Done with the game on post-human, and I've got to echo some of the disappointment I've read here. As a successor to Crysis, and coming from Crytek, who have expanded the depth in their game design with each game, I found Crysis 2 to not stack up favorably to its predecessor. Crysis 1 had a drastic change of pace midway through the game, but the highs it hit before propelled the game to a place amongst my favorite fps campaigns, occupied by the likes of Wolf 3d and Half Life 1. In comparison to Crysis, outside of rare instances, the encounters in the relatively-claustrophobic environments in Crysis 2 weren't as much fun. Even today, I get the urge to load up Assault in Crysis and experiment with new ways to complete the level. Sad to say, I doubt I'd replay the campaign in Crysis 2 again, barring a sightseeing tour following the release of the DX11 patch.
Taken in a vacuum, Crysis 2 is more than competent, and even appears great when compared to the bog-standard creatively-bankrupt shooters that plague consoles by and large. But my expectations for a sequel to one of my favorite fps campaigns, 3 1/2 years in the making, dictate that the game ought to have expanded on the areas that worked in Crysis, while matching, if not surpassing its quality; unfortunately, getting a sequel that didn't build on the strengths of the original, and and which instead opts to downscale its level design has fueled my disappointment.
Shockingly, the graphics were a mixed bag, but I attribute this to Crysis having spoiled me with the impact its visuals had ( and still continue to have). I think the chief culprit here is the change in the lighting direction in the sequel; the original tried to get as close to photo-realistic visuals as possible, and this was reflected in the lighting being subtle yet effective. In contrast, the lighting direction in the sequel appears to be more stylized, almost like as if it if wants to resemble a scene in a blockbuster hollywood film. Count me in the camp that loves the understated lighting direction of Crysis 1. That's not to say that the visuals in 2 were mediocre, or anything equally ridiculous - the night scenes were jawdropping, to say the least.
At this point, I'm hoping for the release of the sandbox editor so that modders can get to work upping the texture resolution and tinkering with the Time of Day settings to show us what the engine is truly capable of. A few custom large-sized maps to play around in won't hurt either.
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