persistence to disembody the player from the event to focus their attention on the cutscene.
Another job well done by Crytek is the sound scape. This really made me happy because in a world of Whilhelm screams and the absense of auditory nuances Crytek's game is refreshing. Blending the sounds with the visuals is made the gameplay immersive in spots (e.g. activating ones cloak or armor brings with it both the satisfying sounds as well as a change to the HUD). This same culmination is found throughout the campaign, as well as being translated into the multiplayer. Ripping off turrets while in armor mode couldn't be more satisfying. It is these little nuance that, in my opinion, make a great game...too bad Crytek messed it up with their glitches.
Lastly, the story, while not exactly original (i.e. take two parts Halo with one part Gears of War and you?ll have a basic idea) is satisfying. It?s not the watered down bullshit that one gets from the ?Battlefield? series nor is it the beyond comprehensible bullshit I still don?t fully understand from ?Halo 3.? No, the story is easy enough to follow that I knew why I needed to run to the specific objectives, while still having some subtleties concerning transhumanism to tug at your philosophical self, albeit while your gunnin? down some Ceph.
Multiplayer Gameplay:
This won?t take long to describe because, no joke, if you?ve played ?CoD?s? multiplayer then you?ve played ?Crysis 2?s? multiplayer. The level designs, the load out screens, killcams, weapon skill assessments, and dog tags all feel exactly the same as ?CoD?s.? Granted, there are the Nanosuit?s abilities that do steer the combat in an interesting way. Having to balance one?s energy level between sprinting, armor mode, jumping and stealth makes the game both more frustrating than ?CoD? as well as more rewarding. I will say that the controls are a bit too busy for multiplayer, every button has a use and some even have more than one function (e.g. tap ?Y? once for secondary and twice, quickly, for the grenade).
While the fighting itself feels crisp and well planned out there is one persistent problem I?ve noticed in my gaming sessions. The killcams offered by Crytek are laughably bad. Perhaps this has something to do with bad connections/lag/whatever but, I don?t believe that I?ve watched a single killcam that portrayed my death that didn?t have some mismatched sound effects or show something completely different from what I recall happening. I?m not an expert when it comes to online gaming but, I do know that I never witnessed killcams like this when I played the first ?Modern Warfare? three years ago.
One cautionary note to the multiplayer gamers out there, if you want to play more than just team death match or you get bored easily by the stock maps of a game then don?t look to ?Crysis 2? to fill your needs. This is due to the relatively small number of players on the game. If you take a look at Major Nelson?s website you?ll see that the top 20 Xbox Live games no longer includes ?Crysis 2,? though ?Halo 3? is still in the top 10 after four years. While one can easily pop into a team death match game without having to wait a second if you venture to the objective style matches the wait can last up to 10 minutes for a previous match to end. The situation is even worse with the map packs, which I foolishly purchased. Last Saturday night I spent a full 20 minutes stuck in lobbies waiting for enough players to come on the playlists associated with the map packs before I got bored and popped back into the team death match lists.
Whole Package:
Not being familiar with the original ?Crysis? nor even aware of this games ad campaigns I fell into ?Crysis 2? with a neutral stance. I wasn?t a fanboy coming from the original nor was a ?hater? coming from ?Battlefields,? or anyone?s, camp. With my eyes wide open I received ?Crysis 2? with open arms. The campaign despite its flaws still carries some fantastic moments and is paced really well. If it weren?t for the glitches the campaign itself would have been worth the full retail price but, alas, Crytek messed up. As I mentioned earlier, if you?ve played ?CoD? you?ve played ?Crysis 2? so, in my opinion the MP alone really isn?t worth the coin given how unoriginal it is. Despite these two points I have suggested to friends and fellow gamers to give ?Crysis 2? a try simply because when one combines the two flawed halves of the campaign and multiplayer one does find a good game, in fact, one finds a game that is still better than a lot of the utter tosh that is out there now.
While ?Crysis 2? is still a good game with a few flaws perhaps its biggest issue lies with its base of players. How is it that ?Halo 3? is still in the top ten of Xbox Live Activity while ?Crysis 2? isn?t even in the top twenty anymore?
Final Thought- It?s a good game, worth the ?used game? price I paid (i.e. £ 35), some nagging flaws one doesn?t find in similar games (e.g. ?Halo?s? and ?Gear?s? campaigns and ?CoD?s? multiplayer) so, if you?ve got those titles you should think a while before buying this one.
ESCAPIST EDIT: All of my posts are from a couple of years ago, when I had more time and money to pursue this hobby. These were originally posted on TrueAchievements.com and, as such, they're all from 360 games.
Campaign Glitches:
It seems like every multi-million dollar game these days can?t, or don?t care enough to, escape from producing a few of these annoyances and ?Crysis 2? has more than its fair share of glitches to account for. In total I have three gripes I?d like to share with you, the reader, concerning the campaign?s glitches.
Freezing- I had been playing the campaign for about 5 out of the total 9 hours it would take me to complete the game before I encountered anything fishy. I was in the train terminal building having just beaten that boss character that looks like one of those Star Wars AT-Walker things?except with a tail. Upon leaving the area, right after a save point, my whole Xbox froze, not the game, the whole system. So, I unplugged it, rebooted it and loaded it up again only to have it happen again?and again. After a few moments forum-hunting I had found I was not the only one to confront this problem on ?Crysis 2? nor was it the only problem one should expect. The solution, unfortunately, was to restart the whole level and hope that the problem didn?t find me after that save point again. Fortunately, it worked but, I did come across this same problem again at a later time in the game; fortunately, again, the same solution worked.
Cracks in the Map- The second specific glitch hit me during the last battle of the game verse those four super-Ceph. After dying a few times trying to figure out how I was to kill those damn things I finally killed all of the available foes only to find, after much searching, that the last one of the bunch had somehow fallen into a piece of the landscape. This happened after having played the game for over 9 hours and staring the ending in the face. Let?s just say that I was pissed and found myself restarting yet another level due to Crytek?s faults.
Artificial Stupidity- Now the occasional frozen console does strike any game and, it may have something to do with the fact that I like to beat my campaigns in one sitting, excluding anything from RockStar of course. And, unlike many of the its big name competitors ?Crysis 2?s? campaign lasts more than 5 hours (e.g. Bad Company, Modern Warfare, etc). However, there was one more persistent problem that I only really began to notice after I got to face the alien Ceph with some frequency, that is, their shitty A.I. Coming from just beating ?Call of Duty: Black Ops?? campaign as well as ?Bad Company 2?s? I wasn?t exactly primed for great A.I., like one will find in the ?Halo? series. But, the mistakes and funky Ceph behaviour I witnessed more and more frequently as I progressed in the campaign did eat away at the awe inspiring visuals. Watching the Ceph continuously walk into walls waiting for me to break their neck or ?patrol? in a circle formation no larger than a sombrero begs the question, was this game rushed by some deadline? Even if that was the case the poor A.I. makes what could have been a great campaign just a good one (i.e. a game I?ll beat for the achievements but not one I?ll actually pop back in just for the fun).
Multiplayer Glitches:
Graininess- So far I?ve only experienced two glitches while playing multiplayer and neither of them were ?game breaking? in my opinion. The often bitched about graininess did in fact strike me a couple of times but, only momentarily, quickly dissipating allowing me to go back to playing. In fact it happened for such a short time that I didn?t think of it as a full-blown glitch, more an occasional processing hiccup. I only mention it because it seems to have affected others quite a bit. Perhaps I lucked out.
Apparently not ?Tooled Up?- The second glitch did bother me quite a bit but, according to some sources it will work itself out after I reach rank 50 on the MP and reboot. Yes the ?Tooled Up? achievement decided to not unlock after I had dedicated 40+ hours of online gameplay to its completion. Now, there seems to be a bit of confusion out there in the cyber world concerning what this glitch is. Apparently there?s two separate glitches associated with this achievement where one, the achievement doesn?t pop after unlocking all of the weapons (i.e. the glitch I?ve got) or two, the achievement is rendered impossible because the player doesn?t receive the requisite number of weapon unlock icons to acquire their new toys (i.e. it may have something to do with game sessions being lost after getting the unlock icon, thus the icon is lost in limbo along with your achievement).
**Update** Just rebooted and still not achievement! Before the reboot I had every weapon unlocked but, the weapon unlock meter-thing read 19 out of 22 despite there only being 20 weapons in the game. I'll keep the rest of the review unchanged but, the readers should know that I will be putting "Crysis 2" down until I hear that theres been a definitive fix.
Campaign Gameplay:
Not being one to watch TV regularly I hadn?t even heard of ?Crysis 2? before I bought the thing on EBay because it was suggested as something I would enjoy, damn you spyware! Anyways, as I always do, I endeavored to complete the campaign achievements before moving on to the multiplayer to both familiarize myself with the controls as well as the lore behind the series. Initial reaction to the sights, sounds, controls and story was positive. The game is beautiful and, for the most part, the controls feel cozy.
Aside from the above mentioned glitches the game itself is quite well done. The graphics, of course, steal the show but, the level design shows that some consideration went into it allowing for multiple approaches to key areas ahead. If one must compare to understand I?d say these levels fall somewhere between the narrow passageways of ?CoD? and great expanses of ?BF?, allowing the player choice but, not great freedom.
The blending of the cinematics into the gameplay is a nice touch allowing the player to continue playing while some truly epic events unfold before them. This stands in contrast to other shooters persistence to disembody the player from the event to focus their attention on the cutscene.
Another job well done by Crytek is the sound scape. This really made me happy because in a world of Whilhelm screams and the absense of auditory nuances Crytek's game is refreshing. Blending the sounds with the visuals is made the gameplay immersive in spots (e.g. activating ones cloak or armor brings with it both the satisfying sounds as well as a change to the HUD). This same culmination is found throughout the campaign, as well as being translated into the multiplayer. Ripping off turrets while in armor mode couldn't be more satisfying. It is these little nuance that, in my opinion, make a great game...too bad Crytek messed it up with their glitches.
Lastly, the story, while not exactly original (i.e. take two parts Halo with one part Gears of War and you?ll have a basic idea) is satisfying. It?s not the watered down bullshit that one gets from the ?Battlefield? series nor is it the beyond comprehensible bullshit I still don?t fully understand from ?Halo 3.? No, the story is easy enough to follow that I knew why I needed to run to the specific objectives, while still having some subtleties concerning transhumanism to tug at your philosophical self, albeit while your gunnin? down some Ceph.
Multiplayer Gameplay:
This won?t take long to describe because, no joke, if you?ve played ?CoD?s? multiplayer then you?ve played ?Crysis 2?s? multiplayer. The level designs, the load out screens, killcams, weapon skill assessments, and dog tags all feel exactly the same as ?CoD?s.? Granted, there are the Nanosuit?s abilities that do steer the combat in an interesting way. Having to balance one?s energy level between sprinting, armor mode, jumping and stealth makes the game both more frustrating than ?CoD? as well as more rewarding. I will say that the controls are a bit too busy for multiplayer, every button has a use and some even have more than one function (e.g. tap ?Y? once for secondary and twice, quickly, for the grenade).
While the fighting itself feels crisp and well planned out there is one persistent problem I?ve noticed in my gaming sessions. The killcams offered by Crytek are laughably bad. Perhaps this has something to do with bad connections/lag/whatever but, I don?t believe that I?ve watched a single killcam that portrayed my death that didn?t have some mismatched sound effects or show something completely different from what I recall happening. I?m not an expert when it comes to online gaming but, I do know that I never witnessed killcams like this when I played the first ?Modern Warfare? three years ago.
One cautionary note to the multiplayer gamers out there, if you want to play more than just team death match or you get bored easily by the stock maps of a game then don?t look to ?Crysis 2? to fill your needs. This is due to the relatively small number of players on the game. If you take a look at Major Nelson?s website you?ll see that the top 20 Xbox Live games no longer includes ?Crysis 2,? though ?Halo 3? is still in the top 10 after four years. While one can easily pop into a team death match game without having to wait a second if you venture to the objective style matches the wait can last up to 10 minutes for a previous match to end. The situation is even worse with the map packs, which I foolishly purchased. Last Saturday night I spent a full 20 minutes stuck in lobbies waiting for enough players to come on the playlists associated with the map packs before I got bored and popped back into the team death match lists.
Whole Package:
Not being familiar with the original ?Crysis? nor even aware of this games ad campaigns I fell into ?Crysis 2? with a neutral stance. I wasn?t a fanboy coming from the original nor was a ?hater? coming from ?Battlefields,? or anyone?s, camp. With my eyes wide open I received ?Crysis 2? with open arms. The campaign despite its flaws still carries some fantastic moments and is paced really well. If it weren?t for the glitches the campaign itself would have been worth the full retail price but, alas, Crytek messed up. As I mentioned earlier, if you?ve played ?CoD? you?ve played ?Crysis 2? so, in my opinion the MP alone really isn?t worth the coin given how unoriginal it is. Despite these two points I have suggested to friends and fellow gamers to give ?Crysis 2? a try simply because when one combines the two flawed halves of the campaign and multiplayer one does find a good game, in fact, one finds a game that is still better than a lot of the utter tosh that is out there now.
While ?Crysis 2? is still a good game with a few flaws perhaps its biggest issue lies with its base of players. How is it that ?Halo 3? is still in the top ten of Xbox Live Activity while ?Crysis 2? isn?t even in the top twenty anymore?
Final Thought- It?s a good game, worth the ?used game? price I paid (i.e. £ 35), some nagging flaws one doesn?t find in similar games (e.g. ?Halo?s? and ?Gear?s? campaigns and ?CoD?s? multiplayer) so, if you?ve got those titles you should think a while before buying this one.
ESCAPIST EDIT: All of my posts are from a couple of years ago, when I had more time and money to pursue this hobby. These were originally posted on TrueAchievements.com and, as such, they're all from 360 games.