Hello again everybody. I had planned on also including a number of various games from Steam onto the list of things I wish to post about, although after attempting to download Moonbase Alpha, my system evidently crashed. So, I've scrapped that idea and am going to move swiftly onward to what is already on the list, beginning with the Crysis 2 multiplayer beta.
The beta has been out for around a month on the Xbox 360 and around the same for PC. Sadly the Playstation beta was withdrawn yesterday (March 18th) due to server issues, which I believe will leave PS3 owners rather disheartened, but it is of course crutial for Crytek to ammend any of the game's bugs before next week's release.
Anyway, as you can most likely guess, Crysis 2 is the sequel to Crysis, a title that came out in 2008 for the PC. The basis for the game being that an elite team of soldiers are sent to the fictional Lingshan Islands to help extract a team of scientists who have uncovered an ancient alien structure, bringing with it hoards of extra-terrestrial beings.Playing as Delta Force operator 'Normad' the player has to fight their way around the island, which are, in essence a large jungle.
Having their previous game, Far Cry also set in a jungle environment, Crytek wanted to move away from having a similar background for Crysis 2 and have instead based the game in New York City, which the developers have described as an 'urban jungle'. In Crysis 2 the player assumes the role of Alcatraz, who is the successor to Normad in the first game.
As many fans of the series, and possibly many others may know, one of the key features of Crysis was the suit of armour worn by the player, the 'Nanosuit'. The Nanosuit is basically a powered suit that can perform certain abilities. I would elaborate upon that, but I haven't played Crysis, so I can't say.
As far as the multiplayer beta is concerned, the Nanosuit 2, is what creates an experience that's a bit different from some other FPS games, but I'll mention more on that later.
So, onto the actual beta. The beta begins with a video introducing the beta and outlining what the player can expect. What can be expected is two game modes. The first is Team Instant Action, which is a team deathmatch mode. As with both game types players will either be part of the Marine team, or a member of the C.E.L.L. team. The objective is for the team to reach 50 kills to win, or be the team with the most kills when the timers hits zero. The second mode is Crash Site. There's a clue in the title, as this mode requires the teams to fight over alien crash sites, which act as control points. The aim is to keep possession of these CPs to gain points towards the team's score and effectively winning. Within both of these there is also killstreak rewards, with the unlockable rewards being a UAV system, an airstrike and a form of helicopter attack, which are avalible at 3,5 and 7 kills repectively, in a similar manner to those unlocked within Call of Duty, although the unlock amounts are set and cannot be changed, unlike the changable killstreak system in Modern Warfare 2 and Black Ops.
Both game types are set across two maps, Skyline and Pier 17. Skyline is a rooftop setting, featuring greenhouses, a helicopter landing pad and a gym as well as many other points of interest, including a destroyed watertower. The water flowing from it and the graphical effects of it show off what Crytek have bben able to achieve with Crysis 2 even on consoles. The second map is Pier 17, and is a waterfront location which includes a small shopping mall, other various shops and small building and a partially destroyed boat near the map's center, which allows for great sniping opportunities.
The actually gameplay is pretty much standard FPS gameplay, although as I mentioned earlier, the Nanosuit gives the gameplay a bit of a twist. Obviously the player has a health level, but with the Nanosuit, there is also a suit energy level. This does would in a similar way to the shielding on Halo: Reach, although the actual health level is virtually non-existant as the player is most likely to die by the time their energy level is taken down.
Also, the suit being like an exoskeleton the suit's power is drained by performing simpler actions, such as sprinting and jumping, so simply jumping to a higher point can become a tactical decision. The suit also has two other features, stealth mode and maximum armour. Stealth mode will turn the player invisible and unlike most other games the player will still appear as a hazy figure, stealth mode does turn the player invisible, allowing for sneaky kills and a way of getting away from opponents. Maximum armour is the almost complete inverse of stealth mode and allows the nanosuit to stiffen up, making sure the player takes considerably less damage, but allowing more restricted and far slower movement. Both modes are another way of draining the Nanosuit's armour, and both drain it far more than jumping or sprinting. Although as with health, the suit's energy will recharge over time if not used. These combined elements become crutial when in combat and do ultimately show the player's style, with most people favouring either stealth or more protection.
With all of this combined the beta also has a leveling system to show how the rank system works. Getting kills with either armour or stealth mode will contribute towards their respective rank. As far as I am aware, the levels for upgrading the nanosuit, armour mode and stealth mode are capped off at five. There is also a general level, to show the player's overall progression, which is capped at level 10.
As the player climbs through these levels there are also a small number of unlockable variables. The main one being the fact that the crash site game mode can only be unlocked at level 6. There is also the chance to customise the weapon loadout, being able to change the gun, it's scope and change the exact modifcation to the Nanosuit's armour ans stealth modes.
So, I believe that's everything covered for the Crysis 2 Multiplayer Beta. I hope that I've covered everything there is to and as always I hope that you will consider trying the beta and posssibly buy the full title upon it's release next week. I hope to also be posting about the campaign as soon as I get it.
So, as always, thank you for reading, I've been randomthings, and I'll see you next time.
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