Ah, finally the sequel to the game that makes you want to buy a new PC or just show off your powerful rig, but wait... it gets released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 with a promise of the best graphics a shooter can be on console. They weren't joking, that's for sure. I can't remember the many time that OMG came into mind while playing the game. If you're looking for a real immersive action packed shooter, Crysis 2 will knock you brains off. Does Crysis 2 deliver what it was expected and be the rightful successor of the first one? Do I have to answer this? Oh Yes it does!

The story by the Sci-Fi novelist Richard K. Morgan, takes us in 2024 in the alien virus invaded New York City where this virus is infecting all the city with the military and the company Crynet segregating the city and leaving its citizens to their ghastly fate. The city is at its knees and you, a marine named Alcatraz with your team are assigned a humanitarian mission which goes terribly wrong with a surprise attack just before reaching shore in your submarine. You will then meet your fait slash second chance when you are rescued by Prophet and given a second life with the Nanosuit where you are left alone to fulfil the mission. The storyline thou a bit difficult to follow since the game is so fulfilling is quite solid and keeps you immersed. One of the good mix and match during the storyline is the immersive music of Hans Zimmer, especially the track Insertion which was a perfect choice for the game intro and suspense scenes. Thou we cannot miss the rest of the great soundtrack which are composed by Borislav Slavov and Tilman Sillescu. If you are a fan of the movie Inception, you will find the same immersive effect, especially from Zimmer's contributions.

For those who are new to the Crysis series, the Nanosuit is a highly technologically advanced suit with great capabilities. The suit will generate a chemical reaction with your body to give you bigger strength, stealth, speed, higher jumps and make you look damn cool in that black carbon fibre look. Although the suit fuses with your body, the suit has energy and while you are using one of its powers, the suit will drain it's power which is again generated when it's idle. The suit will come in handy when you need to give that extra push or flank your enemies. It's up to you to combine its powers to favour you in combat. For example you can have a foe behind a car and instead of going round and shooting him, you can power kick the car and roll it over him. Instead of going out, Rambo style on a team, you can use stealth mode to affect a silent kill or grab and throw to get their attention somewhere else. You can also power up the armour increase and go blasting through a door since it will give you low damage on impact. The possibilities are quite numerous.

Besides the Nanosuit, the customization options for weapons ability has also been ported from the first release of Crysis, where you can modify your weapon by adding attachments, scopes and silencers right from the upgrade menu which is basically your hand where you will be able to activate these add-ons. This will add some replay ability since you will be able to replay chapters in the game since when the upgrades and abilities are unlocked, they will be still available.

Another good aspect of the game is the AI where it's quite balanced when dealing in how the AI is clever enough to give you a good challenge. The AI is quite believable and will get disoriented if you surprise them, and will make their way to flank you. The aliens thou are keen on to ambush you out, so make sure you know your powers right and learn how to master them. Thou great, there are some awkward moments where the AI will walk in circles or just being distracted, but it will surely not spoil your fun.

Now since Crytek released their new engine with this game and the Crysis series is synonymous with super graphics, the game looks pretty wild and a good successor for the first release. Everything around you is alive; the surroundings are incredible with a lot of destructible object with their effects. The game is great, no doubt on that but to be honest I was a bit disappointed from the discrepancies on the graphical effects  when comparing the PlayStation 3 version with the Xbox 360 version which to be honest I would have expected that the PlayStation 3 version would look better. Thou a bit on the down side, the mix of the sound effects and soundtrack, make the game still unbelievably immersive and awesome. If you get enough from the singe player mode with its variations for replay ability, there is always the multiplayer mode to try out your kinky moves and skills of the nanosuit powers in a solid environment. Yes, the multiplayer is great, but to be honest, I mostly loved the singleplayer campaign.

Conclusion

Crysis 2 cannot look better with the storyline in the single player campaign remaining solid and interesting for the whole time. The sound effects are awesome and if you have a good sound system, will knock your block off. Thou you cannot miss the touch of Hans Zimmer in the soundtrack which mixed to the sound effects and graphics made a solid game with very good replay ability. The multiplayer is solid, but the single player campaign is the best. A little bit on the downside for the graphics comparison with the Xbox 360, but it will surely not spoil your fun.