Crysis 2 Preview

By Will Porter Published 17 February, 2011

Suited and booted.

This is a strange situation. I'm writing a preview of a single level in Crysis 2 at the same time a leaked version of the entire game is filtering into thousands of hard-drives around the globe.

What can I tell the world when excited broadbandeers are already nano-biffing aliens in the face while simultaneously downloading DVD rips of Sorority Sluts XI? The wonders of this bright new technological age just keep on coming.

Perhaps you're one of those people who have decided they can put up with the sound issues and error messages the pirate version of Crysis 2 comes complete with. Seeing as the EA head honchos and Crytek boss Cevat Yerli are screaming in a room far away for yours, and perhaps because you're comforted by the shared guilt and enthusiasm of thousands of other faceless downloaders, it doesn't seem so much of a crime.

So it goes, and the world keeps turning, although the skies get darker and the nights longer - or so it seems to me, at least.

1

Alcatraz in action. (We dearly hope the script contains the line: 'Don't go in alone, Alcatraz! No man is an island!')

It's a shame that, despite what Crytek claims, this all-too-familiar situation will have put a strain on the relationship between the PC platform and a company which was once one of its greatest cheerleaders. But let's not get too lost in the rights, wrongs and wherefores of game leaks and internet piracy. (Not before we get to the Comments thread, anyway.)

Instead, lets look at how Crysis 2 is spreading its nanosuit-enshrined legs to stand on both the PC and console platforms.

For the purposes of this preview I played a largely underground sequence on the Xbox 360. During this segment, main character Alcatraz ventures through subway tunnels and wide-open areas where the earth has slumped and lumps of New York have fallen in, leaving broken skyscrapers to peer down forlornly from above.

Your only guide on this journey is Hargreave, co-founder of a corporation called Hargreave-Rosch. He seems to have more than a little amount of vested interest in the situation, and a habit of chirruping up with alien factoids in the manner of the Professor in Futurama.

2

When in doubt, aim for the pink bits. (Good words to live by.)

Despite primarily being an interior and underground section, this stage is devastatingly pretty – even more so when I play it later on in 3D. The fire effects, trickling water and lighting as burning tube trains rocket past you and start smashing up the scenery truly are something special, and that vital Cloverfield essence pervades everything.

Your mission is to find a missing group of soldiers, then fulfil their orders by discovering three alien pods and shoving your nano-mitt inside each one so pretty purple goop sprays over your screen.

There's little doubt the extra-terrestrials standing in your way are the finest non-human combatants Crytek has created yet. Bi-pedal, gun-toting and unpredictable, they're tough to put down.

Sometimes they'll rush forward for you, sometimes they'll hold back – but you can invariably see meaning in all their movement. Your appreciation of their smarts is what creates the satisfaction you get when you knock them off their shiny metal legs.

What's more, these creatures are far more adept at roaming back and forth through levels than the enemies you meet in most other shooters. Just because you had a firefight at point A in the last playthrough, doesn't mean you won't find yourself perforated at point B or even C next time round.

It's important to note that Crysis 2 is not a Halo-style spray-and-pray game. You cannot simply rush round a corner and blindfire in the general direction of an enemy, hoping his tentacly head will catch enough bullets.

This is a precision combat game. Accurate, down-the-sight shots are what will save Alcatraz from a painful return to his last save point. As this is also a Crysis game, if you find yourself close to your prey you can grab them by what you can only assume is their throat, then carry their squirming forms until you find something deep or amusing to throw them into.

Collecting the magic alien dust from each of your downed foes allows you to upgrade your suit's capabilities – enhancing its speed, armour, recharge, stealth capabilities and so on.

Yes, the Nanosuit is once again the star of the show. It's still great fun to sneak behind ignorant aliens while cloaked, dash with super-speed and biff a yellow taxi into an alien heavy's face (they look a lot like the old Far Cry Trigen heavies, incidentally).

However, existing Crysis fans may be disappointed that some of the Nomad fundamentals have been snipped, edited, or simply don't work as well in the world beyond mouse and keyboard.

3

The Statue of Liberty always gets the most grief. Poor thing.

The greatest pleasure of Crysis, once you got it running at a decent whip, was how organic the combat was. Having observed your prey, you'd put plans into motion which would inevitably go wrong. It was then a question of thinking on the hoof – deftly switching between your nano-powers within something of a gunplay sandbox.

To its credit, Crysis 2 does away with the irritation of your nano-batteries running out mid-fight. But there's now more limited environmental interaction, much of it context-sensitive. Powers like nano-biff and nano-jump don't merge quite as neatly into the flow of battle.

You can still pull off impressive moves – sneaking up to a taxi while cloaked and power-kicking it sidelong into an enemy, for example, then firing at its exposed petrol tank when a friend comes over to investigate the taxi's violent demise. However, the suit abilities didn't gel together quite as well in the section I played as they once did on a paradise island.

4

Concrete Jungle where dreams are made of. (And grammatical sense is ignored.)

There are some other concerns. Crysis veterans will notice there are far fewer objects to pick up and throw at people in New York. I didn't get to revisit the delights of murdering an enemy by hurling a fridge at his head in the level I played, though I did at least frisbee a pizza box at a stampeding alien.

The game's tagging system (via which you can track enemies, and also now see tactical points to clamber on and ammo stashes to raid) made perfect sense in the wide-open vistas of Far Cry and Crysis. It doesn't work quite so well in the tight confines of the New York underground transportation network. Let's hope it comes into its own elsewhere in the game.

Putting these quibbles aside, there's no doubt Crysis 2 looks and plays like a barnstormer. The visuals are sublime and the feel of the weapons is astonishing. You can probably throw people off skyscrapers and you might even be able to visit the fire station from Ghostbusters.

With a little over a month until the game's official release, it's looking increasingly likely that the patience of those pining to tear up the New York streets will be rewarded.

Picture of Will.

About Will Porter

Will ‘Velvet Owl’ Porter is a roaming freelance writer who occasionally appears at EG’s back door asking for scraps. You can find out how cold/hungry he is by following @Batsphinx on Twitter.

Read more articles from Will by visiting the Will Porter archive page.

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Comments (58) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • karooo #1 1 year ago

    I heard Hans Zimmer is in as well xD

    A true goty contender.

  • thomaspower0 #2 1 year ago

    Musthave!

  • NeoKenzi #3 1 year ago

    So he played the PS3 version? I'm wondering about the visuals and general gameplay since I can't find anything on the net to do with the PS3 version in terms of screenshots and videos. Still a day one purchase for me.


    Now they've changed it because it was the Xbox 360 version he played... rubbish! I want to see the PS3 version...
    Edited by NeoKenzi at 17/02/11 @ 15:47

  • darc #4 1 year ago

    Wow, the screencaps look amazing. Will be waiting for the face-off for this one. (Though I know the PC version will be best... but I still have the scars from endlessly tweaking my system to play the 1st Crysis.)

  • lcmnick #5 1 year ago

    Post deleted at 12:48:44 14-04-2012

  • StolenGlory #6 1 year ago

    It's nice that the PS3 version got a good airing.

  • skowhegan Verified Staff Writer, Eurogamer Network #7 1 year ago

    Edit: See Will's note below!
    Edited by skowhegan at 17/02/11 @ 15:01

  • JimmyBoy83 #8 1 year ago

    Author, is it possible to answer if you know the diffrence between PS3 and Xbox 360.
    I have both, but heard the PS3 will be a bit better.

  • spekkeh #9 1 year ago

    I love the visual style of this game. A morbid fascination of seeing the capital of the world crumble to bits I guess (I also happened to like Cloverfield, at least in the cinema). However I didn't care much for Crysis 1, which I blame mostly on the suit enhancements. It was all ultra-realistic graphics on top of what was essentially very cartoony gameplay. Much like GTA4 I found the resulting game too schizophrenic to really get immersed in it, like it couldn't decide on what it was fundamentally, and therefore I couldn't.
    Reading this preview, especially the second page, Crysis 2 seems to suffer from this even more than Crysis 1. I think I'll just wait for the reviews, or bargain bin.

  • DozyKipper #10 1 year ago

    Kerching. 80 notes gone in 30 days between this and Portal 2.

  • Zerobob #11 1 year ago

    "lets look at how Crysis 2 is spreading its nanosuit-enshrined legs..."

    I wondered where the preview was going at this point.

    Sounds just 'good' on the whole really. I really really wish they had gone with the the tropical island setting though. It looks gorgeous and is perfectly suited to free roam situations with a bit of water action around the edges. The city just looks boring and, by what the end of the preview says, is actually detrimental to the game due to lack of objects you can pick up and use in this environment.

  • Spuzzell #12 1 year ago

    Excellent excellent excellent.

    And just a quick piracy aside, the one person I know who pirates obsessively hasn't with Crysis 2. Or Starcraft 2 actually. He claims he wanted to buy to show his support. There's still some honour among the thieves I suppose.

  • geeza2020 #13 1 year ago

    meh - sounds like just ANOTHER fps to me.
    Edited by geeza2020 at 17/02/11 @ 15:11

  • Batsphinx #14 1 year ago

    Hi everyone, Will Porter - author of this piece here.

    Guys, I've gone and done a bad thing. I've totally misremembered what platform I played Crysis 2 on which, some might argue, is kindof a major mis-step for a man of my profession. My only excuse is that the event was a while back and there was a myriad of games on show - and my brain became muddled. I am aware this isn't a very good excuse.

    I've asked for the offending article in the above preview to be changed.

    Sorry for getting people's hopes up. :(

  • Ellie #15 1 year ago

    Apologies everyone - as Will has said, it was the Xbox 360 version he played. The article has now been updated to reflect this. Sorry for the error.

  • YoungZer0 #16 1 year ago

    I can't believe you guys felt for that.

    No PC Gamer Pirate was involved in this. The Beta was probably uploaded by a Crytek member. Maybe because he wanted to play a prank, but more likely they needed more publicity. It's a simple publicity stunt. Don't believe me? Just look at all the people in the comment section on gamesites like Kotaku, who suddenly feel the urge to pre-order it. BANG, comes Crytek (THE PC Gamedeveloper) and announced that they are probably not going to release Crysis 3 on PC if too many people download it. BANG more Pre-Order.

    Since when do people talk about Betas being released on the internet? I saw the PS3 and 360 version of MVC3 being released two weeks ago. FULL VERSION. No news about that. Why is that? You can't blame the PC community for one guy releasing a Beta. I actually know a few guys who downloaded the BETA, because Crytek never said they would release a Demo.

    A PC is not a Console. You have to be sure that your products runs good on the Hardware you got. The best way to do this is to release a demo. They didn't, so i'm not surprised people are downloading this. Feedback is actually quite positive, so i wouldn't be surprised if the same people would buy it. It's an unfinished product after all.

    I wouldn't bother downloading it, to be honest. While the Beta is actually the full game, a shit load of stuff is missing, example: Voicework and it only runs on DX9. Not even mentioning the bugs.

    It's like watching a raw cut of a film and saying „Okay, no need to see the final product."

    It's naive and stupid to think the BETA Leak would've had any impact on the business. After all, the Original Crysis was PC only and still sold well. Not as much as Crytek expected, but it's the reason why Crytek still exists.

  • Progguitarist #17 1 year ago

    Why don't any of these journos ask why they aren't showing the ps3 version?

  • SBfistfun #18 1 year ago

    LMAO

    Dohwith!

  • Haloboy #19 1 year ago

    It's refreshing to have seen so little of Crysis 2 in action a mere month away from when it's actually out. I'm sure we all remember the lead up to HL2's release, shudder. Crysis 2 is like a big mystery to me and that's exactly how I wanted it to be. I pity the fools who downloaded the leak and spoiled much of the game for themselves only a few short weeks in advance of the official release.

    Maximum stoked.
    Edited by Haloboy at 17/02/11 @ 15:26

  • Nithron #20 1 year ago

    Sorority Sluts XI was a huge let down. But then, the odd-numbered releases have always been disappointing.

  • smithdown #21 1 year ago

    Broadbanditos would have been better. Areeba!

  • Cadence #22 1 year ago

    So have they improved the dire framerate that seemed to afflict the 360 version I played at the eurogamer expo?

  • X3Entente #23 1 year ago

    hans zimmer sucks, no melody no depth no subtley, just pounding thumping droning bullshit that should stay out of video games

  • obidanshinobi #24 1 year ago

    @progguitarist

    Games journalism nowadays is a case of just reporting what you've been fed by publishers.
    Journos are scared of asking difficult questions as the publisher or developer could prevent them access to their next game.

  • NunianVonFuch #25 1 year ago

    I don't know about that, I've been waiting ages for it and finally the sequel is here! I think Sorority Sluts XI outstrips the previous release in every department, especially the visuals! I thought they outdid themselves with X and it was a nice one to finish on, but this is truly a step up and restores my faith in the series going forward.

  • local_celebrity #26 1 year ago

    Do you still get to strangle Korean fellas?

    That was such a charming feature of the last game.

  • leafmulch #27 1 year ago

    Wasn't SSXI some MMO shit?

  • kraenk12 #28 1 year ago

    sorry mr, but youngzer0 is right. this incomplete and feature lacking leaked version will only boost the sales on pc. it's possible the whole thing was just a marketing move since the game is heavily lacking in this version...wait and see. it will sell even better than crysis 1.
    Edited by kraenk12 at 17/02/11 @ 16:14

  • DrugCrazed #29 1 year ago

    I'm editing that out. I was a dick.

    I was unhappy that the one time a leak happensand and the studio says "Please don't, but we still want to do PC games" plus the gamers go "Don't download it you idiot" appears not to have been picked up on. It's an aside point and the important thing is the actual preview.

    So, the preview. From what I saw at the EG in October, it looked like Modern Warfare with nanosuits. Was that me just being facetious or not?
    Edited by DrugCrazed at 17/02/11 @ 19:33

  • coolbritannia #30 1 year ago

    Haloboy! is right, this is a big deal and I want to play it knowing nothing about it. I've seen the trailer and that's it. Pretty strange comments thread so far though, stop bashing the author, he made a mistake, it happens. I'm just nt myself today. On a related 'upcoming shooters' note, is Homefront meant to be any good?

  • Buran #31 1 year ago

    What is interesting is that according to some web research data the leak had a very low download ratio, with barely 10k downloads; this probably means that for some people is more important to play the final, polished game instead of get an early access to a bugged, unfinished version and spoil the whole experience to themselves.

    The mp demo is stated to March 1 release, just at the GDC time (and the Battlefield 3 presentation); I can't wait to both events!

  • jack24 #32 1 year ago

    Hans Zimmer does not suck.

  • PearOfAnguish #33 1 year ago

    Those of you who believe the leak was intentional need to adjust your tin foil hats. You surely cannot be dumb enough to believe a company would work for years on a game then at the last minute leak a wonky, barely functioning version including all the dev tools and security keys.

  • Scimarad #34 1 year ago

    As someone who never had a PC capable of running the original at half decent settings I'm really looking forward to this.
    Edited by Scimarad at 17/02/11 @ 18:06

  • Miths #35 1 year ago

    "... while simultaneously downloading DVD rips of Sorority Sluts XI"

    I loved that movie so much I bought the DVD to show my support for the cast and the studio.

  • george1976 #36 1 year ago

    A moron leaked a crapy version of the game. How in the common sense name is this the fault of the pc gamers??? Jeez....

  • kinth #37 1 year ago

    i downloaded the leak played a few levels and decided im buying the game when it comes out. it is absolutely incredible even with the bugs. ive now deleted the leak and im waiting for the full game to complete it.

    yes downloading the leak was wrong but there is no single player demo and i dont have money to throw at games i dont know if i will like. shout at me all you like i know its wrong and not justified in anyway but thats my reason for getting the leak.i dont feel guilty for it and i certainly feel sorry for crytek but before they can blame pirates they must first blame themselves as the game must of been leaked from someone on either their staff or ea's staff.

    anyway just to let people know the game is incredible definately buy it its far better than crysis 1 the graphics are incredible and you can only run it on medium in the leak so the top level graphics must be mind blowing.

    the levels are well made. the suit feels more awesome than ever. the sound is top notch and the soundtrack is incredible. and the short part of the story ive seen is good and intriguing and very cinematic.

    it's a definate GOTY contender. its no longer just a benchmark tool which is waht crysis one felt like to me but a very well made game.

    Edited by kinth at 17/02/11 @ 23:47

  • Cludge_Monster #38 1 year ago

    Crytek board meeting:

    Head Producer: Ok we got the go ahead for a sequal great, now everyone loved the Lushous jungle island setting, what can we do this time?

    Slimey exec: Ok i have a idea your not going to believe it its never been done before ... wait for it ... are you sure your ready for this grounbreaking idea ... OK OK we make a sequal in NEW YORK its never been done before!

    Head Producer: (Slaps head)

    Slimet Exec: I knew you would love it, i also thought that the main guy could meet a woman, but she gets captured by the aliens and he has to break in and rescue her and they escape in a drop ship as the aliens HQ blows up in the background.

    Slimey Exec: I am on a roll , perhaps we can have a bad guy who also has a nano suit but sides with the aliens. He will need a tatoo and he will need to smoke so people know he is a bad guy. he will need to be either russian, german or korean.

    Head Producer: (cries himself to sleep)

  • MattyD #39 1 year ago

    The reason nobody downloaded the leaked beta is because it's too much effort for most pirate types to get working. If it was a full retail version you could bet it would have been downloaded x millions of times by now.

  • BurningR #40 1 year ago

    @kinth:

    Yeah I considered doing the same. But I have enough good games (and a life*!) going for me right now not to, and I don't want to disenchant the suspense of playing the finished game *for the first time* by playing a half-finished version. Did that with HL2 and regretted it. Remember that? Man, compared to the upheaveal over that, this is nothing!

    I understand your decision though!

    *Well... other people call it work, but let's not go into details here.

  • kinth #41 1 year ago

    @mattyD its not har dto get working at all. you dont even have to install it. it runs from the exe contained in the disc.

    @ burningR yeh i see your point also the game isnt as buggy as people make out though. and i only played a few levels so i don't feel ive ruined it. also i wanted to make sure my pc could run it which it does fine :)

    its certainly not in the state the HL2 leak was in. anyway its not long now till its out and its worth every penny ive yet to play the multiplayer which i will try when the demo comes out but the weapons feel awesome so it should be good.

  • Matthew_Hornet #42 1 year ago

    The game sounds excellent from this article. You'll notice that all the problems Will mentions sound like the kind of compromise one would have to make for the console version. I guarantee that on the PC managing the suit will be easier, and I'm pretty sure the levels will have more objects to throw at people as well. Plus hey, precision shooting. Yay!

    Also tagging isn't a feature one would use in the subway, so not surprised it didn't impress. I'm sure it'll come into its own once you're running through Central Park.

  • theonlyix #43 1 year ago

    Looking forward to this (for 360) , seems ze gerrmans has got it right this time =)

  • 3william56 #44 1 year ago

    Talking of conspiracies: how can anyone mistake a 360 for a PS3, especially on a high profile, tech stretching release? Something's fishy here. I smell embargoes or exclusivity.

  • Douche #45 1 year ago

    Must say, i don't often buy games day one but i think this will be a day one purchase. Enjoyed the demo and hearing a lot of good things about it. Peachy.

  • henben #46 1 year ago

    The review says that this is not a "Halo-style run and gun" game. I don't think Halo was particularly "run and gun" if you played on the harder settings.

    One of the best things about Halo was the lifelike AI, and the way you had to experiment with different approaches to get past tricky sections. It sounds like Crysis 2 has the same things going for it.

  • NewbieZilla #47 1 year ago

    henben

    Can you give examples of run and gun shooters in your mind if Halo is not such? It seems to be the perfect example of a run and gun game. If I was to mention ones that are not run and gun, I'd point out Metro 2033 and BioShock, for instance.

  • RealityCheque #48 1 year ago

    Ah FFS I actually forgot to get the first one. Still, I'm sure I can rectify that before C2 is released :)

  • Power_n_Glory #49 1 year ago

    On the harder settings, Halo isn’t a ‘run and gun’ and one of the first shooters I played that had intelligent AI. I don’t think there are any ‘run and gun’ shooters anymore unless you’re talking the old style corridor shooters or Quake. I thought the first Halo was pretty average and couldn’t see the big deal until I cranked it up to Legendary on single player. Crysis sounds decent but I’m also looking forwards to Killzone 3. It’s a good month.

  • Esnedon #50 1 year ago

    @Power_n_Glory: Doesn't Crysis 2 come out a month after Killzone 3?

  • Power_n_Glory #51 1 year ago

    Maybe, but my point is, I’m unlikely to buy both games at the same time. It’s unfortunate. I wasn’t impressed with the multiplayer on Crysis 2, but really liked the KZ3 multiplayer and the single player was very good as well.

    But I like the look and sound of the single player on Crysis 2. If it gets a high score, I’ll most likely get it when the price goes down in the summer.

  • MattyB2007 #52 1 year ago

    Agree with most of the article being one of those who has got the dodgy copy (but will still be getting on 360 and poss PC) but the bit about it being harder to combine suit abilities is complete rubbish. It's far easier now. It was always quite tricky to combine them really quickly in the first where as in this you can sprint into a power jump and with ease go into armour or cloak all in one fell swoop. Was no where near as easy to do that before esp on a pad!
    Edited by MattyB2007 at 18/02/11 @ 17:19

  • Cludge_Monster #53 1 year ago

    I heard they had to scale back the Graphics on the Wii version from high down to the year 1991

  • customfirmware #54 1 year ago

    The Demo on the 360 was awful IMO.

  • Pumpatron #55 1 year ago

    I'm looking forward to this. I wasn't blown away by the multiplayer demo, but the campaign looks to be my kind of thing. Multiple ways to tackle objectives, good AI (hopefully), a decent length campaign (from what I've heard), plus the ability to customise your weapons and suit abilities.

    It's seems to be geared to freedom of play style. A welcome change from the current trend of short, overly linear and scripted single player campaigns. I just hope if runs smoothly on my xbox.



  • DarknRahl #56 1 year ago

    I didn't know there was a leaked copy on the net until reading this.

    There doesn't seem to be any step forward with this game over the previous, which I never finished due to it being too linear and boring. It would be nice if the big budget games tried to innovate but it is simply safer to go with something tried and tested.

  • tankboi #57 1 year ago

    Must. resist. leaked. copy!....AAARGH REALEASE THE F*CKING GAME ALREADY!!!!

    I really hope they haven't console-nurfed the nano suit in the PC version...please Crytek be sensible!

  • apoc_reg #58 1 year ago

    I'm just not sure, Crysis do the best outdoor, misty, island landscape ever... so they go to the city to do concrete clocks.. hmm