Preview: Crysis 2
Tom Wallis, from newbreview.com, was at Gamescom recently and managed to get hands on with a couple of the multiplayer modes for Crysis 2. “But what did he make of it?” I hear you ask. Well read on and you’ll bloomin’ well find out.
The beginning of our Behind Closed Doors presentation consisted of an impressive slide show detailing some of the specifics of the multiplayer aspect of Crysis 2. With five preset and five custom classes to choose from, as well as over 80 ranks to attain, the Crysis 2 multiplayer will certainly have an abundance of things to do.
What’s more, there will be over 20 weapons, 250 dog tag awards (see below about dog tags) and over 20 suit upgrades, each with 3 tiers. Already this is looking like an impressively sized multiplayer experience; possibly taking as much as 100 hours to get your hands on everything.
Crysis 2's multiplayer looks set to contain everything from challenges, weapons and gadgets to tiers, ranks and the proverbial kitchen sink
Any developers that are about to make a preview presentation take note; after the slide show we were told the six of us in the room would get hands on with two levels of the multiplayer experience. “Well that’s not extraordinary”, I hear you mumbling. What was extraordinary was that the six of us journalist types teamed up to face off against six members of the QA team in London. This was a small gesture, but one that I appreciated as it showed confidence in the package they were presenting as well as the fact that this preview code isn’t months old, like other preview presentations often are.
So we six journos jumped in against six QA staff from the London office for a few games of “Team Instant Action”; the name given to their team deathmatch mode. Twelve people playing simultaneously will be the maximum for any map or mode, and the maps will be sized suitably. Of the two maps I was shown, neither felt too large or crowded for this number of people.
Dog tags are something of a new game feature for FPS games. They are used to call up Call-of-Duty-style perks like air support, however instead of simply killing your enemy and reaping the benefits, you have to travel over the lifeless body of the opponent you’ve just killed, giving you their tag. Immediately you can see why they’ve implemented this system, as you take away the benefit of hiding and sniping from a distance, as you see in many other multiplayer FPS games currently on the market.
Could Crysis 2's dog tag system be the final nail in the coffin for those annoying "happy campers"?
Unfortunately I couldn’t draw out any more details as to what available perks there would be in the final game; all I got was the typical “we can’t talk about that yet” from the Crytek devs, but the system works really well and will certainly add a new strategy to the FPS formula.
Multiple weapon load outs were available within this demonstration, I was particularly disappointed by the lack of power with almost any gun except the main rifle; I was looking forward to ripping into everyone with the shotgun. Clearly this is a weighting issue rather than an intrinsic fault in the game itself. The developers have assured me that a bit of tweaking will see this problem sorted by launch day.
Whilst the damage of the guns wasn’t exactly as I expected, the effect of actually firing the gun is really satisfying; I felt genuine joy sneaking up behind an enemy and blasting shotgun shells at their head, even if they didn’t go down as quickly as I would have liked.
The first map we were shown comprised of an old-style hotel, partially collapsed and crashed into an office block. The level spanned across two floors of both buildings several stories up. Whilst much of the level wasn’t destructible, the already partially destroyed building created an interesting variation from other multiplayer experiences with more standard, fully formed levels within buildings.
Maps offer up a variety of play styles
The second map was the imaginatively named “Rooftop garden”. You guessed it; this has you fighting it out around rooftop gardens across several buildings on top of a high rise block of flats. Whilst this lacked the multiple floors of the previous map, the differing levels between the buildings created similar strategic gameplay as the previous level.
The developers let slip that there would initially be six multiplayer maps, and if the remaining four maps have been given the same attention to detail as the two I have seen, I’ll be a happy gamer. Hopefully there will be a little more variation in locations, as both maps involve the tops of buildings. Four more maps along the same lines would probably become a bit samey.
Perhaps the most pleasing part of the demonstration was the ability to vertically, as well as laterally, traverse the levels. The Nano Muscle suit allows players to jump higher than the average man. This gives you the ability to grapple onto high ledges and quickly launch yourself upwards; creating a vertical strategic element that literally adds another dimension to the FPS genre.
The brand new Nanosuit 2 allows you to traverse levels in parkour inspired ways
Whilst this verticality has been employed to some extent in other FPS titles, it really works here. For the majority of levels in Call of Duty for example, gaining the higher ground gives you a real advantage. Crytek have levelled the playing field with their new parkour system because it is so quick to get up to the guy a few floors above you.
The game did look great, but it seems that Crytek have perhaps become victims of their own hype. Recently they declared that Crysis 2 will be the best looking game on any console. Whilst this is a noble, if a little adventurous, the preview I was shown was not as aesthetically stunning as I was expecting.
With several months of polishing time left before release, they could still achieve the astounding graphics previously alluded to. However, I’ll now be expecting this to be a great looking game, rather than “the ultimate in console visuals” that the hype generators would have me believe.
This multiplayer preview has shown me that the addition of a multiplayer mode really is a fully formed feature, rather than being tacked on. My lack of a gaming PC meant I missed the original title, but I’ll be making sure I don’t miss this on consoles when it releases in March 2011.
- Tom Wallis
