How Crytek dropped the ball with Crysis 2

I'm sure many of you out there remember the lush visuals and painstakingly crafted island from Crysis 1. Keep remembering it because its a good step up from what Crysis 2 offers. The original Crysis would take your computers hardware, beat it to the ground and shout "WHATS MY NAME!!" at it until it whimpered and cried. Crysis 2 would do that if your PC were a PlayStation 2 maybe. This console port breaks no new ground from its predecessor and in many ways feels like a regression of technology.  Gone are the sprawling open vistas, gone is the feeling of exploration and exhilaration of finding a flanking position on a group of enemies. Gone is the largely interactive environment. What you get instead is a series of corridors connecting set piece battles Which, while enjoyable and challenging are a step back and away from what made Crysis 1 so good to begin with. IN short it feels like any other shooter out there reminding me more of Halo than Crysis

Let me start with the bad news first. many players for the PC platform were expecting Crysis 2 to present them with another evolution in PC gaming (much like the original) What they got well.....Lets just say Evolution isn't always perfect.

one of the big drawing points from previews, interviews and convention demos of the game was its Direct X 11 functionality. Strangely enough DX 11 isn't present in the release build and Crytek is being very quiet about if/when DX 11 will find its way into Crysis 2. Some would argue that DX 11 isn't a big deal, or that it doesn't really offer any technical superiority to DX 10, which may or may not be true. That however, isn't the point. The point is that it was touted as a feature and used as a selling point up until the eve of release where mysteriously any mention of it came only from the expectant player base and not any official Crytek sources. Sort of like buying a new car that's been advertised to have a BOSE sound system only to find stock factory speakers were installed instead and the car dealer doesn't return your phone calls.

Then we move onto some of the technical issues players have had to deal with since launch. issues like your nanocatalyst resetting on exiting the game and being stuck at zero, which prevents you from upgrading the nanosuit. A game breaking bug in my opinion as later levels ramp up in difficulty and the lack of upgrades makes the challenges occasionally very frustrating. That's of course assuming that your game key works in the first place and your not on the phone with customer service trying to activate your copy through them. Another common issue. Which may or may not result in you having to re-enter your key every time you want to play multiplayer. lets not forget the melee bug that locks your melee attacks and renders them unusable. Because that's a fun way to play the game, no melee grab-throws, no steatlh kills no melee attacks to open doors or break out windows etc etc. Another deal breaker for me personally as I live by the stealth ability and clever use of silenced pistols.

Ah, multiplayer, how we love you....and the rampant hackers playing along. Yes that's right, Crysis 2 shipped without any anti-cheat technology out of the box. This has since been fixed though i can't comment on how effective its been in stemming the flow of cheaters on multiplayer servers. At least its a  step in the right direction, no? Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water another threat looms on the horizon....
Pirates! yes that's right i said the dreaded "P" word. Another shortcoming of Crysis 2 is that pirated copies of the game can gain full multiplayer access to official servers as though they were owners of legitimate copies of the game. I don't know about anyone else but I'de feel like a damned fool if I discovered another players was getting what i dropped $60 on, for free. I'm sure of two things regarding this.
1) Crytek will cite piracy is killing game sales.
2)Crytek will use those numbers as their reason for dropping the PC platform. The platform mind you that made them so hugely successful.

Despite all of these glaring design faults and technical issues Crysis 2 is a fun action shooter with very solid visuals, even if those visuals aren't what the PC community was expecting.  Despite some very low resolution textures and an overuse of Bloom effects Crysis 2 is definitely enjoyable to look at. There is something to be said for dropping five stories on an unsuspecting soldier and using the "air stomp" ability to flatten them.
If all your looking for is another shooter with pretty visuals then Crysis 2 will suit you just fine. However if your looking for bleeding edge tech and state of the art visuals....well, keep looking because they aren't to be found here.

Lastly we'll briefly cover the storytelling. Which is presented in a fairly unobtrusive manner, so unobtrusive in fact that at times you can't hear the dialogue over the game sound. Despite turning the games music/sound effects down to %35 / %40 and voice up to %100 there are many times where you simply cannot hear the dialogue clearly enough to discern whats being said. This is using a logitech 5.1 surround setup with the "center" speaker less than 3 ft away from my head. Any who, back to the story! The story is presented through a series of communication between you and several prominent NPC characters, all of whom seem to have their own motivations and reasons for taking an interest in your well being. Sometimes you'll be given objectives that seem counter to what another NPC's goals. Othertimes you'll find yourself thinking "why do i care about this?" Like the story of many a shooter before it the story in Crysis 2 is largely forgettable and remains a minor background element instead of pushing to the forefront and lending a sense of urgency to your endeavours.

For me Crysis 2 is a good PC title when it works, and thats my problem with it. Its just "good" and not great like a Crysis game should be. You would be better served re-installing the original Crysis and playing through that one again.

Well here we are (Finally)

I've been an avid gamer for over a decade now, closer to two really. During those years I've seen the gaming industry do some incredible things with the medium, and I've witnessed the Gaming industry do some incredibly stupid things as well (anyone remember the Spore debacle, I do!) Eventually those actions led me to frustration and bitterness but eventually to a sense of purpose. Sure there are hundreds if not thousands of game reviewers out there, all with fancy web pages  ad revenue supplied by gaming publishers to support them.
    Me I'm just a guy with a goal and that goal is to push the industry towards more transparency. Better interaction with their customers and accountability to us, the consumers of their products when they invariably screw up somewhere. They are human...well most of them at least. Read on for more info on how I plan to use this blog in the future!



   If your reading this then I have your attention. Good!

Ever bought a game based on a good review score only to be utterly disappointed with the game? I know I have. Ever had something to say to the developers or publishers but felt like you were being ignored? I know I have Numerous times in fact. Ever wish that the laws governing our use of video games actually felt like they offered us the consumer some rights and protections? I have almost every time I read a new EULA/ToS agreement. Ever sent a news tip to a gaming site that you felt was important only to have it completely ignored? I unfortunately, have as well.
    I know how frustrating it can be at times to do something as simple as enjoy a game due to poor design choices detracting from the overall experience offered by a game. This is where I come in. Each week (hopefully more often) I'll take a bit of recent news regarding a game or article related to gaming and attempt to dissect it, find flaws with it, praise it (where deserved!) and examine it from the perspective of a typical user in hopes of shedding some light on an issue.
  I'm sure your asking yourself by now "what makes you so important and special that your opinion matters?"
Well to be perfectly honest my opinion matters just as much as anyone Else's does. As for what makes my opinion different than anyone Else's, in short....Nothing. I'm just a guy that loves the interactive medium of video games and who has grown completely fed up with the industry BS surrounding video games. I feel that if the industry as a whole would stop the Bull, the industry would discover just how much more room to grow it possesses instead of its own creativity being stifled by the garbage piled up around it.

Check back next week when I discuss why EULA/TOS agreements suck for gamers and i detail a bit more information about myself and my hobby!

-=Skyy=-