Definitely a great gameplay mechanic. Even if it becomes a bit easy to rely on cloak.

The suit works almost as well in Crysis2. Power (Speed/Jump) is used automatically by default, Cloak and Armour are toggleable. Armour is a nice effect. Heat-vision also uses suit energy. Doesn't feel quite a slick switching between the 3 main ones but it's still good. 

Crysis 2+3 were streamlined for consoles. Easier controls (controller), combined suit powers, smaller levels (memory footprint), less AI (slower processor)

The Metacritic ratings for 2 and 3 are lower, but I think that is partly to do with franchise fatigue. Crytek are quoted as saying they think 3 is their best version. Personally I preferred the raw level design of the first game. One thing that is always consistent with Crysis is that it looks really beautiful. 

I enjoyed Crysis 2 quite a bit, a solid shooter and had some nice flow during the firefights. And the aliens weren't frustrating to fight against unlike the first Crysis. Sure it's not nearly as open ended as once was, but they still offered a number of choices in the large arenas. Until you find out the cloak makes things way too easy of course! Crysis 2 felt less like a corridor shooter than other titles and the aliens made combat refreshing, since I'm not just shooting humans 99% of the game.

Then again, I don't expect much from the FPS genre anymore these days. 

*other titles outside Crysis 

I really enjoyed 2 & 3.

If you go in expecting more Crysis 1 (Which of course is reasonable!) then it's probably disappointing. But as a stand alone game I think it is just fine.

Of course there is stuff in there I dislike (most of which Shambler covered) but the moment to moment shooter combat and the way the levels are laid out are quite excellent. There is always a different approach you can try and it's very simple to completely change up your play style in the middle of a firefight.

I personally never really understood all the remarks about the "freedom" the first game allowed you. Sure you could come at a base from any direction, but if you decided to pick a direction and start walking, you very quickly find yourself in an un-authored wilderness with absolutely nothing to do. I agree that some (if not most) areas in C2 funnel you into them from a specific direction at the start but you always have the option to cloak and essentially pick where you want to engage.

I also truly prefer the implementation of the suit in C2, it's effortless to get into the mode that you need and making strength/speed modes automatic is a great idea. While I do miss the super-speed from C1 I think everything else was handled much better. 

The Seth 'soldiers' are really cool, IMO they look smarter and scarier than the robotic enemies from Crysis (which looked like the sentinels from the Matrix). And Crysis isn't really less linear than Crysis 2. 

No offense but you need to think more before offering opinions.

Crysis is a LOT less linear than C2, that's a simple fact. C1 had more open levels with more directions you could play through them and approach targets and objectives. Whether that's a problem or not is a different matter but that's how it is.

More:

+ Aliens are pretty cool and a good challenge.

- Chopping between different locations with no sense of continuity really sucks. 

crysis "1" was a bit step down from far cry already. 

Have to agree with mega, wish they'dd just improved upon Far Cry -- which is also rather so-so at times.

Crysis universe feels really bland to me. Far Cry was outright silly but at least it was somewhat original in it's weird way... etc etc, blah ...

Maybe if you could use a suit power for more than 2 seconds it could be fun. Having to crouch behind a tree waiting for your battery to reload every 10 seconds gets boring fast. It's a bit like having to switch to the flashlight in Doom3 because you can't see shit 50% of the time.

Any more works of art to bash? :P 

Brilliant games. Rare combinations of looking damn cool and getting the gameplay to work and flow smoothly. Suit energy running low is all part of it. 

is that it kind of feels like "oh, here, we consolified the game, but you can choose what we consolify!".

Or maybe i'm just really disgusted by the way modern games often make you ridiculously powerful in a shitty, super hero way. I think that's something that's commonly misunderstood: I don't want to be the hero of the game, i want that my decisions/actions make me the hero.

Just let my gameplay actions speak for themselves. In the same way a hardcore quake player rips you apart when you join the server.

And the suit gives you super hero status, for free, for a limited time. Everything i do with it is just because of the free super power. that just feels bad, and nothing like hitting triple air rockets (in q3, because rockets are fucking slow there).

And don't do it in the story, please. I can't stand that shit. That was probably the best thing about max payne, he wasn't the hero in the story. He just did ridiculous things during the gameplay. Of course they fucked it all up because they portrayed him in such a 16-year-old "wow that's a cool guy!" way, but yeah. 

WTF are you talking about?!?! Smables?!?!!

Non-Linear:
GTA
T.E.S.
Fallout
Far Cry 2 and 3
Dead Island
S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Linear:
Crysis/Warhead
Crysis 2
Crysis 3
Far Cry (1)

I'm sorry to burst your bubble but they are linear as fuck. Some of the areas are pretty big, but the game is certainly linear. You have to complete the objectives in a linear order, you cannot go back to areas you have already been to once you have left an area.

I mean Crysis is no less linear than CoD games for example. 

I mean Crysis is no less linear than CoD games for example.

Balderdash. "Linearity" is not a binary property. You have to talk about the granularity-of-the-linearity'ity, and I think everyone can agree that in terms of mission/story-progressionity, Crysis is linear in the sense that CoD is linear, but when you look at lower levels of granular titty - e.g. consider a typical combat setpiece in either of those games - it's obvious that Crysis gives you more options, more space to navigate, just more ways of slicing that particular sausage than CoD does. 

On some level.

But Crysis 2 has massive areas too, that you can approach the objective from multiple angles. I just don't see how Crysis 2 is more linear than Crysis 1. 

I think the cityscape just throws more vertical walls at you. It compensates with z-axis up to a point. You also can't sneak through bushes all the time which give cover even in a fairly open environment.

Maybe I need to replay the games before being too judgemental. But they're just not my cup of tea I'm afraid. Pretty though, no denying that. 

lol. Linear Game is not the same as Linear Gameplay. 

Nitin has a point, there's different levels of granularity. Having a long corridor with baddies jumping out at you is different from having a square with buildings you can clear in a different order. Likewise you can have linear levels but a non-linear overworld, etc... 

C1 you play through the levels in a linear order, but the levels themselves are relatively non-linear.

C2 you play through the levels in a linear order, and the levels themselves are fairly linear (due to small size and city landscape).

Maybe the "massive areas" appear later on in the game though... 

As in most levels have a couple of parallel paths that do pretty much the same thing...

...but also pretty cool too. Definitely ramps up throughout the game, both in the spectacle of the ruined city and the intensity of the gameplay. Some of the alien fights are pretty fucking hard....in the Central Station Walker boss fight I felt anything but a god-like superhuman. As Crysis Of Duty 2 on rails shooter it works pretty damn well indeed.

Also had a great moment when I nearly got jumped by a Seph on a rooftop and got alerted by his shadow from the evening sun and shot the fucker in the face before he buttraped me....don't thnk I've had such a good demonstration of the possible gameplay benefits of a pure graphical enhancement before... 

Some of the alien fights are pretty fucking hard....in the Central Station Walker boss fight I felt anything but a god-like superhuman.

Ugh, that was probably the most frustrating part for me too. Forgot how many times I died there... 

That, exactly that.

There might be a challenge or 2 but I hate games where your super kinda overpowered superhero.

It just feels like a whole setup to offer cheap easy thrills - which are great and probably work well enough if your new to gamers / a young kid but it really makes it feel like a total waste of time playing the game.
No challenge, or artificial moments of simple challenge which boils down to a little timing. Hardly any skill input, just like following a formula to advance to the next "scene".
It has to be wrong if I don't feel like i got any better at the game. To me the fun of playing games is always somehow getting better at it personally - that is what allows to match the increased difficulty coming up, a failure to improve becomes a failure to progress without cheating.
And thats fine, thats what we call a GAME. Games are to be won or lost. Not just won and thats it. OMG that makes me think fuck Prey so hard for its death/respawn system. I puked a little at that.

If you want something else may I suggest a movie ?

And if you cant take the defeat then cheat. Please don't just make all games feel like they are on a constant cheat mode just to not irk some dysfunctional people...


/rant over 

It was a bit too much IMO, compared to elsewhere. The second Walker you fight in a better arena with only 2-3 Seph appearing through the fight, compared to the "fuckloads" in the station. Switching from zoomed in RL to zoomed out machine gun at the same time as switching on and off armour mode to let it recharge enough and dodging while it recharges, jesus. 

Just FYI this kinda negates Killes point above, not as an argument but the suit is not OP in the last half of the game.