Besides a short 10-minute session, I’ve never played Crysis before, so I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect during the multiplayer demo. But after playing the multiplayer demo a few nights ago, I think Micah’s description is quite apt: it really felt like a combination of Call of Duty’s pacing and the jumping/armor abilities of Reach. Which, in its own way, really does make it feel like its own beast (well, as much as a shooter can in this day and age).

While the core of the game feels very reminiscent of modern war games, we were more intrigued by the Halo Reach-esque additions. For instance, you now have access to a pair of special abilities we can used at any time, so long as you have energy in reserve (which automatically replenishes). The two abilities I tried out were invisibility and shield. They both function pretty much as you would expect--invisible makes you harder to see while shield reduces damage taken, although at the expense of running speed. The jump height was also reminiscent of Halo, though a bit less floaty feeling. I particularly liked the ability to stomp others from above, even if this power proved to be almost entirely ineffectual--it still looked awesome.

 

One slight problem I did have was with the controls (and that’s putting aside that the “inverted” option is rather hidden in the menus)--specifically, equipping grenades. I’ve grown rather fond of the one-button press grenade toss that permeates most modern shooters. But to throw a grenade in Crysis 2, you first need to equip it by double-tapping Y, then actually throw it with the right-trigger. It’s a cumbersome three-step process that really should just be one. Perhaps it was an intentional decision to reduce the frequency of tosses grenades, but I just found it unwieldy (Micah hadn’t even realized you could throw grenades! A truth I only learned about from the nearby control chart)..

While the Crysis series has long been heralded for its visuals, it’s pretty evident that they’re scaled back for multiplayer purposes. Don’t misunderstand me, it’s still a great looking game, just one that doesn’t stand heads and shoulders above other shooters on the 360 or PS3. However, it did capture the feeling of being in these massive environments much better than any other shooter I can recall. In the level Skyline, It was actually quite awe-inspiring to slowly look up at the skyscrapers that tower over the map, seemingly stretching on forever into the clouds.

All in all, based on my short time with Crysis 2, it seems to be a perfectly functional and fun multiplayer experience, if not an entirely unique one. Look out for this game to land on the 360, PS3, and PC on March 22nd.

Micah:

Like Andre, I’ve barely scratched the surface of the Crysis franchise, having only played the first game for less than 20 minutes total a few years ago, but I was definitely eager to see what could set this multiplayer bulletfest apart from it’s monumentally successful competitors. As far as I had known, Crysis was all about the suit powers and how those offered ever-expanding gameplay options as you progressed through the game. I was really hoping that this would translate well to make for a thrilling multiplayer experience.

In some respects, that’s what we seem to have gotten. The game plays out most similarly to Call of Duty style shooters, but with the added suit powers and the freedom of movement that they allow for hearkening back to something more along the lines of Halo. Your continually replenishing supply of energy allows your character to employ a variety of different manuevers, each of which augments combat in a different way. You can charge up jumps to leap high into the air and then come crashing down delivering an area attack. You can slide quickly while sprinting to dodge enemy fire. You can shield yourself. You can even turn invisible. Each of these depletes your energy supply and each is useful in its own right (though I didn’t find anything all that great about the shield).

 

Andre touched on the controls, and while felt like they were generally pretty good, there were a few little quibbles I had. Sure, equipping grenades was confusing and totally threw me off at first, but I imagine this was a conscious design decision to keep people from spamming the explosives. What I actually found a little more irritating was the fact that there is a sight delay when you jump due to the ability to charge the jump before you take off. I understand that this mechanic could add slightly more depth to the verticality of the game, but I wasn’t yet enamored with its implementation, as it mostly just felt like my jumps were a little sluggish.

The weapon selection that we had available seemed fairly lackluster, but that may have just been for the demo. Only one of the four weapons available seemed to pack a good enough punch, and after just a short bit of time, it seemed like every editor on hand had switched to the Gunner class so they could make use of his weaponry. The four classes we could choose from were Assault, Sniper, the aforementioned Gunner, and a shotgun-toting Specialist. Each of the classes had its own set of skills and weapons, but I honestly didn’t spend much time with any of them except for the Gunner after getting beaten down by so many other players in the first few matches. Regardless, that whole aspect of the game felt a little more generic than I wanted it to, as the special suit abilities are the key feature setting this game apart from its Duty-bound adversary. I didn’t find these suit powers quite as flavorful as the Halo: Reach loadouts, but I still enjoyed sliding around the battlefield, leaping high into the air, and then crashing down on my enemies. Hopefully the weapon and suit upgrades that you earn along the way keep combat feeling fresh.

We got to play four different levels in our hands-on session, and they all seemed fairly interesting, if not entirely unique. Since Crysis 2 takes place in a facsimile of New York, the multiplayer levels were isolated locations from within the island of Manhattan. We found ourselves playing high up on the Skyline, ducking through steeples in Sanctuary, blowing up pavement on the city streets, and kicking over vehicles in the Car Park. Each of the levels had a good sense of scale, and looked quite sharp and alive. Still, I was maybe expecting a little more from the visual side of things as the first Crysis is so often touted as the best looking game ever. It was, as Andre noted, quite apparent that the game’s visuals had been scaled down for the multiplayer component. Things still looked great, just on par with other current high budget offerings, rather than miles ahead.

Crysis 2’s multiplayer offering, while not the most original experience, still offered up enough features unique to this game to pull my attention at least for a brief while. Even though there are a good deal of other options out there if you want to get your shoot on, I still enjoyed my playtime with Crysis 2 and plan on playing a good deal more of it once the multiplayer demo hits Xbox Live Arcade and PSN next week.