Crysis 2

Crysis 2 moved the series from tropical islands to a devastated New York hit by an alien invasion, and for the first time brought it to consoles too - a significant shift from its PC-centric predecessors, which were famous for their punishing hardware demands. Playing as soldier Alcatraz, you wear an advanced Nanosuit that lets you switch between invisibility, armor, and enhanced strength or speed, and that flexibility remained the core of the tactical gameplay - the same situation could be resolved through silent infiltration or an open firefight depending on the player's style. The urban setting replaced the open jungle, but the level design still offered more routes to the objective than most rival shooters, with an emphasis on the verticality of streets and buildings that could be used to break off a firefight or flank patrols from above.

On Xbox 360 the game made a strong technical impression thanks to a modified CryEngine 3, which, despite the console's hardware limitations, delivered impressive lighting, destructible environments, and an atmospheric depiction of a devastated city full of rubble and abandoned skyscrapers. The sound design and music heightened the sense of isolation amid catastrophe, while the alien Ceph enemy brought an entirely new kind of combat compared to the human CELL mercenary opponents of the first game, emphasizing fast, agile creatures attacking from multiple directions at once.

At the time, the game was praised above all for its technical achievement and for bringing the sophisticated Nanosuit system to consoles, though some fans missed the openness and sandbox approach of the original Crysis and its island setting. Today, Crysis 2 remains an interesting example of how a top-tier PC studio handled the Xbox 360 generation's console limitations without giving up its technical ambition and the characteristic emphasis on graphical quality the Crysis brand had been known for since the first game on PC.

Why play it: Worth a look for bringing the sophisticated Nanosuit system and Crytek's technical ambition to consoles, even though it lacks the openness of the first game.