The Visuals.

Crysis 2 on the PC is the best looking game made to date. The new engine (Cry Engine 3) while built on an older version of Direct X (Direct X 9) is capable of the most amazing things I have ever seen in a video game. The character models, environments, physics and most prominently the gorgeous effects such as lighting are absolutely jaw dropping and need to be experienced first hand. Not only does it look far better than the original but it runs better too. On the maximum settings with the same hardware I was able to get double the frame rate out of Crysis 2 that I had playing the original. I don’t know what dark sorcery Crytek used to accomplish this but it is a huge feat. Even a modest gaming PC should be able to play the game on the medium settings (which are about as good looking as the fantastic Xbox 360 version). I played with a nvidia gtx 280 and a 2.4 ghz quad and was able to get solid 30 frames even in the most heated of action.

Crytek has gone the mile and created a unique art style for their sequel, New York City has been created with such color and artistry it hardly appears the dull dark city that you would expect. New York City has been rendered with as much greenery as Crytek could logically include. There are trees and vegetation everywhere making this game feels truly like the urban jungle brother of the last game’s tropical locale. Characters shine with artistic flare as well, while some look kind of generic most look far more lifelike than the “photo realistic” models of the earlier game, weapons and enemy aliens particularly outshine the competition. If for no other reason than to have seen it you should play Crysis 2, it looks that good

The Sound.

The effects that litter the war torn cityscape are punchy and immersive, when you hear an aliens screech off screen you will feel a surge of adrenaline as you ready your nanosuit for battle. While the sound effects shine the voice acting does not. The games script is partly to blame but the voice work in the game is absolutely atrocious, its as if the game’s art team did all the acting themselves…while drunk after watching four hours of straight to dvd Segal movies. The sound track more than makes up for the bad VA, while I would have liked more tracks the creepy techno and sweeping orchestral scores fit the action perfectly. The techno tracks are truly unique and mood setting. Voice acting is now synonymous with video games and with a big budget like Crysis 2 it would have been nice to see some Hollywood talent or at least real actors.