Crysis 2; first impressions

[Binnatics]

Hello there,

Today I found myself in doubt about what game I should purchase. Still wanted to check out Far Cry 2, and also Art made me quite curious for TDU2. But finally my gamerhart was stolen by the shimmy new Nanosuit 2.0. Couldn't resist so I downloaded in from Steam. (fastest way to get it, since stores were handling deliverytime for the game)
Took about a few hours to download and install, and there it was om my harddisk. The game that should be the best in shooting and action of this moment.

First thing I knew was a Friend of mine telling me the game is crab, "How could you decide buying that lame game?" he asked me. I said "Why?" and he explained me about crapy multiplayer (only 16 players max and having to obtain DLC's in order to play more online maps) and told me about the experiences he heared from other players about "no protection in MP AT ALL against "Cheaters". That last thing scared me off quite a bit, since I hate it when ppl make nice competitive MP fun impossible with their cheating tactics.

Multiplayer.
So I decided to take a look at the multiplayer first. What I found was a CoD-like multiplayer with ranking, unlockables, challenges and more of the usual stuff. I realised the graphics were good but since I only did one quick match, I couldn't really focus on that. It was quite hard to shoot some ppl in the first place, like allways when I start a new MP.
Didn't meet any cheaters so far in a game with 15 others, and ended up as the fifth player of my squad. We happened to win this 'team-deathmatch' and I got promoted to rank 2 allready. I only killed 2 or 3 guys and got killed like 7 or 8 times. Well, it was a good start so far, but there was no time for testing another map.
I'll post the rest of my experiences when I go on with the MP part.

Single Player Campaign.
In single player you get sucked into a movie of at least 10 minutes about a bloke (some sort of special forces in a submarine) who servives an attack and gets offered a Nanosuit 2.0 buy a guy named Laurence "Prophet" Barnes, who happened to be the hero of the original Crysis game. He tels the player he's contaminaded and offers the suit, plus some hard queeste which comes along with it.
During the movie, you are allready confronted with the stunning graphics: Really, I have never seen graphics like that so far. (didn't actually play Crysis 1, so it may not be so new to others).
The way water behaves, how the light shines through it, and in fact the whole enfironment, is so damn realistic you think you're in real-life.
In the next part of the movie they introduce you to the special abilities of the suit: Heavy armor, stealth mode and extreme muscle power. It's all more then I even espacted when I saw the suit for the first time. The design of the suit, and the detailed workout in-game are fantastic. Robocop or any other cyborg feature will be put into the shades by this spactacular new piece of technology.

Enough about the graphics! Let's take a look at the gameplay. The first thing I found out is that the in-game movement is a little slower then I was used to in Bulletstorm. Plus you have do asign an incredible amount of buttons to manage the suit. While getting used to that I started the first level, which leads you through the original crash-site (in a harbour near the liberystatue) into some sort of base full of enemies to find the man who is judging you from a distance calling you "prophet" all the time. I think he does that because he doesn't know the original Prophet just gave away the suit and killed himself because he was "contaminaded". The enemies seem regular human soldiers where I was suspecting alien forces, but I might be mistaken there. I'll find it out later on in the game I guess.
I started the game on the hardest difficulty (i like a challenge) and that's pretty tough so far: After the first few checkpoints I allready got killed a couple of times.
It is not as tough as Black Ops in the hardest difficulty, and that may be due to the amazing effects of the Nanosuit I'm wearing. Especially the cloaking device came in handy when you could just sneek away out of enemy fire when things got to rough with one press on the right button. The enemies loose track of you as soon as you are cloaked and you can regain position easily before confronting the enemies again with your bullets.
There's plenty of ammo around, mainy from dead soldiers. You get good machineguns from the start and it's not too difficult to aim for the heads, which means instant death to your enemies.

I only played for like 1 hour and a half but it was really pleasant. The graphics keep surprising me all the time. For example, when you get out of a building in plain air, you get stunned by the daylight, that is so intence you automatically squint. There's a lot of movement in the streets of New York: Flying insects, fires, the wind blowing through the greenery around: it's all in full detail pretty realistic. Actually, it's just beautiful.

Well, these are my first impressions. I'll post more as soon as I found out more. Especially gonna take a look at the multiplayer part, since I want to know if it's true what my friend told me about them cheaters.

[PZ]

Nicely written, Binnatics, thanks for the initial impressions  :-X

[Art Blade]

Hey wow, that sounds like a blast :)

The original Crysis was mindblowing regarding environment and all that (graphics) so I know what you're experiencing now  :-() Even if they didn't change much, Crysis2 should be at least as impressive as the original. I liked the old game until I had to fight aliens. From then on I still enjoyed the graphics but the gameplay was.. not exactly my cup of tea.

Never played MP so no idea what it was like back then, I hope you'll have a good time fragging  :-D :-X

[Fiach]

Glad you are enjoying it mate, nice post :)

[Binnatics]

Thanx for the nice reactions, guys. Did some more multiplayer today, it's tough. Didn't meet any cheaters so far, so my friend might be too fast with his conclusions.
The funny thing about this multiplayer (there are A LOT of different maps) is the way they set up the enfironment. Remember the 'collapsed building' from bulletstorm? These MP maps are full of collapsed buildings in Crysis. The whole city is destroyed and you walk around in completely destructed urbanity. It looks great, since they really did a good job on the details an the reality there.

The multiplayer is hard. I played for another hour I guess, and wasen't able to get the score my way. My being killed count is allways higher then my killing count. Guess I don't use the Nanosuit right, since I still only use the cloak options. I have the feeling others shoot me with just a few shots while I need to unload a complete magazine to the guys. Maybe need to use armored mode of the suit, that should make a difference. But also I found out that when you advance in ranks you get more power and better weapons, like most multiplayers. I don't like that since experienced players allready have their advantage of knowing the maps and the possible strategies and behaviours, as well as the weapons and all that.
Now also they have better weapons and more suitpower, so the newcomer are like cannonfood to them, until they manage to climb up a bit in ranks and be able to do a fair fight.

Anyway, it's quite entertaining and I will get a hang on it some day  >:((

I'm rank 4 now, and allmost got to rank 5. Then I will be able to adjust my weapons for the first time, so that would make some difference ;)

[Art Blade]

I'm glad that you're enjoying the game :)

MP rewarding better players is ok but allowing them to keep it and build on it, stacking power, seems not fair. As you said, I think it's not helping new players at all if they get killed by better weapons and can't kill (easily) due to enemies with better armour.

[Binnatics]

I completely agree with you Art! I'm still not sure about the armour, but pretty sure about the weapons. It's quite normal in online shooters. In black ops it's the same, and the most anoying was it in Bioshock 2. The weapons and special abilities made advanced players like allmost untakeble enemies. You needed luck to get them, since they had like rocketlaunchers and auto-rivive options, while you were still struggling with a simple machinegun or even pistol.

Not all games are like that, thank god. I remember in Red Faction Multiplayer it was not like that. Advancing only gave you special appearances, like different hammer-types (with the same strength) and other characters to choose. That's more fair. You can see the specialties you will achieve but still it's a fair match

[Binnatics]

I did some campaign tonight. Found out these guys weren't aliens but just human army who want to steal "the suit". The aliens came later on, weird jelly guys with a robotic body.
You can collect suit-upgrade points when you kill them, which are used to upgrade the suit. It's getting greater and greater. Found out the use of 'armor-mode'. When approaching big groups of enemies it's perfect since they really have a hard time killing you. The cloaking device is more for sneeking. When you hit ;ne enemie the cloak effect is gone and your suit needs to charge up again. Plus moving quick makes the suit-energy last even shorter.

Next time in MP I'll definitely use the armored mode  >:(

[JRD]

I just bumped into this topic.

It seems that P2 or other games got better results in catching your attention, Binnatics, but I'm quite curious about Crysis 2

Crysis 1 was pretty linear even if having open space scenarios. How's that in C2? Do you have multiple paths you can take or multiple tasks to accomplish at will or is it still linear and one-objective-at-a-time?

Some previews said something about being able to go high up on buildings and down into the sewers giving the player a kind of "vertical" perspective of the game... is that so?

I'm still not convinced Crysis has more than eye candy to offer. For me it's like another Medal of Honor or Call of Duty MW kind of game - linear, action packed, taken by the hand, adrenalin shot that last 10 hours (if so) and that's it... I was kind of hoping the previews were right and it could be something different!  :-(

[Fiach]

I just bumped into this topic.

Crysis 1 was pretty linear even if having open space scenarios. How's that in C2? Do you have multiple paths you can take or multiple tasks to accomplish at will or is it still linear and one-objective-at-a-time?

Some previews said something about being able to go high up on buildings and down into the sewers giving the player a kind of "vertical" perspective of the game... is that so?

I'm still not convinced Crysis has more than eye candy to offer. For me it's like another Medal of Honor or Call of Duty MW kind of game - linear, action packed, taken by the hand, adrenalin shot that last 10 hours (if so) and that's it... I was kind of hoping the previews were right and it could be something different!

  :-(

The maps are quite large, you need to traverse them via waypoint markers to get to the exit door, but that actually makes the game sound better than it is, basically you will just follow the markers to the exit door, its not really "open world" like in eg FC2.

You can go up on top of buildings and down in the sewers, but its no different from any other FPS in those respects, its not about perspective, its about just following the waypoint markers.

Its a good enough shooter, personally I think the camouflage skill and armour skill detract from any sense of fear that the games storyline should have generated in a player, which is something that disappointed me, I havent played Crysis 1 yet, but after Crysis 2, I dont think I'll bother tbh.

[Binnatics]

@ JRD: You were right about portal getting more of my attention. Somehow, this Crysis 2 game, made me feel sick of gaming a few days.
Let me try to explain... I am used to play games in the GfWL community, and there I got hooked by achievement-hunting. I kept playing games in order to max out my achievement list. I completed the whole list of 12 games so far, that started with GTA IV and ended with bulletstorm. Ever when I found another game, I hoped it would give me some relief of that. COD Black Ops gave me that relief, but it was actually the zombie-mode that caught me right.

When I started with Crysis 2, appart from the stunning graphics, I hoped it would do the same to me for a while, but it didn't. It was just not great enough to keep me going, and in fact it made me feel tired of 'having to complete the game before I could go on with what I was doing'. I was allready longing for a game with more achievements to obtain, unless there are no good titles left atm for the GfWL board.
So I got tired of gaming really, and thankfully I found this Forum to focus on, and that was just great.

In fact, Portal 2 got me the relief of the achievement obsession, and that feels good.

To come back to your question, Crysis is straight linear. Every 'level' of the game gives you a small environment to chose the way to approach the enemies, but that's it. The graphics are great, and what I first said about the nanosuit still stands: I love the design and fisual aspects, I wish it was real. But the gameplay is just straight linear, and quite simple. I read reviews as well with ppl complaining about the simpleness of the quests: "Just move there to obtain whatever key, so you can move there to unlock a new area, and so forth and so forth". I only finished maybe 30% of sp so far, and nothing more than that.

The MP is a copy of black ops MP, and that's not my cup of coffee. It's too much 'realistic warfare' for me. I like it when there's challenges in skills and movements, doesn't have to be that 'real' to me. And again waht I hate in this type of MP is that you have to 'earn' weapon- and suitupgrades. So you will be just cannonfood to the more advanced player. Not only does he know the maps and strategies better then you, he also has better guns and stronger suit then you.

The maps ARE great and original, and still the graphics are amazing, but it's not my thing. I regret having bought the game.

@ Fiach: You are right about the influence the suit has on the SP joy: You can simply lay back with your camo on, and look for the perfect spot to swich to armoured mode, which makes you allmost undestroyable for a short moment. Well, if you're not too bad at shooting, you would easily survive a good fight.

[Art Blade]

Reminds me of C1, for a while I thought it was cool and then I just wanted to finish it and I did, just for the sake of it. Usually I finish games, so this wasn't one of the worst I played. However.. it never came close to what they had promised the game would be.

For a change, just a couple of minutes back, I switched to my winXP system so I could play a little FarCry2. That game.. is something you should get ASAP, Binnatics :) I have no idea about the MP aspect (never worked for some reason) and actually I wasn't too fond of it, watched vids of deathmatch-like games, I think it was capture the flag or something like that, and it didn't appeal to me much. The SP part, however, is absolutely worth playing. I believe that the core of the members of OWG keep returning to that game, some for nostalgic reasons, some for ongoing fun and joy.. but they all return to playing it at least once in a while. :)

[Binnatics]

I think I'll purchase it next week. It's about time ;)

[fragger]

Go for it Binnatics, I'm sure you will enjoy it :) It's a true open-world game with tons of scope for experimentation, freedom of action and havoc-wreaking. There's also a wealth of info in OWG's FC2 boards to access, and we all enjoy reading new FC2 stories :-()

[PZ]

Indeed - in addition to myself, I believe a couple other members are playing FC2  :-X

[Ricamundo]

I too was playing FC2 recently, for the 11th or 12th time i might add. Then STALKER SoC turned up at my door, and i've been playing that the last couple of weeks. 8) I will continue with FC2 later on tho, as imho its still the best sp FPS game ive ever played. :-X :-X. As for Crysis, i have the original still installed, and i did enjoy the battles against the North Koreans, up until you meet the stupid aliens anyway. However, i just havent felt the urge to play it again. Ive been playing FC2, the STALKER series, and  Fallout 3/NV instead, so I'll probably give Crysis 2 a miss. Besides, the eye candy of DX11 is unavailable to me with my XP PC. :-[

[Fiach]

I believe that the core of the members of OWG keep returning to that game, some for nostalgic reasons, some for ongoing fun and joy.. but they all return to playing it at least once in a while. :)

Absolutely! FC2 is oe of the best games I have ever played, just driving around and assualting random villages is great, the day/night cycles also added a great sense of realism and a genuinely different set of tactical nuances to each combat situation.

As you mentioned GTA above, FC2 would (to me) be kinda like playing a GTA game, based on a mercenary living in Africa.

It got really bad reviews, I have no idea why, but I think that game is probably a significant reason for the founding of this forum as many of us gravitated to here, in search of discussions on FC2.

[fragger]

I agree totally, Fiach :) I can't understand the bad reviews either. Possibly they were written by gung-ho young whippersnappers with the attention span of goldfish who are addicted to quick shots of adrenaline-based gratification, who lack the patience to fully explore the intricacies of an accessible world like FC2's, and who are too aesthetically-challenged to appreciate the beauty of its environment.

That sounds like fogey-talk. Well, since I'm a fogey, so be it. I say to the detractors: don't diss my all-time favourite game or I'll ventilate you with my machete >:D

I haven't played any of the Crysis games, and from what I've read here, I can't see myself rushing out to buy them either. When it comes to FPS games, I feel I've been too spoiled by the open-world freedom of FC2 to feel the need to get into a repetitive corridor affair.

[fragger]

Having said that, I still enjoy the occasionally foray into Half-Life 2, a corridor shooter if ever there was one. But that's different.

[JRD]

(...) gung-ho young whippersnappers with the attention span of goldfish who are addicted to quick shots of adrenaline-based gratification, who lack the patience to fully explore the intricacies of an accessible world like FC2's, and who are too aesthetically-challenged to appreciate the beauty of its environment.

^+-+ ... very well put, mate, I wouldn`t know how to say it better  :-X

As for the bad reviews, we all know why FC2 got it, we just choose to ignore the downside of the game. We`ve discussed it here many times about what could be improved for FC3 and how we use the alleged flaws in our advantage.

Just so Binnatics is aware of what can be seen as a downside in FC2

- Respawns - if you leave an enemy infested area full of dead bodies, go around the corner and come back, they will ALL respawn and you`ll have to kill`em again - more fun, the way I see, or a reason to find another route to go where you want to go  ;)

- There are two factions and you w@&k for one or another during missions but it doesn`t make any difference since both factions are always trying to kill you.

- Weapons sometimes feel underpowered since you have to put a whole clip of an AK on a shirtless guy`s chest before he goes down - and yet he`ll lay on the ground and shoot at you  :D - it means "aim for the head"

Above all, FC2 is a game where you can do what you want, the way you want on your own time and it gives a whole new sense to the word sandbox game  ;) ... I say go for it, STEAM has it quite cheap  >:D

BTW, thanks for your reply on Crysis 2.. very informative!  :-X

[PZ]

It got really bad reviews, I have no idea why, but I think that game is probably a significant reason for the founding of this forum as many of us gravitated to here, in search of discussions on FC2.

Yes, we wanted to discuss FC2, but the initial motivation was to showcase D_B's exceptional maps.  The efforts he put forth was enjoyed by hundreds of FC2 players  :-X

As to why it received bad press, I believe that a large proportion of the gaming population needs to be shooting every second they are in the game in order to be satisfied.

For instance, one of the complaints was "it takes too long to get from one place to another"  :'(

The way I see it, all you need is choose the proper transportation method (bus, boar, car, truck, or walk).  In fact, for this old guy, getting there is half the fun.  Sometimes I go all stealthy (bypassing guard posts) or sometimes blast through in a GLAT, spin around, and 'nade anything that follows.

[Ricamundo]

The way I see it, all you need is choose the proper transportation method (bus, boar, car, truck, or walk).

Boar? Don't tell me you've managed to rope n ride the wild life?!?! >:D :-D


I fixed the BBC so the post is now legible. /Art

[PZ]

 ^+-+ ^+-+ ^+-+ :-X :-X

There's a reason that I'm called the "Boar pilot"!

[Art Blade]

I just had to fix his post (bad quote BBC code) and that kind of spoiled the fun because now I can't say

"I didn't have a finger in the pie"  :-D

If Ric hadn't found it already, I would have commented on that boar, you can bet  >:D

[Binnatics]

Having said that, I still enjoy the occasionally foray into Half-Life 2, a corridor shooter if ever there was one. But that's different.

When I was reading this your pre-last post about corridor-FPS-games, suddenly HL2 came to my mind, as an exception. I have the discussion about HL2 in the Portal 2 topic fresh in my memory. And there it was, you mentioning HL2 like that.  :-X  :-D

I totally agree, and apart of that also Bulletstorm, but then for other reasons like skillshots and other great gameplay.