From the Vault — originally published March 24, 2011. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
Crysis 2 is presented with claims that its “the best looking console game” and other similar claims of graphic sorcery. I found the Crysis 2 multiplayer demos and betas underwhelming both in terms of graphics and gameplay. The favorable reviews that came out launch day reignited my interest and at the store looking for iPad 2 cases I ended up buying the game for PlayStation 3.
VISUALS
Graphically Crysis 2 on the PlayStation 3 is a top tier game. Digital Foundry published their comparison to the Xbox 360 version giving that version a slight advantage. So at its worst A (though still great) Crysis 2 is totally in the “better than 90% of the games out there” category. Some will like Uncharted 2, God of War III, or the Killzone games more simply because of the art style though the fact that an argument can be made speak volumes to the work the Crytek team has made in making the game technically a graphic powerhouse. The graphics are top notch though not perfect and there are noticeable though forgivable issues. Texture pop-in seems to be the worst offender though the overall image quality is so good its forgivable. There is also a noticeably fluctuating frame rate though its not a huge issue to me at least. The bottom line is that Crysis 2 looks damn good. Top notch even.
SINGLE PLAYER CAMPAIGN
With that out the way I must say that I have found Crysis 2 refreshing overall after about 3-4 hours into the single player campaign. It’s is not your straight up shoot everything in sight first person shooter. You get a stealth ability akin to the alien in the Predator movies really early on and you are so out numbered that stealth is a must. The stealth a ability to attack the scenario in your own way really does differentiate it from other shooters. Its not a totally open world game by any means though instead of corridors you find yourself in smaller sandboxes where you can to get to the objective point in your own way. So far I am having much more fun than Killzone 3 which felt more linear and run of the mill in terms of level design.
MULTIPLAYER
The multiplayer as released in the final version is also much better than presented in the earlier demos and betas. Right off the bat you notice that its more visually impressive than the Call of Duty games. It does though heavily favor Call of Duty in terms of design as a multiplayer game. The shooting mechanics feels similar though the powers and suit abilities gives it a hint of Halo. The super jump, cloaking and armor ability’s gives it that touch of sci-fi that’s just enough to separate it from the pack. I have already spent more time in multiplayer than I thought I would.
3D SUPPORT
The 3D effect is more subtle than say Killzone 3 though I think overall the 3D is better. The frame rate and visual quality appears to be almost identical to the game when viewed normally and of course this is a big plus.
VERDICT
Overall I am very impressed with the game. Having much more fun that I did playing through Killzone 3 and Call of Duty Black Ops. Its a great departure from the typical shooter campaign. Worth a try for sure.
