Critics: Crysis 2 is “one of the best-looking games ever”

Sci-fi shooter Crysis was a PC exclusive back in 2007, famed for stretching the platform to its limits with its class-leading graphics. Indeed, running it with its visual fidelity maxed out is a challenge for even today’s top-of-the-line hardware.
Its sequel releases this week, but this time it’s not just for those with pricey PC rigs: both Xbox 360 owners and PS3 fans can now enjoy what’s been hailed as one of the most graphically-advanced video games ever made. If you believe the hype, Crysis 2’s optimized engine will deliver all the bells and whistles of the original game, plus a few extras, all somehow shoehorned onto a five-year-old, $200 game console rather than a brand new, $1500 PC.
Big talk, but can the game actually live up to that promise? According to critics, quite possibly.
Says Games Radar’s Matthew Keast, “We’re calling it now: Crysis 2 is possibly the best-looking console game ever. It’s not leaps and bounds ahead of other graphical heavyweights, but it’s probably just a bit more polished, a bit more detailed… and yet running at a very respectable framerate...we didn’t believe it could be done, but now there’s no question the tech is a success.“
Calling it the “most beautiful” first-person shooter built around an alien invasion, Joystiq’s Randy Nelson was just as impressed. Crysis 2 ditches the original game’s rather anonymous jungle setting for something entirely more familiar -- the streets of New York City -- and the new environment is a hit.
“Its depiction of a disaster-ravaged New York City is the stuff of Hollywood blockbusters,” says Nelson, “with layer upon layer of impressive visual effects, animations and large-scale destruction.” Even if you’ve never been to NYC, you’ll recognize plenty of sights, though the game’s one-two punch of a killer virus and an alien invasion may not exactly have left them in prime condition.
Not just a pretty face, Crysis 2’s gameplay is coming in for a creditable amount of praise, too -- although it’s largely for the game’s high-tech, gadget-packed “nanosuit" the players get to control, and not so much its storyline. Still, in single-player its smart enemy soldiers put up a good fight, and in multiplayer, its broad range of Call of Duty-style unlockable content surprised many reviewers with its depth.
And the verdict? Judging by Metacritic’s averages, it’s scoring in the high 80s; that’s enough to set it alongside EA’s Dead Space 2 as the best-received action game of the year so far. High praise for any game -- and doubly impressive for this studio’s console debut.