Game Review--Crysis 2 Remastered (Switch)

"Alcatraz . . . this is all I can do.  It's all I can do for any of us.  You're my last shot here . . . Last chance for all of us.  I'm used up.  I'm a dead man walking.  I'm . . . contaminated.  But you . . . you can finish this thing.  You have to!"

--Prophet, Crysis 2 Remastered

The last two parts of the Crysis trilogy have been on the Switch for almost a year now after the first came to the system in 2020--ironic, given that this was the year the game takes place in--making all of the games except for Warhead available on the platform.  This sequel does bring some necessary evolution to the game mechanics through nanosuit upgrades, which were glaringly absent from the original game.  Its unfortunate flaw is that its story, general characterization, and philosophical depth are so trivial and shallow that the gameplay and graphics are surrounded by nothing of substance to actually justify the game's general creative choices.  The story does not even begin where the first game ends, instead starting years later with a new protagonist.  It is as if the developers only wanted a hollow, lifeless shell for the shooter gameplay and visuals.

Production Values

Some of best graphics of a Switch port by far are merged with the motion blur that almost every major first-person shooter originating on other consoles, like Doom and Wolfenstein Youngblood, has when ported to the Switch.  While in motion, Crysis 2 Remastered looks great, but the blur of individual still images taken from the game gets in the way of taking clear screenshots.  This more pertains to the movements of combat and environmental destruction than to up-close facial models of characters.  The Ceph, the aliens of the Crysis universe named after the octopus cephalopod because the extraterrestrial creatures have tentacle-like protrusions, are designed well and the next best graphical achievement of this remaster when it comes to character models.  Sounds of guns firing and characters talking are realistic and fit into the universe well, just without there being any actual deep characterization conveyed through the lines.

Gameplay

The best features of Crysis, its nanosuit abilities and gunplay, are both back in Crysis 2.  A very limited selection of firearms severely lessens the variety of fights, but a few special weapons like grenade launchers provide small bursts of novelty.  I just say small because their very small ammunition supply does not allow you to use them often!  The suit's ability to cloak can minimize the difficulty of making it through some areas with little ammunition, though, letting Alcatraz, the playable character, use a knife to kill humans or Ceph alike.  Timed well enough to make the suit power supply last and to make sure that individual units are looking away, the stealth function can make multiple silent kills possible.  The only times when this is not an option at all are when you face vehicles or have to confront one of the larger kinds of Ceph on the battlefield.

One major new change to these special abilities is the addition of nanosuit upgrades purchased by spending points that the Ceph leave on the ground upon death.  One reduces the amount of power used while in armor mode and thus prolongs the amount of time armor can be used before recharging, one increases the speed of health regeneration, another shows the trajectories of enemy bullets, and so on.  The upgrade menu is actually one of the most unique I have ever seen: Alcatraz holds up his left hand and twitches individual fingers to switch to each of five upgrade submenus.  Unfortunately, only one of the multiple upgrades each finger points to can be equipped at once.  You cannot run around with the enhancements that prolong the sprint duration, heal Alcatraz faster, decrease the sound of footsteps, and extend the power supply for armor all at once; only some of these can be simultaneously active.

These suit upgrades and the new collectibles in the various levels give Crysis 2 more much-needed gameplay depth. The first game's flexibility in how you reach objectives and the nanosuit abilities were handled very well, yes, but there was a distinct lack of replayability incentives, reasons to explore, or bonus content of any kind (at least in the remastered version I played).  Crysis 2 at least provides more of a basis for checking rooms that do not need to be inspected to complete the level.  Its unlockable soundtrack, souvenirs found throughout New York City, and dog tag items mean there is more to this sequel than just shooting enemies and moving from one location to another.  What this improvement does not fix is the undeveloped-to-mediocre story that serves as the backdrop of the much better shooter action.  First-person shooters can have incredibly abstract or personal stories, but Crysis 2 does not boast this.

Story

Some spoilers are below.

In 2023, a virus has spread in Manhattan island three years after dormant aliens are revived on Earth (yes, the first Crysis is very fittingly set in 2020 of all years).  Armed units sweep the streets of Manhattan as the virus and Ceph aliens terrorize America.  A survivor of an attack on a US submarine near New York with the code name Alcatraz is saved from death by Prophet, a soldier with a nanosuit from the first game.  Prophet's armor is bonded with Alcatraz as Prophet shoots himself to let the suit fully reconfigure to its new host, which leads to other people mistaking Alcatraz for Prophet as various characters pursue their objectives in this chaotic world.

Intellectual Content

Crysis unfortunately does almost nothing with story aspects that lend themselves very well to existential, moral, metaphysical, and epistemological inquiries into the nature of reality.  The handful of more dramatic or personal moments are in the large shadow of a story that was probably a total afterthought, eclipsed by the gameplay that is so clearly the focus at the expense of everything else but the graphics.  I have actually seen people erroneously compare the Ceph to Lovecraftian extraterrestrials, but the similarities are so minimal that they are insignificant, such as both entities like Cthulhu and the Ceph coming from outside of Earth and then becoming trapped for millennia, or both Cthulhu and the Ceph having tentacles.  The Ceph are not ever made into anything more than mostly genetic biomechanical aliens to shoot at.  Crysis 2 is simply aimed at only achieving some greatness while forfeiting other kinds of excellence.

Conclusion

As a science fiction story and general narrative, Crysis 2 is very lackluster.  One of the strongest characters (Prophet) dies less than 20 minutes into the game.  There is not even an attempt to explore any grand philosophical truths about human or alien life or morality despite the plot already involving such elements.  In fact, the majority of the plot is just one person or another giving Alcatraz vague instructions--just not vague in a clever or deep way.  In contrast, as a game with nanosuit mechanics and shooter gameplay, Crysis 2 can be a great example of how to make a first-person shooter unique by blending things like considering strategic options with running in to shoot enemies in open firefights.  As I play Crysis 3 Remastered in the near future, I hope to find that the storytelling and worldbuilding actually improves this time.

Content:

 1.  Violence:  Blood appears in short, red bursts when enemies are shot.

 2.  Profanity:  "Shit" and "fuck" are used sometimes by NPCs.