Crysis? What Crysis? Alien game worth a look

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 14/04/2011 (5381 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three years after the events of Crysis, an alien virus is liquefying its victims in New York, a private military corporation called CELL is brutally terminating the ill, and the alien Ceph are attacking the city in force.

As Crysis 2 starts, Alcatraz, the player’s character, and his recon unit are heading to Manhattan to extract Dr. Nathan Gould, who has researched the aliens. An attack on their sub by the tentacled, armour-suited Ceph leaves Alcatraz wounded and his squad dead, but he’s rescued by Prophet, one of the super-powered soldiers of the first game.

Alcatraz ends up in Prophet’s upgraded Nanosuit, which provides a variety of powers, and sets out to rescue Gould.

The game improves on its predecessor in several ways, but of special note are the game’s visuals — Crysis was the best-looking game of its day, and Crysis 2 takes after it in that regard. With a system that can handle its requirements, the game looks fantastic.

The new Nanosuit is a marked improvement over the one in the first game, which had to be set to several incompatible modes to use its abilities. The new suit still has some powers that can’t be combined — the hardened armour and stealth camouflage modes are mutually exclusive — but super-strength and super-speed enhancements are activated as needed without switching to a separate mode, and can be used with stealth or armour.

All special abilities drain power from the suit’s reserves, some slowly, some all at once. The suit’s power regenerates when not in use, and material collected from defeated aliens allows players to upgrade their abilities in various ways.

The suit is powerful, but its limited energy means players have to be smart about what abilities to use, and when — sending a CELL soldier or alien flying with a powered-up kick might be fun, but it’ll drain the battery entirely. Used wisely, these abilities provide tactical options that allow a player to take out a group of enemies quickly or even avoid an extended firefight entirely.

This being a shooter, Alcatraz will find a variety of weapons, from standard stuff like pistols, shotguns and assault rifles, to explosive weapons, futuristic rail guns and alien technology. Like the suit, weapons can be upgraded with various attachments.

The game features an online mode with several Crysis-style spins on established game types, and many weapons and abilities to unlock through play for use in customized soldier classes.

— McClatchy Newspapers

Game Review

Crysis 2

System: PC, also for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3

Rating: Mature

Rated: Three-and-a-half out of five

 

Top Game Rentals

 

1. Crysis 2 (Xbox 360)

2. Homefront (Xbox 360)

3. Homefront (PlayStation 3)

4. Killzone 3 (PlayStation 3)

5. Crysis 2 (PlayStation 3)

6. Call of Duty: Black Ops (Xbox 360)

7. Bulletstorm (Xbox 360)

8. Lego Star Wars III (Nintendo Wii)

9. Lego Star Wars III (Xbox 360)

10. Tiger Woods PGA 12 Masters (PlayStation 3)

-- Rogers Video, week ending April 10