The Bulletstorm Crysis!

Hey guys and girls, I have returned! Sorry I have been a bit distant lately, but I've had a lot of things to sort out and a lot of gaming to catch up with!

So to get the ball rolling for us again, I just wanna bring you an update real quick on two of the hottest games due for release this year, said hottest games being Bulletstorm and Crysis 2! You need to be interested in these games... No, I mean like... you need to be interested in these games!

Both of these demos have already been released on their respected platforms. However, Crytek and Microsoft agreed to a deal which makes the demo for Crysis 2 only available only for Xbox Live! ...sucks for PC and PS3 owners! But... there has been news! *trumpets* Crytek announced at the back end of January, that there will be a pre-release demo available for PC gamers in March! Fortunately, I got to play Crysis 2 now along with Bulletstorm, and I was blown away, by one game more than the other... and I will now explain! So sit tight. 

Following on from my last blog post, which contained information on the Crysis 2 release, it would make sense for me to explain this game to you all first, before I do Bulletstorm. I was really excited for the Crysis 2 demo, even though I was majorly disappointed that it wasn't released on the PC as well, considering that it will be the platform I will end up getting the game for anyway. I wasn't raising the bar of expectation too high for the Xbox version when my television screen relayed a message to me saying that the download had finished... downloading, anyway...

Shit just got real... Sunny!

The menu screens in Crysis 2 are what you would come to expect from a futuristic shooter, they're sleek, attractive and they give you the sense that you're some sort of secret super-solider in a cool suit, which essentially, you are! It just so happens that you will be cutting around in a much cooler suit than James Bond has ever worn in his nine lives, after all, his suit doesn't have Maximum Armour mode...pfft, fail.

The multiplayer matchmaking in the demo is rather unstable. If you don't have a completely open NAT type, which in short means that if you don’t, you won’t be able to connect to anyone and everyone on Xbox Live, you're going to find it pretty hard to find a match, more so than in other games. If any of you guys and girls own Halo: Reach, you will know what I am talking about. I myself was going through a bad patch on the Xbox where my NAT would be randomly appearing as open, and then going back down to moderate again, giving me real problems finding a suitable match to join in the Crysis 2 demo... it was really frustrating. My NAT type eventually fixed itself, and alas there were still instability issues; two of the main issues including bad host selection and generally awful connection problems in terms of attempting to join a game, regardless of your NAT type. Sometimes you are connected to a game just so you can be kicked right off it again, putting you back to square one to try and find a match! Let's hope they fix the issue swiftly for the game's release. 

Tending the greenhouses

When you eventually connect to a game, it isn't half bad! From the console screenshots however, I was expecting the game to look a lot more smart than it actually does; the graphics look very patchy, lacking in texture quality in places, and at times there is a major over-use of soft lighting which kind of makes you think that you need glasses. Apart from that, I would say that the graphics just about hit the above-average level for a console.

The game play in Crysis 2 isn't all that much different from the likes of Call of Duty; essentially it's exactly the same feeling, just with added screen shake and weapon drag (head moves before the weapon) which is quite a nice addition nonetheless. 

However, what makes Crysis 2 differ from Call of Duty is the suit that you will be wearing. You will have the ability to go into one of three modes at any given time, providing your suit has enough power; Maximum Speed, Maximum Armour and Cloak (Invisibility...to some extent, so it's basically camouflage). Crysis 2, as far as I have seen, doesn't have a separate option for Maximum Strength, which was a big feature in the game's predecessor, but I guess it just ties in with your melee button, just as the sprint button is your Maximum Speed, instead of it being a separate selection; Maximum Strength and Maximum Speed seem to be put on an if and when needed basis.

Base classes for Crysis 2 MP

The weapons class set-up and the ranking up systems are pretty much a mirrored version of the latest Call of Duty titles. You will have your base weapon to unlock, and then many additions for that weapon to unlock afterwards. In regards to the ranking up system, even though Crysis 2 does have unique ranks, you will basically be getting the same types of awards that you would get from, for example, Black Ops. You have your own Playercard which you can unlock a background picture for, which displays your rank and your name, which also grants you new avatar unlocks to add to that... it's really nothing new, and I am kind of disappointed that they have, in a nutshell, copied off Call of Duty.

Continuing on from where I mentioned the weapons, they themselves are okay. There are a decent amount of them to choose from, and they do look cool, however at the moment they do seem very imbalanced, and some of the weapons don't even work anywhere near as effectively as they should do. The shotgun for example, requires you to be closer than you should have to be to the enemy, in order to blow their nuts off. One of the colossal problems with the weapons at the moment, is the melee side of the action. Crysis 2, at the moment, is very slow to respond to the fact that you've just owned someone in the face with the arse end of your weapon; even though it shows the animation swiftly, the result of the player feeling the blow comes a good second or so after... not very handy if you're in the middle of cross-fire and need to run away!

Holy Sh-!

As I have already mentioned, the controls are pretty similar to your regular first person shooter games, just with some added features aforementioned regarding suit controls. The actual stability of the game play leaves a lot to be desired; it needs a lot of work as it feels very slow to respond and the movement feels quite clumsy considering you're pretty much a super-soldier. It doesn't feel like you're doing anywhere near enough damage to the enemy either; even though the opposing players have the same bad-ass suit as you, it still seems like you have to shoot them in the pupil ten times for them to actually flinch, depending on what weapon you have... there needs to be a lot more balance introduced into the multiplayer before the full game goes live on release.

Being as this was a multiplayer only demo, I sadly cannot comment on the campaign mode first hand. However, if I know Crytek, it will be an amazing storyline, fingers crossed! 

To conclude, I would say that it is well worthwhile for you to give the Crysis 2 demo a download, providing you have an Xbox, or a friend who owns one, so you can just steal it or whatever... I don't know; just give it back when you’re done, okay? But at this stage, for the people who are not going to be able to play the demo, I will not say that you should buy this game when it comes out, because at the moment it has a lot of bugs and glitches that need ironing out. However, having played the demo and it not particularly grabbing me in, I will still be buying Crysis 2 for the PC when released, so I will give you guys and girls a full review on it when I have played on the game for a fair amount of time, and tell you first hand whether you should consider buying it, or not.

Anyway, on that note, I will bring what is to be part one of my latest update to you, to an end. I hope you feel enlightened by my review of the Crysis 2 demo, and that you people without an Xbox don't feel as much in the dark as they did, you're not missing out on anything spectacular.

My review of the Bulletstorm demo will be following on from this post in the next few days, so be sure to come back and check it out, as it's a must see, must play game! So far, from what I have experienced, Bulletstorm should be a definite purchase for all of you gamers who love your hectic, first person shooters, because this game has it all... as I will explain in a few days ;) 

Take care gamers, hope you're all well!

TTFN,

Jayhmmz (''')(O.o)(''')