We take another look one of this year's long awaited releases

Crysis has long been considered a staple of PC gaming. An Involved plot, tactical action... even the multiplayer is considered to be one of the greatest online experiences around. A sequel then was a no brainer, but in an era where PC gaming is perceived to be on the decline, publishers are more and more pushing for the multi-format approach. What will this mean for a game that was right up there with Supreme Commander in terms of its hardcore approach, not to mention it's extremely taxing upper end hardware requirements.
 

Yeah... have fun with that

Without a doubt, Crysis 2 is going to be one of the best looking games you'll see on a console. This Is not so much a revelation on the Playstation 3, given the hardware behind it, but seeing as in the Xbox 360 is a little bit behind in the graphics department, colour us impressed as to what Crytek managed to get out of it. Sadly, the recent multiplayer demo showed that the quality doesn’t translate as well online, but then that's usually the way with these games. Another surprise was how well the game looks in 3D as well. Now, for the record, I personally think this 3D craze should be stamped out, but to give credit where credit's due, Crysis 2's use of 3D is actually rather meaningful. They use a concave approach, whereby it starts at the screen and works back, as opposed to things coming 'out' at you like you see in films at the moment.

We got a good taste of the single-player campaign in this recent play through, and it was a different build to what has been shown before. The most refreshing thing about Crysis 2 is it's more tactical approach to Combat. In the single-player at least, the nature of the enemy, the environment you have to work in... running and gunning it (as I like to say) simply won't cut it. You need to use all your faculties, from the weapons on hand, to your armour abilities, to the terrain itself. It's not interactive like Bulletstorm is, but it still matters. Not only that, but the environments seem diverse and varied, which is quite an achievement considering it all takes place within New York. This particular build showed off some of ruined bits, which helped set it apart.

One of the major selling points of this game is of course going to be the story. Crytek and EA have been keeping those details firmly under wraps for the moment. Not only will it be interesting to see where they take it in general terms, considering that there's probably a large number of console players who won't have played the first game (and maybe even some PC players to, considering the demands that game had), Crytek will have to make sure they make it as engaging and understandable as possible. The writer especially will have a lot to live up to, seeing as in he slated a lot of the other popular franchises at the time.



So far, the weakest link is looking like it could be the multiplayer, which is surprising considerably how highly the community thinks of the original game's multiplayer offering. It's rumoured the online is actually being developed by Crytek UK (Formerly Free Radical), which would explain why it appears to be different, but not why it seems to be a bit weak considering that studio's history (except Haze... we'll just pretend that never happened). Admittedly, all we have to go on at this point is the demo, but then it serves them right if that's not representative of the whole experience. So far, it's feeling a little too Call of Duty-like, except every now and then you'll get stabbed In the back because you can turn invisible. There's nothing wrong with COD's multiplayer, but a Crysis game should be able to do better than just being a bit like Call of Duty.
 

Even the HUD sits 'naturall' on the screen

As March draws closer, the hype mounts. Crysis is a benchmark in gaming for so many reasons, and given that this is the series' and the studio's first outing on the console, anticipation (or trepidation) is growing. Already the PC community are feeling scorned, worrying that one of their platforms last true champions is being dumbed down for a dumbed audience. Obviously, this issue isn't going to be answered until the game is actually out, but worrying about it now is not going to help matters. Maybe it won't live up to some of the expectations that have been thrust upon it, but then it wouldn't be the first game to fall before hype. Either way though, it's still going to be good, and it's something I believe many can look forward to. Crysis 2 will be launching on March 22nd in North America (lucky bums) and March 25th in Europe, for PC, Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.

Most Anticipated Feature: The single-player, especially the story and where they decide to take