Ever since Crysis came out back in 2007, I've been an ardent fan of the game and later on, of the entire series as a whole. The first Crysis was nothing like I had ever seen and offered a level of gameplay freedom and dynamics that haven't really been surpassed in the first person shooter genre ever since (seriously)----from fully emergent moment-to-moment gameplay to the unprecedented level of interaction and possibilities it handed the player at any given point, Crysis is a timeless and genre-redefining experience that still stands out in a league of it's own even after more than 15 years of it's release.
And after the news came out that the inevitable sequel of Crysis is coming out in 2011, it instantly became one of the most hyped games for me and I remember reading every little nugget of development news and information that I could find on the game back then. And looking back after all these years, Crysis 2 still remains one of the most anticipated games for me that I had looked forward with a frenzied level of excitement, and bought within the very first week it came out.
Needless to say, I enjoyed every moment of the game and while it's still one of the most memorable and cherished first person shooters that I've ever played, there's one element that had always held it back from being as great as it could possibly have been and it's the A.I which was glitchy, inconsistent and repeatedly broke the immersion while playing. The A.I of the original Crysis 2 was easily the bane of the game that even after multiple patches, wasn't fixed at all and glitched out frequently during gameplay.
Of course, Crysis 3 had a completely reworked and revamped A.I which was significantly better than it's predecessor in every way but it was still a darn shame that the devs couldn't do the same for Crysis 2 which would've been a way more polished experience if they could only make the A.I as it was meant to be. And over the years I've always felt that if Crysis 2 had actually managed to fix it's A.I problems, it could've easily been a contender for the best game in the series and would've received much better reviews and even higher sales figures (though it's still the highest selling title in the franchise).
That's why the primary concern for me before going into the Remastered version of Crysis 2 was whether they managed to fix the A.I this time around as this was exactly what held back the original from reaching it's full potential. And if Crysis 2 Remastered could finally work out the dysfunctional A.I of the base game, it can be so much more than just a regular remaster with updated visuals, and finally turn out to be the game Crysis 2 was always meant to be.
And after playing through the game for a significant amount of time, I can emphatically state that they've indeed addressed the A.I in the Remaster in ways that make it strikingly better than the original and although there are still some inconsistencies throughout like enemies getting stuck in a place while moving or other minor glitches, they occur rarely and are much less of a game-breaker than they were in the base version. So yes Crysis 2 Remastered has indeed managed to deliver what a true Remaster should--taking the original experience and making it better in every possible way, but in case of the original Crysis 2 which was already a great shooter by itself, the Remastered version has emerged as a spectacularly unique FPS experience that plays unlike anything you've seen in the Videogame landscape in recent years.
Back when Crysis 2 was first released, it was initially criticized for moving away from everything that had made it's predecessor so memorable--the wide open levels coupled with a huge arsenal of gameplay possibilities that made no two playthroughs of the original Crysis the same. And while the sequel did trade the massive open levels for much more linear and tighter sections, it did add a great deal of verticality to those levels which resulted in multiple ways (at least 3 in most cases) of playing through them, thereby still retaining the DNA of the original Crysis, albeit to a lesser degree.
But in this day and age of military shooters that currently saturate the industry, Crysis 2 Remastered stands out as a much needed breath of fresh air that makes all of those formulaic shooters look archaic and shallow in terms of both gameplay and level designs, which arguably makes it shine even more than when it first came out back in 2011. So Crysis 2 Remastered doesn't just make an already fantastic shooter significantly greater in every conceivable way, it also turns it into a worthwhile entry in today's gaming landscape that can easily trump most FPS' that are currently available (while looking better than almost all of them thanks to it's new visual flourishes) with it's highly emergent, satisfying and effortlessly replayable gameplay.
On a side note, there's several things that makes Crysis 2 have a genuine leg up over both the other games in the trilogy and one of them is just how versatile the Nanosuit 2 feels--it's so much more streamlined which enables the player to instantly switch between the more aggressive and the more stealthy playstyles that feels both empowering and liberating. Sure Crysis 3 makes the suit even more powerful but it's nowhere near as agile and seamless as it's in Crysis 2. And the best thing about this Remastered version is that it makes all of that shine even more so than they did in the original.
And to conclude this article, yes you should definitely play Crysis 2 Remastered (along with Crysis Remastered as well) if you haven't done so already as it's finally free from the one Achilles heel (which was it's broken A.I) that had always held it back ever since it's original release in 2011. Not to mention it sports all the newest techs in visual fidelity from Ray Traced Global Illumination to Ultra-High-Res Textures that make every second of it's playtime a strikingly gorgeous visual feast, resulting an unforgettable romp of masterfully crafted FPS thrill-ride that more than deserves to be experienced.
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