Played on Xbox One (base)

Developed by Crytek, Free Radical Design

Released 22nd March 2011

After the original Crysis launched to stellar scores from every publication across the board, German-based Crytek quickly began development on their sequel before announcing it at E3 in 2009. Being the first game to be developed with the studio's new CryEngine3, it aimed to surpass the benchmark of PC graphical performance that was the original Crysis, even though it was released 4 years prior.

Story

The story of Crysis 2 is miles better than its predecessor. Set in the year 2023, a "Manhattan" virus has violently and rapidly spread, killing all it infects. The reason for the outbreak? An alien attack by the Ceph. As you don the series' nanosuit, you fight back against the squid-like killing machines, evacuating civilians out of New York City and performing other heroic stuff. Taking place over the period of a couple of days, you'll fight a war on both sides as you get hunted by soldiers for your mistaken identity and stalked by the armoured and murderous Ceph. Overall I think the story was done fantastically, linking the previous game's events enough to fix its predecessor's unanswered questions while still making this game its own.
Every shock, twist and immense obstacle that I encountered was greatly presented either in a cutscene or across the environmental storytelling. The broken and crippling nature of "the city of the world" sends a powerful message of lost hope and dread that resonates nicely with the game and its events, just as the game's writer, Richard Morgan intended - "An attack on New York - as I think we all felt on September 11th - is an attack on the whole human race." I didn't encounter a problem or any negative aspect to the story that either ruined my immersion or feelings about this game, however, a certain thing that can off-put some people is the Call of Duty vibe the game gives off during some of its high-level intensity cutscenes or frequent military-related dialogue.

Gameplay

The gameplay is fantastic. The shooting of each acquired gun felt responsive and unique while the ability to customise the attachments and loadout on the go or in the middle of a firefight felt refreshing in the oversaturated market of FPS' (this is why I also loved the gameplay of the previous game). On top of this, many new adjustments were made. Firstly, you can lean around corners, making the beautiful verticality even more enjoyable to sprint, jump and sneak around(though it didn't work on some walls). Secondly, the energy meter doesn't feel like it gets expended too quickly, allowing you to remain as a heavy-pounding armoured tank or an invisible deadly ghost, for a little bit longer. This is helped by the fact that the energy meter doesn't fully deplete when exiting stealth or firing a shot, instead, it drains a chunk away to maintain that 'one-man army' aesthetic, without making you feel like you're the god of war.

Another new addition includes the modules; 4 different trees, and 3 perks each that allow you to boost a certain part of your play style. You can only have one module per tree equipped however, like the attachments and load-outs, they are switchable on the go, from making armour mode deflect bullets, stealth mode tracking footsteps or seeing the paths of bullets as they fly past your screen. I honestly thought this to be a much-needed addition and a very enjoyable contribution to gameplay, as these matched the next-generation nano suit's feel.

The HUD has also been changed this time, putting an overall detection meter near your minimap and removing the health bar in exchange for a progressively bloodier screen. I can't say I enjoyed this change, preferring detection bars coming from enemies and a health bar that lets me assess the situation at my own pace, however, this didn't inherently ruin my experience. On top of the new detection meter, you also gain access to nano vision, a thermal view of your world, however, its redundancy limited my usage of it to just the tutorial. Additionally, the suit binoculars have been upgraded to label possible methods for approaching a battlefield. This game, in my opinion, masters the first-person experience, never leaving the eyes of the protagonist. In fact, even the module selection was still first-person, with Alcatraz (the protagonist) twitching his fingers to select the upgrade, in a diegetic fashion, remaining heavily immersive.

The enemies of this game are all fun to take down, having their own unique load-outs to attack you with. The Ceph even have mini-boss fights when introducing a reoccurring enemy that will push your accuracy and tactical assessment of a situation even further. If this game were to be remastered or remade, etc, I would love to see the cutscenes in which everything is falling apart, to be genuine gameplay as this would provoke the stress and love for this game even more. In summary for the gameplay, this is easily my favourite first-person shooter ever made.

Characters

The characters, compared to the previous game, have improved enough not to ruin the overall experience but not enough to make you really like them except for two characters. In the previous game, the characters were cliche and predictable except Prophet who I enjoyed. This game has some more cliche written characters, but these personas tread the line of how "cliche" they actually were. There may be the stereotypical loud, anger management needing army general. Yet, his character was enjoyable to me because he had genuine conversations and actions throughout the game that didn't feel overused in other media. There may be an all-talk, smart yet unconvincing scientist but once again, he breaks certain limitations and steps up to be beloved. This goes for every character in the game. I even enjoyed the enemy's chats as they realistically showed emotion and passion for hunting you down after you slaughter their companion squad, something that I didn't get to see until The Last of Us Part II.

Atmosphere

The atmosphere is phenomenal. The soundtrack in the previous game was just army music intensified but listening to this game's OST gives me the goosebumps of an alien invasion, pandemic crisis and extreme chaos while still sounding calm and making me want to experience the wonderful journey. The design is incredible; watching as skyscrapers crash down near you, seeing an ariel fight between a fighter jet and Ceph dropship, or viewing the lights flicker as the infected look lifeless and soon to be reanimated, there is no doubt this is a fantastic game that has beautiful lighting during its day and night. The only problem I encountered was the music suddenly glitching and looping before returning to normal.

Story- 9/10

Gameplay- 9.8/10

Characters- 8.5/10

Atmosphere- 9.5/10