Every game publisher wants you to believe that their first person shooter is the next big thing in the genre. The next Halo. The next Half-Life. The problem though is that most of these shooters follow a very familiar pattern; shoot a bunch of dudes, empty room, move on repeat. But Crytek's Crysis is a different beast altogether. Set in a lush open world, the game rewards players from using strategy and being creative. Oh, and it looked absolutely drop dead fantastic.

Now the developer is back with the much anticipated sequel, Crysis 2, and though the developers have taken obvious steps to make it much more approachable for those new to the series, it's still one hell of a shooting experience.

The original Crysis was set in a lush jungle, but that location has been swapped out for the urban jungle (oh, I see what they did there) setting of New York City. This isn't your normal big apple though, it's the year 2023 (three years since the events of the first game) and the city has been evacuated as the result of an alien invasion. You control Alcatraz, the force recon marine successor to Nomad, the protagonist from the original game, and with that comes control of the game's coolest feature - the Nanosuit 2. It's through the Nanosuit that you gain access to the Alcatraz's abilities, and it's through these abilities that you are able to craft your own style. Since Crysis 2 ditches the beaten path corridor structure of most modern day shooters in exchange for a more open world, you're able to plan out just how you want to go about most of the missions.

"The level of customization in Crysis 2 is simply astounding."

It's this open world atmosphere that leads to Crysis 2 being an absolute joy to play. You're essentially dropped into the city of New York (some areas of the city are actually rendered to look very similar to its real world counterpart) equipped with a bevy of tactical options and given the freedom to do with them what you wish. Sure, you can go and take out problems head on, but I found it much more fun to use the game's stealth mechanics. Using the debris found in the city's streets you can stalk your prey and create diversions to lure them into a more vulnerable place. The level of customization in Crysis 2 is simply astounding.

It's not just that these elements are readily available in Crysis 2, but how they're presented. In the original Crysis, all of your abilities were mapped to a messy click wheel mechanic, but in the sequel everything is mapped to the controller, making it much easier and fluid to switch between your abilities on the fly. What's most impressive about the switch in mechanics is just how well it translates to the game's overall feel; literally nothing is lost in the translation. This impressive sense of fluidity and discovery goes away a bit when the action goes indoors, but you'll still be able to find different paths through different playthroughs.

"...filled with high detail visuals that rival pretty much anything on the market..."

Crysis 2 is presented through an incredibly cinematic lens that frames the game's most impressive “Oh my god” moments quite nicely. The game is filled with high detail visuals that rival pretty much anything on the market, and they hold up incredibly well even when the action gets incredibly hectic. The PS3 version embraces 3D quite well, so if you've got the means and are looking to play the game on the PS3, it becomes even more impressive.

The multiplayer suite in Crysis 2 has received an impressive upgrade as well, though it's mostly ripped from Call of Duty. Through perks, you can unlock and customize different weapon load outs and nanosuit capabilities. There are six different modes, but none of them are incredibly inventive as most are your typical death match or capture the flag moments.

Crysis 2 isn't your typical shoot first and ask questions later shooter, rather it's an inventive genre bending experiment that gets a lot more right than it does wrong. By opening up the playfield and giving the player more options, the game seems much more massive, and the result is incredibly fun to play. With a superb single player and an addicting multiplayer, Crytek has clearly delivered one of the best shooters in recent memory.