If there is one big problem I have with Crysis 2, it’s that it didn’t come out this month. Consequently for those of us who love great single-player FPSs this year’s been a bit disappointing so far. Aliens Vs Predator was awful, Medal of Honor and Halo Reach weren’t as great as they could’ve been (I’m talking campaigns here multiplayer fans), Metro 2033 was a great game but a poor shooter, and Singularity was utterly forgotten by its own publisher despite actually being fun. Crysis 2 could’ve been my game of the year.

Maybe I’m jumping the gun here. It’s still not out for several months, and while I’ve played it and loved it there are still plenty of issues that need addressing.

Crysis 2 is utterly gorgeous. Not surprising considering the original had graphics so incredible no one could run it, but this one runs on a 360 and still looks great. Only Killzone 3 and Rage look remotely as attractive as this, and neither of them are set in New York during a massive alien invasion. Buildings explode, collapse, or explode and collapse around you, civilians flee for their lives, and then a giant alien robot tank thing jumps through an ornate window.

Crysis made a name for itself (besides the belief that only Brainiac’s universe-cataloging super-computer could run it in Ultra High) with the Cryosuit. With a simple push your character could power armour, cloak, run faster, or get super strength and jump higher.

These powers are all still in the sequel, but instead of upgrading these powers and adding even more incredible ones they’ve been simplified. Previously to activate them you called up a dial and pushed the mouse towards to the power you wanted, so presumably Crytek thought console players couldn’t handle that despite Red Dead Redemption utilizing an even more complicated version. Now there’s buttons for cloak/uncloak and sprint, and super strength/armour are both always on anyway. Hmm. Oh well, at least they’re still just as cool as ever.

It really adds a layer of tactics to an FPS when you can turn invisible, sneak round the back of someone, then snap their necks and/or throw them over a cliff. The AI has to be pretty decent too, although Crytek clearly hadn’t got round to putting it in the demo I played. There weren’t any humans to fight, just a few bone-headed alien soldiers and the aforementioned robot tank. Apart from the robot no tactics were required to beat them. Take aim, fire, dead.

Other than the real-world setting and PREDATOR POWERS the main area Crysis 2 innovates over its competitors is interactivity – for example, you can pick up any object and throw it at an enemy. Granted when it’s a Pepsi can the best you can achieve is a brief moment of confusion in an alien stormtrooper before he blows your head off, but use super strength to throw a crate at him and who’s laughing now?

One of the most hideous side-effects of the popularity of Call of Duty is the lack of interactive environments in shooters these days. Just as Half-Life 2 was pioneering the use of everything to beat enemies, COD became all ultra-popular and that same everything became nailed to the floor. If Crysis 2 brings even the remotest part of interactivity back to the combat areas of the FPS I’ll love it unconditionally. Even it just involves picking up and chucking stuff.

The playthrough ended just after I’d destroyed the robot in a train station. Two projectiles blew apart the skyscraper above me, and an APC quickly picked me up and drove through the doors just as the entire building crashed spectacularly to the ground behind us, crushing the poor fleeing bystanders who weren’t quite so lucky. Crysis 2 is already so epic it makes Epic Games look like Pretty-Impressive-I-Suppose Games.

Sadly the same can’t be said of the multiplayer, which I also had a quick go on and was just a standard deathmatch on some rooftops. Granted the invisibility part’s great fun, but seriously, Crytek have to do something far more interesting to grab the masses still playing Halo, Battlefield or COD than deathmatch. No, not even with pretty levels set on the roof of a skyscraper.

There may be some negativity here, but there’s still a few months to go (and the demos I played were at least half a year old anyway) so Crytek have plenty of time to polish up what needs polishing. Right now though, I can still say this is easily the FPS I am most excited about playing. With good AI, human opponents, huge environments and consistent varied gameplay, just like Crysis had, this could be not only a better sequel, but possibly the best FPS ever made. Maybe.

Chris Capel