Gaminez: March 2013

Crysis 2

Sunday 24 March 2013 22:28 Posted by desmondykw
, 0 comments

Crysis 2 review is here! A sequel to crysis, developed by crytek in 2011. I had to say i enjoyed this game over the first one. Gameplay was breathtaking as always, given the new nano-catalyst upgrade system and others. Story was just okay and serioulsy i dont see how this is a sequel other than the brought over of prophet. Outbreak of alien virus was due to a biochemical leak and such, nothing clear was brought over to the audience despite them using a television broadcast for the introduction. Graphics was still realistic, i had to say crytek really impresses me with their in-game graphics.

My rating: 8.2/10
Gamespot rating: 8.5/10

Goods: New gameplay add-ons (Nano-catalyst upgrade system/stealth kill/power kick/weapons detaching/objective meter/collectables), impressive environment, more interesting and effective weapons

Bads: Draggy storyline (repetitive missions, story twists), no more smooth maneuvering of skills on the mouse, dumb-ass-fuck main character

The goods. New gameplay add-ons, the postive ones. The main add-on in this game is the nano-catalyst upgrade system. By killing aliens depending on how strong they are, you are able to obtain nano-catalysts from their dead bodies and use it to upgrade your suit skills which gives us players a purpose to even kill the aliens! The stronger the aliens, the more nano-catalysts you will get. Suit skills include prolonged stealth mode/air stomp/enemy sensor etc. which can prove to be real useful in tight situations.

Other add-ons like the stealth kill and power kick are fun and useful. Stealth kill worked not only on humans but also on aliens, for the swift kill! Power kick work on large objects, for the decolt and can serves as a sheild. Machine guns from vehicles can also be detached for greater mobility around the battlefield. Directions of the objective is now guided by the blue objective meter, similar to black ops. No longer like the 1st crysis where you have to open your map continuously to check the objective location. Collectables like dog tags and car keys are also available.

Impressive environment. Crysis 2 battlefield is set in New York City, no longer your seaside korean military jungle. Big structures, skylines and buildings etc. are brillantly drawn and put in place. The 'end of the world' atmosphere sets in just right, making gaming experience so much more exciting!

More interesting and effective weapons. In the 1st crysis, the most memorable weapon would probably only be the gauss rifle. In crysis 2, there are way more in-house weapons for example the AY-69 (Machine Pistol), L-TAG (Grenade Launcher), K-VOLT (Electric Pellet SMG), Majestic (High-powered Revolver) and X-43 Mike (Microwave Induced Klystron Emitter) along with their individual attachments. Not to forget crysis 2 new Gauss Rifle!

The bads. Draggy storyline. Firstly, repetitive missions like securing bases sucks balls! You wont know how long these missions will last and there are just too many aliens!! Secondly, story twists fail to impress and presented more missions for the player to suffer through.

No more smooth maneuvering of skills on the mouse, it would be better off using the keyboard to do so. The choice of controlling strength and speed is no longer viable so all that left is just armor and cloak which requires just 2 keys. Personally i still prefer to have control over all my abilities even though in crysis 2, strength mode is so desired that it would be better off inducing it into the nanosuit-uncontrollable. Maximum speed, no longer effective, no more superhuman flash.

Dumb-ass-fuck main character. Alcatraz, being the main protagonist has no control in anything he does. Not having said a single word throughout the whole game, basically just following orders and even goes to his own death if told to do so. Even Noman in the 1st crysis is able to express his emotions by cursing and swearing, Alcatraz never say shit when he got betrayed like 3 times in the game. I feel less connected to the story, treated more like a tool rather than the 'main protagonist'. Take the ending for example, no one gives a fuck about Alcatraz even though he save the world!! Enough said.

Crysis 2 stands alone better as an individual game, not as a sequel. Gameplay wise, crysis 2 improves much ahead of crysis 1 making it way enjoyable for the audience. Story wise, both versions just doesnt connect well and crysis 2 ending wasnt really satisfying, at least for me.

Have a nice day!

Crysis

Thursday 7 March 2013 23:21 Posted by desmondykw
, 0 comments

Hi guys, its been a long time now. I will try to update this space as much as i can since i am now spare with few months of holiday. I am back to playing games, not too much on anime yet. So yeah, i completed crysis yesterday and now i am reviewing it. Crysis is a first-person shooter produced by Crytek in 2007. The gameplay was really fun since the abilities of the nanosuit is already given from the very start. Story was pretty good, about the north koreans followed by discovering buried alienware. Graphics was realistic at some point.

My rating: 8.0/10
Gamespot rating: 8.0/10

Goods: Smooth maneuvering of abilities, freedom of handling situations, good story setting, realistic graphics, numerous checkpoints

Bads: Glitches and bugs, unclear and dumb missions, gradually loss of freedom in gameplay

The goods. Maneuvering of abilities could be easily done by clicking on the mouse roller and rolling it to whatever ability you want. There is the option of using the keyboard to do this, for the ones that are more keyboard-familiar. 4 abilities in total, maximum armor/super strength/maximum speed/cloak form. These abilities are present at the very start of the game, depending on how you use them determines how much fun you will have from it. For me, i use the mouse to switch in-between modes which is really convenient, no delay or whatsoever. Nano-energy recovers at a swift rate once you are in maximum armor so it doesnt really pose a problem of 'lack of energy'!

Freedom of handling situations. This is the main attraction of the game, provided that they give you the abilities to do whatever the fuck you want. On cloak mode, ambush the north koreans grabbing them by their neck then switch to super strength and throw them into the sea or off a cliff. On super strength and just punching them right in the face watching them fly backward. Grabbing objects and throwing it at the north koreans. These might all sound stupid but trust me, it is definitely way more fun than just shooting with a rifle. Missions like infiltrating the enemy's base, there is no fixed way to do it. You can go 'backdoor' either jumping over the wire fence or knocking it down using super strength and go cloak mode to explore the base. Basically, you feel like superman in the game!

Setting of the story was fine. First, you start off as an infiltrator into the north korea borders attempting to save the hostages. As more of your mates died or being captured by some mysterious flying creature, the mission extends to not only rescuing the hostages but also determining the flying creature. Deeper and deeper into the island, you discovers that the north koreans are planning to revive some ancient buried alienware as their weapon for world invasion. You try to stop it but to no avail. Aliens ressurected and begin their world dominance. Its up to you and the military to stop this insane war before its too late!

Graphics was pretty realistic and outstanding. For example, walking into a waterfall. You can actually see water droplets on your vision glasses. Well that is a first for me. Characters expressions, trees/beaches/houses design were up to detail. There are so many checkpoints which make crysis so much less irritating of having to do fucked up missions over and over. All that makes this game aesthetically pleasing to play!

The bads. All games cant escape having no glitches and bugs, crysis is no exception. Soldiers having parts of their bodies penetrating through walls and such. Mission bugs, missions could not be completed no matter what you do. Only by restarting the previous checkpoint and redoing the mission could then solve this bug.

Unclear and dumb missions. Missions like defending a secured location, a gigantic alien appears. I rocket launched it more than like 30 times, no shit happens. Countless aliens flying around, they keep coming no matter how many you shot down. No clear instructions or whatsoever were given, leaving me dumbfounded in the situation. Escort missions sucked so real bad!!! Objective was to escort prophet to the destinated location. He moves so damn slow and cant even defend himself against aliens when he was supposingly the team leader. AIs as always, nuff said.

Gradually loss of gameplay freedom, this could be felt once the aliens ressurected. You could no longer play with your abilities as much as before. Cloak and armor mode is useless against aliens, most of the time just gunfiring these mothafuckers. Missions where they just forced you to do it, for example flying a VTOL which just sucked. Personally, i hate piloting planes and this mission just fucked me up! Everything starts to follow a destinated path, no more do-whatever-the-fuck-you-want.

Crysis, as a first-person shooter was fantastic! Interesting and useful abilities, just maybe the grabbing of people could be better registered. I previously intend to give it a 2nd playthrough, but the presence of shitass missions made it say fucked it and i am off to crysis 2.

Have a nice day!