Crysis 2

[Chindie]

Ignoring the single player is totally alien to me.

Anywho, I finished this tonight. It's an enjoyable ride. It's story is a bit of a mess, and the pacing is utterly shot, but I found it good fun. It's nice to have a meaty campaign in the COD era, though some may say the game out stays its welcome a little - it has a bit of the LOTR:ROTK in that it feels like its about to end a couple of times in the final 3 hours only to chuck a bit more at you. The final hour is a bit grim and it ends ona slightly damp note, but its a breathe of fresh air in that it plays differently to the competition in this genre. It's a more thoughtful experience than COD, its more than 'if it moves shoot it in the head' because patience and planning are often rewarded much more than wandering in all guns blazing... But even then the game is fluid enough to let the play style work, and indeed in later levels as you get more geared up, that tactic starts to have its benefits.

It's certainly not a flawless gem. It's got a couple of niggling bugs that sometimes occur, and it feels a little curtailed in the weapon department - you can easily clock it using 3 guns you pick up in the first hour. Other weapons open up some differing tactics but you rarely need them and generally whatever these other guns bring to the table is outweighed by something else - usually that they have next to no ammo capacity. It pulls the 'dramatic event happening in glorified cutscene' trick a bit too much too. And the aliens are never as satisfying as the human enemies, they feel more like bullet sinks than anything, designed to be slightly time and resource consuming to kill (unless you get a few aimed shots off at vulnerable areas, and even those disappear later on). And it's pacing is definitely off - its a game played at one speed, perhaps the only flaw of allowing the player a lot of freedom in how they approach the combat, it doesn't allow for the creation of choreographed action set pieces that either cause, or give the impression of, the game kicking on a gear.

But for 11 hours, i really had fun, sneaking about, surveying battlefields, popping off silenced shots and twisting unsuspecting soldiers heads round Exorcist style. It's a good laugh and for it's flaws, I enjoyed it a lot more than my recnt BlOps playthrough. And its a looker. It's a breath of fresh air. I'm tired of COD.

[PieFacE]

Ignoring the single player is totally alien to me.

I get no satisfaction in killing the AI.

Though, glad you enjoyed the SP!

[Chindie]

I had a crack at the MP this morning to be fair. I'm not the best shooter multiplayer player in the world, I can just about hold my own on MW2 but nothing fantastic. This... it's ok. I won't put much time into it though. I'd like to, for sure, but it feels too random for me. The few rounds I played I got consistantly tonked, and I'm not that sure why to be honest. I was hitting guys, unarmoured, with round after round and they were able to take me down with about 4 hits.

It feels like it could do with a bit of tinkering and could be decent. It's a different feel to COD for sure - an unarmoured headshot is instant death (fair enough) and it's considerably slower, and the armour is an absolute necessity. It also needs a bit more artistic variety in the maps, the layouts are decent enough but everyone is variations of grey and dull blue and it all becomes a bit of a mush.

The multiplayer feels like a competant companion to the single player, which is the clear showpiece of the game. It's not going to drag people away from COD, because its a) not COD, and not quite good enough. This subsequently makes a mockery of one of the achievements, which asks you play the multiplayer 6 motnhs down the line to earn it. Which is going to annoy achievement hunters out there .

[AshVilla]

these console gamers

So true.

Fed up of these games being dumbed down now for the console generation only a matter of time now before they release a total war game on console with some lame ass click wheel function and a multiplayer that disconnects every 20 seconds.

[Stu_The_Villan]

[AshVilla]

Prefer this myself but w/e floats your boat.

[Stevo985]

these console gamers

So true.

Fed up of these games being dumbed down now for the console generation only a matter of time now before they release a total war game on console with some lame ass click wheel function and a multiplayer that disconnects every 20 seconds.

I think you may have missed the intended point of my post

[Stevo985]

Ignoring the single player is totally alien to me.

Same. In fact it's normally the opposite for me.

I have no shame in admitting I'm hardly amazing at these sorts of games, so I take little enjoyment of playing online and getting my arse handed to me by 7 year old japanese kids calling me black.

For me, the Single PLayer is the point of video games. Any enjoyment I take from multiplayer is purely a bonus.

[Risso]

Got this to try tonight, looking forward to it.

[TheDon]

Fed up of these games being dumbed down now for the console generation

You're fighting a losing battle there. Consolers just don't see what PC gamers are complaining about.

To take Crysis 2 as an example, it's just about the most linear game going, Crysis 1 as a PC exclusive? Massive open world.

Crysis 2 is getting critical acclaim for it's graphics, Crysis 1, as a PC exclusive? Mostly the exact same textures, but at DOUBLE the resolution. The textures in Crysis 2 are half the resolution of Crysis 1, because it's made with consoles in mind.

Consoles hold back PC gaming. I've no real problem with consoles, they're great for a bit of casual gaming, some games are great on them like fifa, others get killed by them like Crysis.

Any big fps now is made with the console in mind because that's where the money is, that's not really a problem I understand that, but it just cripples the pc gaming market when we're sitting here with hardware 5x as powerful as a console not even breaking a sweat because devs don't take advantage of it. Or when your pc does break a sweat it's because you're playing a god damn awful port of a game made for consoles like the GTA series.

I don't really blame devs for going after the console money, but they shouldn't neglect the pc gamers that made their companies what they are. COD, Crysis, Battlefield, they wouldn't exist without the PC gamers, and sadly it seems to be only Battlefield that understands that and is still willing to step up and give pc gamers what they want.

[Chindie]

Oh I think many 'consolers' do understand that the PC regularly will outdo anything a console can, especially at this point in a consoles life where they're starting to creak.

But they don't really give a ****.

Because they want to play games on a console, because it's a more affordable/accessible/comfortable experience for them. The original Crysis was beyond the realms of many hardened PC gamers even at release, and by and large many people say that while the original was impressive as a technological feat but was a little lacking as a game, this one has focused just a little more on making a game.

[TheDon]

Oh I think many 'consolers' do understand that the PC regularly will outdo anything a console can, especially at this point in a consoles life where they're starting to creak.

But they don't really give a ****.

Because they want to play games on a console, because it's a more affordable/accessible/comfortable experience for them. The original Crysis was beyond the realms of many hardened PC gamers even at release, and by and large many people say that while the original was impressive as a technological feat but was a little lacking as a game, this one has focused just a little more on making a game.

So no, you don't understand at all what I said.

[Risso]

The thing is I know that if I buy a PS3 game, it's going to run perfectly on my PS3, the same as every other PS3. PCs can be dodgy depending on your platform and a million other reasons.

[Chindie]

Oh I think many 'consolers' do understand that the PC regularly will outdo anything a console can, especially at this point in a consoles life where they're starting to creak.

But they don't really give a ****.

Because they want to play games on a console, because it's a more affordable/accessible/comfortable experience for them. The original Crysis was beyond the realms of many hardened PC gamers even at release, and by and large many people say that while the original was impressive as a technological feat but was a little lacking as a game, this one has focused just a little more on making a game.

So no, you don't understand at all what I said.

Oh I did (PC games and gamers are held back by the console market because thats where the money is and thusly games are therefore catered for that market rather more, to the PC gamer's chagrin, with the implication that PC games are always the bleeding edge of gaming for many genres).

[TheDon]

But it's not the fact that a pc can out do a console, it's that the pc is treated as a second class citizen in an industry it has drove for the past god knows how long. That we now have to put up with limitations based on consoles, and that rather than games moving forward they end up taking a step backwards, and not just for pc gamers, but for gamers as a whole. Crysis 2 is a step backwards from Crysis in everything but storyline, and even the storyline in crysis 2 isn't much of an improvement from terrible to not so terrible.

When you have games being crippled on functionality because of consoles (Cod no longer having dedicated servers for a big one) then pc gamers are right to feel aggrieved that a market that they have supported for a long time seemingly abandons them, especially when pc gamers on the whole spend more money on their hobby than console gamers. My graphics card alone could have bought a ps3 and an xbox 360.

[Davkaus]

Agreed 100% Don.

Though, I have to say, even if consoles ever could compete with gaming PCs in terms of power (which due to the period of time it takes for a new generation to launch, they never will), I can't for the life of me understand why anyone would want to play an FPS or an RTS on a console. Some games like football or racing games are fine, but for some you really need a proper keyboard and mouse.

Fortunately there are still a few companies who keep PC gamers in mind. The devs for CoD and Crysis 2 can go **** themselves. Battlefield 3 is coming up this year and it'll blow them both out of the water.

[CastleBromVilla]

Yawn...Can't we give these keyboard warriors their own thread? Maybe that way, us second class console gamers can get back to talking about the game and not how games look so much better on PC, and that someones graphics card alone is worth more than a ps3 or 360.

[TheDon]

Yawn...Can't we give these keyboard warriors their own thread? Maybe that way, us second class console gamers can get back to talking about the game and not how games look so much better on PC, and that someones graphics card alone is worth more than a ps3 or 360.

AND, a ps3 AND a 360

I didn't realise when I was listing the many things in CRYSIS 2 (you know, the topic here) that are worse than Crysis 1, that I wasn't discussing the game.

But then, I'm just a "keyboard warrior" aren't I? (I'm struggling to see the threats and bullying in any of my posts that make them keyboard warriorish, I guess that's something else that's been dumbed down by consolers as well now, and just having an opinion makes you one these days).

[CastleBromVilla]

Yeah, YEAH, well my graphics card cost more than 2x ps3's and a 360. HA!

[Risso]

So anyway, Crysis 2......

Really quite enjoying it to be honest, although not very far into it yet. The story is a bit, non-existent, but the graphics are superb, and I enjoy the variety in the game play.