Crysis 2 Remastered Review (c5)
It's basically Crysis 2 with Raytracing. I'm sure there's lots of other little things done, the weapons do look a bit more detailed and perhaps some of the walls are a bit sharper, but it does ultimately look how I remembered Crysis 2 looking and that's not a bad thing. This isn't an overwhelming "jumps out at you" kind of remaster, Crysis 1 remastered was a lot more noticeably "different" but to the point where some of the changes weren't as appealing. Crysis 2 Remastered respects the original art direction, and considering I was able to fill out the "remastered trilogy' bundle for 14 bucks and get the remasters of both 2 and 3 for a cheap price, I'd say $7 for my favorite graphical gimmick is worth the upgrade.
As for the game itself, I've always felt Crysis 2 was a bit underrated. The game took flack at the time for being a smaller-scale, more linear and more streamlined take on the formula, due to shifting focus towards consoles, but compared to other linear military shooters of the 2010's such as the typical Call of Duty campaign, Crysis 2 still gives you a lot more freedom and tactical decision making than it's contemporaries. As with the first game, you can't just rush into a fight, if you do you'll end up knocked dead pretty quickly. The Crysis series always asks you to take a look at your surroundings and work out a plan, and Crysis 2 delivers the same strategic combat I loved about the first game, even if it is at a smaller scale.
My only real gripe with Crysis 2 is moreso that the story doesn't do the cleanest job of following onto the first game. I think they were trying to take the Half-Life 2 approach by dropping you into a wildly different scenario with different enemies, but Half-Life 2 still made sure to explain how the new bad guys relate to the old bad guys. Crysis 2 on the other hand just goes "whelp, the aliens look and act completely different now but they're the same dudes I swear". They probably did this to avoid new players having to know the story of the first game, which at the time was a PC exclusive, but they eventually did release a port of Crysis 1 for the XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 so.... whoops? That said, it's still a fun action blockbuster plotline with massive setpieces that make it feel like a big-budget disaster movie, and I miss that kind of gung-ho in games.
Still, Crysis 2 is a fun tactical shooter with fantastic gunplay, great art direction, and wonderfully responsive guns, and this is probably as good a presentation of it as you'll find anywhere. The remastering is subtle, but the new lighting does look goodand having versions of Crysis 2 and 3 without Origin bolted on like a parasite is worth the double-dip.