Crysis 2 review

Crysis 2 has a lot to live up to. The original game had truly ground-breaking visuals, so expectations would always be high for the sequel. In many ways, developer Crytek has succeeded; Crysis 2 looks absolutely stunning. Textures are pin-sharp, lighting effects border on the photo-realistic and the amount of incidental detail is almost unbelievable.

In other areas, it’s clear to see how the simultaneous development for consoles has hampered the PC release of the game. There’s currently only support for DirectX 9 and there are almost no options to configure the visual settings. Gamers looking to push their brand new graphics cards will be disappointed, as this game is nowhere near as hardware-intensive as the original. A DirectX 11 patch is rumoured to be coming soon, but nothing has been confirmed by the developer.

Ceph weapons drain your Nanosuit energy reserves much faster than conventional bullets

Graphics aren’t everything, of course. Beyond its visuals, Crysis 2 has all the hallmarks of a blockbuster action title. The game takes place a decade in the future, where New York is in big trouble. An unknown virus has infected its inhabitants and no-one can find the cure, but that’s just the start. The Ceph, humanoid aliens with a mysterious ulterior motive, are tearing the city apart. This might seem like insurmountable odds, but players have one significant advantage over their enemies: the Nanosuit.

A multi-billion dollar masterpiece of modern technology, the Nanosuit bestows almost super-human powers on the person that wears it. As well as providing its users with super-strength, agility and speed, the suit can turn them practically invisible in a split-second. Crytek seems to have realised that the Nanosuit was what made the original Crysis so fun to play, so it now forms an integral part of the overall storyline and is far more streamlined to use than in the previous game.