I have played through Crysis2 almost twice now, and I have some opinions to give:

First off, I don't feel that the story is explained well enough. The game takes place three years after Nomad and his merry bunch head over to the Island to help Prophet destroy the aliens. So what happened? We get a few disjointed flashbacks, but nothing very revealing! And by how the story progresses, its like Prophet just got back to New York around the time Alcatraz landed. So what took Prophet so long to get to New York, did he swim all the way back?

Another issue I have is that I don't like the lack of familiar stuff (aliens, characters, ect). The aliens are suppose to be the same as the ones from the spaceship, but these new ones are a completely different in every way! Instead of being completely alien beings with sleek black exteriors that fly, there are now these chrome plated squishy things that walk. Why would they ever give up flying? That was fundamental to everything that they were! I know this is a minor point but the aliens color bugs me too. The Crysis aliens had a blue motif going on which gave them a unique atmosphere, but now they are nothing but red. Is that some kind of mood lighting going on there?

[Spoiler alert]

As for characters we never see a familiar face throughout the game other than Prophet! I want to know what happened to Nomad, Phyco, and Rosenthal!

Another thing that I miss from the first game was the ability to explore the extensive maps! For me that's what made Cyrsis special. But in this new game, you can only go where your supposed to go. There is no room for creative navigation.

In the end the game was kind of fun. It's unique in its own way, but it's so far removed from the first game that it makes me feel alienated.

no troops on the ground = alien attack force would have to rely solely on vehicles. Do you think that is a good strategy?....of course not hence why the aliens who, happen to be impaired on land cmpares to us, have now exoskeleton riding infantry alongside dropships and heavy vehicles


there are no old faces and deep involvement with old characters because this game needs to act as an entry point for those who could not play crysis 1 (not a fan myself but it is understandable)....more will be explained in crysis 3.

Free roaming was abandoned in favor of action bubbles, it's a matter of tastes and a lot of people seem to like it since it cuts off a lot of the "fat". YMMV on the result but whining about that is like whining about any other gameplay choice..

Crysis was about more than flying vehicles for the aliens and free roaming the island

no troops on the ground = alien attack force would have to rely solely on vehicles. Do you think that is a good strategy?....of course not hence why the aliens who, happen to be impaired on land cmpares to us, have now exoskeleton riding infantry alongside dropships and heavy vehicles

Uh... a robotic exoskeleton is a vehicle. Personally I would think having hovering capacity would give a soldier an advantage on the battlefield. I just personally think that giving the aliens legs was an aesthetic step too far from the aliens we know. The grunts should have been in smaller flying exoskeletons kind of like those smaller robots from the first game. It wouldn't stop them from using drop ships, in fact in the first game the robots were dropped off by larger vehicles anyway. Besides it isn't like putting them on legs made them any better anyway, they still go down quite easily.

there are no old faces and deep involvement with old characters because this game needs to act as an entry point for those who could not play crysis 1 (not a fan myself but it is understandable)....more will be explained in crysis 3.

My problem isn't so much as no deep involvement with old characters, but with a lack of any involvement with the old characters. Sequels shouldn't sacrifice story arc at the expense of the fans. With the proper execution I sure they could have made a game that continued from the events of the first game, and have still been newcomer friendly as well.

Half Life 2 would be a good example; they explained the story of Gordon Freeman right after the events of the first game. I played HL2 before I played its predecessor, and I didn't feel confused when they explained what happened before in the first game.

Free roaming was abandoned in favor of action bubbles, it's a matter of tastes and a lot of people seem to like it since it cuts off a lot of the "fat". YMMV on the result but whining about that is like whining about any other gameplay choice..

The whole free roaming deal was just a minor disappointment to me. When I first heard of this game I was looking forward to exploring a detailed post-apocalyptic New York.

Crysis was about more than flying vehicles for the aliens and free roaming the island

Yea, but flying aliens and free roaming made Crysis cool.

oh come on...no it didn't, well it did but that's not all that made it cool.

furthermore, Vehicles, full hovering vehicles are obviously more expensive to replace, replenish and produce than exoskeletons. If you think that a single Ceph ca decimate a whole fireteam and has much more capacity to stalk the streets and actually fight other infantry. This assumes of course that the Ceph cannot build a vehicle for each of their soldiers which does seem to make sense to me

I mean look at the Covenant from halo for instance or all the alien races from Mass Effect, you do not see every single one of their soldiers driving a ghost a wraith, a gunship or a shuttle do you? Did you want something along the line of "skyline"...?

Now, About half life 2....I kinda did feel confused while playing it. But back to the original point..... it is done all the time, look at ME2, DS2....especially if the second chapter is set in the same fictional world but has different protagonists or storylines. Hell look at Dragon Age 2, Different protagonist, different timeline, different locational setting, Barely any explanation about the first game. Again I am not a fan of this but apparently a lot of devs think this is the best way to go if a gameneeds to act also as an entry point.

that said I'm doing my 4th run of the game....I'm VERY happy with it...I've not beenthis pleased in a shooter since the original halo: CE. Crytek worked a miracle on the campaign.

also many snippets are thrown at you like the soldiers talking about lockheart's nephew (someone is theorizing it was nomad) dying while wearing the Nanosuit 1 and the details about it being shady

Also, this fogginess about details gives the devs opportunities to flesh the story out via DLC and explain through gameplay why things are the way they are.

All the points I made earlier were just the way I felt about some of the aspects the game. Don't get me wrong, I like the game. Its just I was a bit disappointed about some of the content after waiting four years for this sequel to come out. Though mainly I miss Phycio, I wish he made a brief cameo if only to say his "I'm British you Muppet!"

Also, this fogginess about details gives the devs opportunities to flesh the story out via DLC and explain through gameplay why things are the way they are.

Oh man! I hate that tactic! Now they'll nickle and dime me to death Unless the DLC is cheap in which case, Hooray!

Also, this fogginess about details gives the devs opportunities to flesh the story out via DLC and explain through gameplay why things are the way they are.

I.e. sell half a game, half later. That's the most extreme dike move possible.

oh come on...no it didn't, well it did but that's not all that made it cool.

furthermore, Vehicles, full hovering vehicles are obviously more expensive to replace, replenish and produce than exoskeletons. If you think that a single Ceph ca decimate a whole fireteam and has much more capacity to stalk the streets and actually fight other infantry. This assumes of course that the Ceph cannot build a vehicle for each of their soldiers which does seem to make sense to me

I mean look at the Covenant from halo for instance or all the alien races from Mass Effect, you do not see every single one of their soldiers driving a ghost a wraith, a gunship or a shuttle do you? Did you want something along the line of "skyline"...?

Why would full hovering vehicles be expensive for the Ceph to mass produce? In Crysis they were churning out those scout exoskeletons like crazy! They filled the sky when you fight on the Constitution, so I don't think smaller more agile ones would be too difficult for them to make.

Land-bound exoskeletons would be a handicap to the aliens. When they flew, they could overcome enemy cover. Not to mention that they had superior mobility, and better vantage point possibilities in a firefight. But when they're stuck on the ground, it brings them down to their enemy's level and removes most of their advantages. The only thing going for them is their increased speed and strength.

I would understand the redesign if it were meant to accommodate superior protection for the troops, but they are less protected than stormtroopers! They're tentacles and junk is hanging out for all to see, and their armor has huge cracks that are easier to shoot through. It's like the aliens decided that they were being too hard on the humans and decided to play nice.

Also I have never seen skyline :/

I.e. sell half a game, half later. That's the most extreme dike move possible.

Agreed.