(Disclaimer: Played this via PS5 with backwards compatibility, so I don’t have much to complain about performance on consoles)

It's a big step up from Crysis 1 in almost every regard despite its change to a more linear structure, but I still find that it focuses on very open combat arenas that give you plenty of tools to kill or skip through enemies and with much smoother gunplay, more variety of weapons, and enemies to fight. I find combat to be much more engaging than Crysis 1. It feels like more Halo & F.E.A.R than Call of Duty, which I was concerned about going into it.

It's no surprise that the visuals as always are impressive and the set pieces have aged well, but I also like how the game is pacing itself to earn these moments instead of doing these bombastic set pieces every 5 seconds that Call of Duty is obsessed with. Not a single mission was a drag unlike Crysis 1 and it just knew when to end.

My biggest criticism towards this game though is the nanosuit abilities. They are so nerfed compared to Crysis 1 that you might as well treat the armor & speed mode more so as buffs rather than abilities. Fortunately, the cloak & high jump don’t suffer from that, but then I find the nanosuit upgrade system to be half-fasted since only a few made noticeable differences from my experience.

Overall, I'm happy to report that Crysis 2 is one of the few shooters during the 7th Gen that hasn’t aged like milk despite the shift to get more mainstream audiences, but it still feels like a quality shooter that you would see around the mid-2000s minus looking insane. I strongly recommend it if you are looking for a solid first-person shooter.

Here's my Crysis 1 review: https://www.backloggd.com/u/Shamaboy11/review/1200529/