Crysis 2

Crysis, developed by Crytek and released by the Borg (EA) 4 years ago, was a technical masterpiece. The games graphics and presentation set the new standard for comparing video game visuals and even today it its still rarely surpassed in both beauty and detail. The game placed the player in the shoes of a special forces US commando in an ultra advance nanosuit. This piece of kit gives the soldiers considerable tactical advantages over troopers without similar attire. The suit gave the player speed boosts, strength boosts, a bad ass outfit and more importantly, the ability to bend light around themselves and blend into the background, ie turn invisible Predator style. 

Strangely, Crysis 2 despite using a newer version of the same engine, actually looks rather bland compared to its predecessor. I guess this could have something to do with this game being set in an urban environment rather than verdant jungle. However that said the visuals are still very impressive. The games setting of a recently deserted and destroyed NYC looks great. The streets and empty buildings are creepy and unsettling. The game reminded me a lot of games like Left 4 Dead and I kept waiting to attract an undead horde or interrupt some unsightly zombies chowing down on one of their mates. Luckily we have no living dead, just some rather nasty aliens so the atmosphere and overall feel are both memorable. Unfortunately, I was quite disappointed with Crysis 2. Despite the inordinate amount of time it took to produce a sequel, we were left with an unexciting and very standard military sci-fi shooter that seems to be living on the success of its predecessors rather than its own innovative merits.

One major failing of the game is the plot. Its is very poor. Like the shit storm that was the setting for Red Faction Armageddon, here its the same. The relatively decent story from the first game seems to have been almost completely ignored or forgotten. Only one of the characters from the first 2 games makes a return and is dead within the opening cut scene. The original setting, the Lingshan Islands, the gigantic buried alien space ship at their centre, the huge freezing sphere that grew to envelop them, North Korea's involvement and their own secret nanosuits, and sinking of an entire American battle fleet and all the heroism and slaughter in between is never even mentioned. Some attempt was made to link them but I was left scratching my head as I tried to connect the dots.

Long story short, an alien virus has been unleashed in New York City (yawn) causing the horrific deaths of anyone affected and the breakdown of civil and social order. It was released by the Ceph, a squid like species of aliens that are emerging from large subterranean machines and causing mayhem and destruction. The player takes control of Alcatraz, a Force Recon grunt who was sent into NYC to extract a scientist with information on the invading aliens. Alcatraz is selected by Prophet, the commanding officer of the original group of nanosuit soldiers from the first two games, to wear his suit as he has become infected by the alien virus. Prophet appears inexplicably at the exact right time to save your life and send you on your way before killing himself. 

There are a few NPCs that guide Alcatraz as you move through the game, but they are all clichéd and uninspired. The cast of characters are as forgettable as the shape of your most recent turd. This includes: the bullied but ultimately right scientist ass-hole, your grim but honourable commander, the aggressive and arrogant renegade and the sneaky corporate type who manipulates the scenes from behind. All shite we've all seen before in every military sci-fi shooter ever made.

It is not all bad though. The original game was an enjoyable experience. The stealth element was well done and the different nanosuit powers had to be balanced in order to succeed. Combat was fun and there was a large number of different weapons and tactics to choose from. Most of this survives relatively intact and fighting the different enemies, both humans and aliens, can be quite rewarding.

While the original game did have linear missions, the maps were huge, allowing the player a lot of freedom in how they wanted to approach their objective. Crysis 2 is a much more linear game with the maps confining the player to a very limited or even just one path to follow. This isn’t too bad as many of the missions can despite being intensive, are often passable on your first or second try, so your not looking around for alternate paths too often. The old quick save feature also eliminates much repetition.

The are also some brief vehicle sections. Unlike in Crysis, these sections cant be ignored or an alternate route taken. They are unremarkable and don’t add or take away much from the game. Most modern shooters have a vehicle section so then obviously Crysis 2 must have some too.

This guy allowed me pick off his whole team and he didnt move an inch

The next major point of contention is the games AI. Its awful, shocking in fact. I was very disappointed at this aspect of the game, especially in this day and age. The enemies are so stupid it can negatively impact on gameplay. Now I'm not a fan of near sentient AI that is capable of anticipating and countering my every move. Video game realism is a double edged sword. However here, we have the opposite problem. Huge alien biomechs get stuck behind lamp posts, elite foot soldiers don't pursue you if you simply leave the room. Squads of freshly dropped troops will march oblivious straight into your fire and have no demonstrable tactics whatsoever. Most annoyingly, say you find a nice vantage point for a spot of sniping, you can pick off a line of soldiers one by one. The AI wont react in anyway to me dropping 5 of his buddies in plain sight as he stands there drooling (well probably) waiting for his turn to be shot...Idiot!

Also, it was sometimes too easy to simply walk and sneak past whole legions of troops and aliens with the nanosuits cloak ability. This ability, while a stable tactic from the original game, would not always guarantee success as the games AI would attack any disturbances in the foliage or forests. Crysis 2 allows you to nearly walk right up to your enemies and kill them instantly with a melee attack. As mentioned above, insane abilities and ridiculous levels of carnage is all good, but in this instance it just feels like the developers rushed this part of the process in their efforts to get the game finished. 

Dont worry, just aim at the huge unarmored weak point

The primary enemies are unsurprisingly the Ceph. These do look interesting, with the run of the mill enemies resembling cybernetic octopi of varying sizes. Most of the common footsoldiers have shiny silver armour and exposed pink flailing tentacles. They can be brought down pretty easily with standard weapons and some precision shots into the exposed pink areas can often kill them outright. Apparently the alien armour smiths failed to notice that the large gap over your quivering exposed brain could give their enemies a tactical advantage... and then we are led to believe that these guys invented FTL technology?? Bah!

Other foes are larger aliens in more impressive suits of armour. There are some enemy fliers, but these are only found in some set battles and their strength and weaponry vary depending on the point in the plot you are at. Some large and dangerous aliens do exist, so heavy ordinance is often needed. Luckily, the inhabitants of this near futuristic version of NYC conveniently leave large caches of ammo and advanced classified weapons in every conceivable place. So whenever a large or dangerous alien is around, you can be sure some forward thinking financial executive left a nano enhance rocket launcher under a pizza box somewhere in the vicinity.

Another group of enemies is CELL. This is the human faction of enemies in the game. It seems the writers of all video games these days need to constantly remind us that humans are evil, self destructive and are only out for themselves. While I cannot argue with this assessment, why does every game or story of alien invasion always insist on including some treacherous humans to add to the slaughter... In the original game, humans are the primary enemies throughout the game, here they're just added for posterity. Needless to say they are less of a threat than the aliens and you can understand what they say to one another.

I will give an honourable mention to the alien walkers. These are quite similar to the tripods from War of the Worlds and can be a bastard to kill. They look great and the few occasions when you get to fight them are some of the better parts of the game.

There is some fun to be had in the games set battles and sequences. When your not moving though the streets picking off the lobotomised aliens, large battles in well known NYC locales are lots of fun. NYC does look great and the large scale alien structures bringing down skyscrapers in the distance do much to enhance the atmosphere. Memorable sequences involve the battle in Times Square where the aliens finally manage to knock out the power, suddenly plunging the streets into darkness. The fight in and around Central Station is also enjoyable as is running from an artifical tsunami.

So to conclude, this isn't necessarily a bad game, the fights are fun, presentation is top notch and some of the set sequences are really cool. However the games terrible writing, awful AI and boring cliched setting of NYC under siege really killed my enthusiasm and I cannot offer the game much more than C grade. Its a pity the second game in the Crysis trilogy was treated like it was as it could have been an epic addition to the franchise.

If one word could sum up my feelings for Crysis 2 it is this one: Meh

Red Faction: Armageddon

Volition's Incs Red Faction: Armageddon is a direct sequel to 2009s Red Faction: Guerrilla. The Red Faction games are well known for their Geomod engines. These were among some of the first games that allowed the player to destroy environments and objects in the game world either intentionally or as collateral damage, usually from the use of heavy ordinance indoors. The biggest change from Guerrilla is the removal of the sandbox open world and a return to a linear game experience. At first I wasnt too sure if this was a good move, however, it was nice to return to the linear style of the first two Red Faction games. As awesome as open world games are they can be repetitive which was one of the main complaints from the first game.

All of the Red Faction games are set on Mars, and deal with the liberation of the martian people from the tyrannical control of Earth based governments. Armageddon is set 50 years after the events of Guerrilla. Following the liberation of Mars, the planets surface has become once again uninhabitable after the games main antagonist, Adam Hale, destroys the terraformer that provides Mars with an Earth like atmosphere. The resulting storms force the people of Mars underground into the mines carved out by the original martian settlers. Here they create a network of habitable caves, permanently relocating their colonies to the depths.

The player controls Darius Mason, the wise cracking grandson of Alec Mason, the protagonist from the previous game. Armageddon plays just like Guerrilla, the graphics are nearly identical and the combat is also very similar, the primary difference being that it occurs underground in enclosed caverns rather than an open world. Scrap can still be collected by destroying buildings and killing enemies and can be used again to upgrade your character and weaponry. The upgrade system is slightly different to that in Guerrilla but is pretty standard, with 3 tiers of upgrades. Darius does have some sci-fi powers provided by the nano forge, the deux ex machina of Red Faction. This grants him some special abilities that aid in combat and defense.

The plot is fairly forgettable, mysterious creatures emerge from the depths and wreak havoc amongst the colonies blah blah blah. A fairly cliched and common theme amongst sci-fi shooters. The game has several NPCs that Darius interacts with, but most are forgettable and undeveloped. The usual gung ho bullshit found in most modern shooters is here and most of the dialog is corny and unbelievable. This was disappointing as the plot in Guerilla, while not particularly ground breaking, was at least taken more seriously and had realistic discourse.

Kara, the games love interest, identified by her cleavage

There is also a very contrived romantic subplot between Darius and a character called Kara, however it so poorly done that when they finally kiss, I didn't even realise there was supposed to be some chemistry between them. The whole thing felt like it was just taped on for the sake of it and added nothing to the games plot. Thankfully Kara is killed and eaten just after they share that moment so your not forced deal with the love cheese for too long. Overall the plot does suffer from some serious holes and gaps in logic, so its best to simply ignore most of it and just get down to destroying the Martian infrastructure.

The games enemies vary between Cultists, a hostile sect of the Marauders from Guerrilla, and the above mentioned mysterious creatures. The humans are more delicate and susceptible to being killed by tons of rock and metal. However they do have more powerful ranged weaponry. The aliens on the other hand are tougher, can climb, turn invisible and break out of the walls and ceiling. They look interesting and fighting them is lots of fun. There are several different types of creatures that all have different attacks and strategies. Most can climb and leap from wall to wall shooting you with spines or goo. They all have glowing eyes and seem to have some kind of incandescent substance for blood, so they are easily spotted as they move around the darkened cave walls. While this is pretty silly from an evolution point of view, it does give the player something to aim their rockets at.

I wonder if Gandalf would have benefitted from this in Moria..

The games arsenal is relatively standard, you have your pistols, sub machine guns, shotguns, rocket launchers and the usual forms of lasers and directed energy weapons. Darius has a powerful melee attack that he can use with any weapon. The good old sledge hammer is still here and is perfect for instant kills and very heavy damage. However using it places the player in very close proximity to whatever Darius is interfering with, so careless demolition can occasionally bring some thing large and heavy down on your head. So some finesse is needed when using it in confined, destructable places.

One weapon that could be found in the two previous Red Faction games was the rail gun. This very powerful sniper rifle has a cool scanner/viewfinder that can identify hostile foes through solid objects such as walls floors and ceilings. It is capable of shooting through walls to take down enemies. For some reason it was omitted from Guerrilla but thankfully makes a return in Armageddon.

 

The new 'showpiece' weapon for Armageddon is the Magnet Gun. This interesting device is one of the most fun weapons I have seen in recent games. The destruction and carnage can be wrought with this weapon belies the simple principal on which it works. The gun fires two magnets. The first magnet you fire against a large pillar, the second you then fire onto the ground amongst some enemies. Once it hits its target, the second magnet its pulls the first magnet, and what ever you attached it to, towards itself with terrifying force, bringing the whole pillar with it and flattening anything in its path. This gives the player lots of scope for destroying large buildings as well as killing enemies. You could say fire a magnet onto the roof of a large structure, then fire the second on in through the door so it hits the center of the ground floor. Then simply watch as the building folds in on itself in a dramatic fashion, mincing any living creatures and causing anything volatile to say hello. Large enemies or groups of soldiers can be killed by pulling down girders or pillars on top of them. There are many interesting ways to kill enemies and destroy buildings and the magnet gun is a great way to keep yourself amused as you move to through what is really a pretty standard 3rd person action game. Individual enemies can also be targeted and sent flying across the map to destroy walls or their fellows.

The nano repair ability is vital to progress at some stages

Ironically, one of the most interesting additions to the arsenal of destruction is nano forge's repair ability. This allows the player to repair anything they have destroyed to its previous condition. In Guerrilla, the games open world meant that you could pretty much destroy anything and everything you wanted without the fear of cutting yourself off from any important areas. In Armageddon, it being a linear game experience, the chance of you accidentally blowing up some crucial walkway or generator is a very real possibility. So they've included the repairer to allow you to reconstruct anything you might accidentally destroy that is needed to progress. The repairer does allow for some strange and entertaining situations though. One favourite is when the player comes across one form of alien, a rather large green one that is very tough. Its strong enough that you would likely empty most of your ammo trying to kill it with conventional weapons, so the old magnet gun is your best option. I found it best to use the magnet gun to fling a nearby wall at him. This will knock him down. Whilst he is getting back up, quickly repair the wall and then fire it at him again. Rise and repeat. Killing one of the games toughest enemies by throwing the same wall at him over and over did make me smile, despite the blatant disregard of Einsteins laws.

The Exosuit bears a resemblance to Isaac's suit from Dead Space

Like all the Red Faction games, there are several vehicles available for use. They vary between large insectoid walkers, a flyer and some exoskeleton suits. All of them are extremely powerful and its actually quite hard to be killed when using them. That, however, is representative of the whole game. The main problem with Armageddon is that it is far too easy. Even on hard mode I died only a handful of times on my first play through, and most of those deaths were due to my own carelessness or clumsiness rather than by enemy firepower and tactics. The vehicles are too powerful and Darius is so hard that standing in the vicinity of a collapsing black hole doesn't even bother him, which is possible thanks to the singularity cannon.

The game does have some extra game modes. Extermination is a co-op mode where players must fight unending waves of increasingly tough aliens. Ruin mode unsuprisingly allows the players to cause as much destruction as possible in as much time as they want, or in 1 minute intervals. Both these modes are fun and add some replayability to the game.

To conclude, Red Faction Armageddon is a reasonable effort and probably worth the €35 if your looking to play a relatively mindless shooter. Despite the poor plot and underwhelming difficulty, it remains supreme fun to be able to destroy every man made structure in sight. Combat is fast and using the magnet gun and sledgehammer certainly makes playing all the more worthwhile. As long as your expectations are kept within reasonable levels you can be sure to find some satisfaction from Volition's latest effort. Lets just hope if the Red Faction universe is returned to again, some more serious attention will be payed to the plot and setting! 3.5 out of 5 stars.