So with all the fuss around Crysis 2 I decided to finally play through the predecessor which was resting on my Steam pile of shame for about a year now. For some reason I never got to advance beyond the very first enemy encampment. 
 
Having sunken about 3-4 hours into the game today I am really torn between being fascinated and extremely frustrated by it. 
Yes, the visuals are stunning even by today's standards. Facial animations are lifelike, environments are diverse and believable - a jungle does feel like one and a mountain in the background looks extremely high and beautiful. It feels like you could go anywhere and do anything on the island the game takes place on. It is a perfect playground for shooting dudes in the face. 
Crysis also features a nice little story. You're a member of a US special unit armed with the nanosuit. You are in the middle of a military conflict with North Korea when strange things start to occur. Great setting which allows for various unique gameplay opportunities. And this is where the game began to lose me. 
Although it is fun to toy around with unsuspecting enemies cloaking Predator-style and disposing of them in creative fashion, everything else surrounding the suit mechanics feels very clunky. To me it begins and ends with the way Crysis refuses to hold your hand most of the time. Every time you recieve a new waypoint it is usually a couple of kilometers away. you can either drive or walk there. And while one could see it as a freedom of choice there is always a predetermined path you are supposed to be taking like a certain road and jungle areas around it and more often than not this path is not very obvious. On several occasions I took the wrong turn on some road fighting through numerous enemies and reaching a dead end somewhere on the wrong side of the map. During a different chapter of the game I was floating through some very well designed interior areas in low gravity. There were no waypoints at all and it was often tough to find the exit. 
And I agree that Call Of Duty's dumbed down "press x at the glowing objective" approach might be not the best solution but I feel that a tad bit of hand holding would make the game so much enjoyable. Just give me a "objective is the other way" notification If I'm driving in the wrong direction for 5 minutes or "you might want to look for explosives" if I'm desperately trying to fight a tank with normal weapons. 
  
I hope Crysis 2 did address some of these issues (it does look like a more linear shooter to me).

So with all the fuss around Crysis 2 I decided to finally play through the predecessor which was resting on my Steam pile of shame for about a year now. For some reason I never got to advance beyond the very first enemy encampment. 
 
Having sunken about 3-4 hours into the game today I am really torn between being fascinated and extremely frustrated by it. 
Yes, the visuals are stunning even by today's standards. Facial animations are lifelike, environments are diverse and believable - a jungle does feel like one and a mountain in the background looks extremely high and beautiful. It feels like you could go anywhere and do anything on the island the game takes place on. It is a perfect playground for shooting dudes in the face. 
Crysis also features a nice little story. You're a member of a US special unit armed with the nanosuit. You are in the middle of a military conflict with North Korea when strange things start to occur. Great setting which allows for various unique gameplay opportunities. And this is where the game began to lose me. 
Although it is fun to toy around with unsuspecting enemies cloaking Predator-style and disposing of them in creative fashion, everything else surrounding the suit mechanics feels very clunky. To me it begins and ends with the way Crysis refuses to hold your hand most of the time. Every time you recieve a new waypoint it is usually a couple of kilometers away. you can either drive or walk there. And while one could see it as a freedom of choice there is always a predetermined path you are supposed to be taking like a certain road and jungle areas around it and more often than not this path is not very obvious. On several occasions I took the wrong turn on some road fighting through numerous enemies and reaching a dead end somewhere on the wrong side of the map. During a different chapter of the game I was floating through some very well designed interior areas in low gravity. There were no waypoints at all and it was often tough to find the exit. 
And I agree that Call Of Duty's dumbed down "press x at the glowing objective" approach might be not the best solution but I feel that a tad bit of hand holding would make the game so much enjoyable. Just give me a "objective is the other way" notification If I'm driving in the wrong direction for 5 minutes or "you might want to look for explosives" if I'm desperately trying to fight a tank with normal weapons. 
  
I hope Crysis 2 did address some of these issues (it does look like a more linear shooter to me).

Been playing this game recently too, always tried it, failed at having it look somewhat like it should and got annoyed by the bad framerate.

Crysis is amazing, I've beaten it about five times. I hope it comes to consoles so I can play it again, and others can experience it as well. I just hope nothing gets lost in translation. I love the predator and prey aspect of the game. Crysis 2 was disappointing, and if there was any game that I had to go back to to play a game as similar as Crysis, it would be Far Cry (Instincts).