Review of Crysis 2 for Xbox 360

Futuristic nanosuits, bad-ass aliens and a bunch of cool sound effects plus visual “wow” factor are the core of Crysis 2. Fun gameplay and plotlines, on the other hand, seem to be getting the short end of the stick. So short, in fact, that they’re virtually non-existant.

Story: You are some random navy seal. Then, the bad-ass nanosuit guy commits suicide and gives you his suit. So now YOU are the bad-ass nanosuit guy, and must defeat a bunch of Tron aliens before sh*t hits the fence in New York. God, why do the freaks always end up in New York.

Sound: Unce Unce Unce is what you’ll hear at the beginning and unce unce unce is what you’ll hear at the end. Subsatisfactory rave party music isn’t the entire soundtrack, thankfully, as some orchestrated tunes and atrocious voice acting penetrate your earbuds as well. Yep, it’s that bad. Some of the voicing makes me want to shove my head straight through my speakers, and some of the music makes me feel like I’m at one of those weird “after dark” clubs. The one positive thing I can say is that the sound effects are frickin’ cool. Hearing my armor tighten and crinkle around my body is such a satisfying sound that I can’t even describe it. Sound: 5/10

Presentation: Fanboys, plug your ears, ’cause big daddy Gamerrob needs to smack some reality in people’s faces. Yes, they are superb for FPS standards. Hell, they’re superb for any current-gen game’s standards. But they’re far from the absolute best the 360 has to offer. Games like Force Unleashed II could easily give Crysis 2 a run for its money. Needless to say, the graphics ARE the best I’ve seen in a first person shooter, and ARE pretty rad. Presentation: 9/10

Gameplay: Yeah, you can actually use your gun. Yeah, you can be a human tank and pretend to be a bad-ass. OR you can just cloak and run through 90% of the game undetected. Guess which one I did.
So there are three major gameplay paths to choose from: Offense, defense and stealth. All three are fairly balanced, but stealth can be abused almost non-stop, making it the obvious choice for someone not super impressed with Crysis 2’s gameplay. I tried all three out over the course of the campaign, and the reason I stuck to stealth was simple: It was going to get the campaign over with for me the fastest. The gunplay is just sheer boredom and frustration condensed into a eight to nine hour campaign, and does little to entertain the gamer. So why bother doing that when there’s the option of literally running past every enemy and getting to the next story segment without a problem? At the core, it’s a Deus Ex wannabe, just nowhere near as detailed and involved in terms of mechanics and abilities. Rarely are there interesting gameplay segments  to be had, and the entire game just lacks those “did you just see that?!?!” moments. Gameplay: 4/10

Multiplayer: This is where things get spiced up. The gameplay is FAST and furious, and you need to be damn good at Crysis to get a kill. With that said, I had a blast and really enjoyed myself in the online portion of the game, which had particularly impressive maps built perfectly for multiple nanosuits to duke it out in. One note-worthy thing to add is that there’s an achievement for going online six months after your first time playing, which keeps the online community thriving and is a smart addition more developers should include. Multiplayer: 8.5/10

Length: With a lackluster campaign devoid of action, the eight or so hours feels like punishment. But then you encounter the online component of Crysis and burst into tears of gleeful joy, as the money you spent on the game finally becomes worth it. Hours upon hours will be spent pummeling others online in a frantic, frenzied environment that will permanently erase the drab campaign from your memory. Length: 7/10

Overall: Crysis 2 gets a 6.7 out of 10. It’s not a bad game. It’s got kick-ass graphics, cool sound effects and wicked online multiplayer. But what it lacks is a decent story and campaign, two things that are essential to this game being above average.

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