Sharp Dressed Combat
by Cody Newill
In a world where linearity became the standard mechanic of shooters, and the original Crysis sold abysmally, it is strange to see Crysis 2 continue option oriented, or systemic, game design. It is virtually alone in this respect—the Call of Duty mode of design has pervaded most modern shooters—but this game doesn’t need allies. Indeed, Crysis 2 is all the more engaging due to its unique position as a model for how to make on-the-fly options work, and acts as the thinking mans shooter amidst a plethora of cognitive slop.
The premise of Crysis 2 is familiar territory for sure: New York is under alien attack and the marines (and private military forces) have been called in. You play as Alcatraz, a vocally challenged grunt who happens to get thrown into a super-powered Nano Suit. He must find biological scientist Nathan Gould to stop the alien Ceph from infecting citizens with a horrible virus and uprooting civilization as a whole.
I won’t bother with more exposition; even though that might’ve sounded fairly straight forward, the narrative is hardly showcased. Crysis 2 takes generous queues from Half Life 2 in its story telling, but doesn’t take the necessary time, despite a lengthy campaign, to develop an emotional connection with the player. Imagery of bleeding citizens, war torn streets, and alien ships are all taken rather blatantly from Valve’s seminal shooter. But unlike Alyx, Dr. Kleiner, and Dog we aren’t ever given a reason to care about Alcatraz’s marine buddies or Gould. The citizens are pitiful and I felt bad for them, but so-so voice acting kept me from caring about anyone else. There are plenty of exciting moments where Ceph gunships rain hell on New York’s structures, skyscrapers frequently fall in the background, and subterranean tentacles blast apart streets as easily as tearing paper. Lamentably, the lack of any relatable characters pulls these moments down, as there are often horrible dialogue exchanges during or directly after any cool scripted moments.
Fortunately, Crysis 2 absolutely succeeds in variety of game play; nearly every mechanic revolves around giving players different ways of handling enemy forces. The Nano Suit has three different settings—which are easily toggled with one or two button presses—that all contribute to vastly different play styles. Power allows for faster movement, lethal melee attacks, and greater jump distance, Stealth makes the player nearly invisible, and Armor is, well, armor. Weapons can also be outfitted with modifications to work in tandem with specific suit functions: silencers go naturally with Stealth, and shotgun attachments make Armor very formidable. This level of control gives Crysis 2 a feel that goes directly against modern shooter restrictions. Letting players decide whether to dispatch enemies with quick, silent headshots, or loud, obnoxious tank tactics, or even a mixture of the two is something that just isn’t seen in the genre.
The suit can also be upgraded by collecting nano dust from downed Ceph. This lets you purchase upgrades such as a flying ground pound, or an enemy footprint tracker. These can be switched around to cater to different situations as well, and it gives even more power to each of the suit functions.
Giving players combat options is one thing, but having the room to take advantage of those options also factors in heavily to Crysis 2. The torn streets of New York are as wide as they are tall, giving some much needed elbow room for player agency. One moment you may find yourself on some scaffolds outside the fourth floor of an office building, the next, you’ll be running through underground drain pipes, going around dozens of militants in the process. And you’re never penalized or held back; in fact, you can sneak past almost every enemy in the game. It becomes harder once the Ceph become the main threat, but it is still possible, which is more than any other shooters can say. The Nano Suit’s visor also helps this by letting players tag ammo crates, flanking options, and—most importantly—enemies. This sets up a nice flow where you open up your visor, plan your route of attack (or stealth), and execute. Thinking out encounters before you act is essential to success, and it distinguishes Crysis 2 even farther from its contemporary peers.
Crysis 2 inherited a heavy burden from its predecessor in terms of graphics, and on the Xbox 360 it struggles to carry that burden. The frame rate is sporadic and never goes above 30. That being said, the lighting, particles, and scope are all pretty impressive. God rays pierce through windows, foliage, and water, bullets tear up dust and shrapnel, and New York looks appropriately huge. The character models take a giant leap into the uncanny valley, but it’s forgivable considering the quality of the rest of the visuals. The extreme stress associated with advanced lighting and scope does produce some bugs however. Sometimes I would find an enemy soldier running in circles, staring blankly into space despite my unwanted presence, or throwing grenades right down at his feet. On normal difficulty, these bugs seemed worse than they were on higher difficulties as well. Ultimately, I can’t imagine these issues dragging my memory of Crysis 2’s amazing campaign down, but they are there, and they are distracting.
Judging by past critiques, I gathered that multiplayer wasn’t a fondly remembered part of Crysis, and I doubt it will set the world on fire here either. The multiplayer suite is sort of like a hybrid of Halo Reach and Modern Warfare 2, but then again, what isn’t now days? While the standard gunplay is fun, the maps aren’t that memorable. Perhaps more disappointing are the armor abilities, which work so well in single player, but aren’t allowed the same freedom due to the naturally restricting nature of multiplayer pace and arena size. It doesn’t match up to the great single player, but it still has some fun moments that make it worth a look. Perhaps you’ll find it more engaging than I did.
I hope that more games will break the standards like Crysis 2 does. Sure, it’s flawed, but it doesn’t drag you by the hair through its campaign like a Neanderthal; it treats you like an intelligent human being, capable of making decisions and—stick with me here, this is kind of crazy—actually thinking about encounters. In short, Crysis 2 is a great lesson in self-reliance and freewill, not dependence and obstruction which now dominates shooters.
