Game testing. Fun or not?

At first glance, the hook seems to be the thril of playing games before they ship. However, don't let that fool you.

Depending on what is being tested, it can either be fun, or sian. XP

Eg:Fun being multi-player where bug discoveries and weird glitches call for plenty of goofing off.

Eg:Sian ensuring a playable space will work all the time by rerunning a sequence over and over again till XP like in Halo Reach

Well, that's out of the way, I guess I should give my 2 cents worth on my experience so far with Crysis 2

When I jumped in, I was taken to an intro movie to mask the loading time. As C.O.D like as it is, it was done with quality on par or even surpassing C.O.D 6. Afterwhich I was taken to a submarine that comes to blows and graphically, I can say this. Is. Awesome!

The first achievement will call for a few giggles if you know what it refers to. ^^

The Nanosuit functions like nothing I ever seen before. Armor powers Cloak and Armor works like a dream, giving us a tacitcal choice between tanking or stealth. (The stealth kill is not as smooth as Reach's Assasination though)

What we can do with our weapons and suit upgrades feel reminiscent of Rainbow 6 where we can pimp our guns to what we see fit with a silencer, a grenade launcher and various scope/sights, wow. Wonder what I can do with that SCAR? Hmmm.


Gameplay wise, it feels similar to Halo, more like Halo 3 where we have options on how to terminate the enemy. More so by the tone "tactical options, available" where we take a look around and analyse how to deal with the situation. You can either go Armor mode and unleash hell on all in your way or Stealth your way through systematically dispatching foe by foe. This adds for some replayability as the same scenario can be entertained in multiple fashions.

Plot wise, the story so far for me is centered around the Nanosuit 2.0, a biological symbiotic suit that bonds with the wearer granting him all the abilities presented in game. Despite a slow start, the questions at the beginning were answered later on throughout the game, making for an immersive experience to the extent that I almost forgot I had a lecture today. =(

I have yet to try the multiplayer so no comment on that yet.

All in all, Crysis 2 is a beautiful piece from a graphical standpoint, plays well combining the best from at least 3 AAA shooter titles and presenting them in a way that works. Will repost and update this when I'm not so sleepy. =(