Crysis 2 Notes

Update time

Set up brightness, choose hard drive to save on.
Oddly I can resume game, even though I have never played it, oh, no I can't it's ghosted, although it didn't look like it until I moved the selection highlight.

Difficulty next, Easy, normal, hard veteran, all dressed up in silly names.
I choose Normal, because, well I am normal, not a supersoldier really at all!

Controls
Usual analogue sticks for looking and moving.
B is crouch.
A is jump.
Y changes weapon. Double tapping Y brings out grenades.
Left trigger is aim down sights.
Right trigger is fire.
Dpad up for visor.
Clicking right stick is melee.
Clicking left stick is run.
Right bumper engages cloak.
Left bumper is armour mode.

We hear a radio sports broadcast, over shots of New York.
There is talk of an alien plague that has leaked from a biolab. Then all of a sudden the news reports show riots in lots of cities.
The game itself starts, I am in a submarine in the Hudson river.
We are part of a marine squad that is being sent to extract a scientist named Gould from New York.
There is some brain donor style marine banter, seems we have been drinking, it's given as an excuse for  our character not talking.
Pretty quickly the confidence drains as the sub is hit by something.
We are told to abandon ship.
There are fires and water everywhere.
We escape the sub and swim to the surface.
There is lots of destruction and the statue of liberty is nearly destroyed in the distance.
Something red comes up from underwater and flies above the swimming men and starts killing.
We are hit and everything goes black. Our character is named alcatraz, and he isn't dead yet.
We see someone in a nano suit come to the rescue and shoot down the alien craft.
He tells Alcatraz that destiny is a bitch and it's all up to him now.

The credits then play with a video showing a nano suited warrior fighting against humans.
Showing off all the different modes of the nano suit. Stealth, armour, strength etc.

Second Chance
Alcatraz wakes up in a room, he finds a body nearby. In flashback we see that the nano suited warrior was named Prophet, he has given Alcatraz the suit because he was contaminated by something. He tasks Alcatraz with protecting Gould. We see him shoot himself.
We have to break a padlock to escape the room.
Outside are large cages filled with dead bodies, there are dead yellow suited workers as well.
I pass through some more devastation and a call comes in from Gould asking where Prophet is.
We are taught to power jump across large gaps.
Gould tells Prophet that he has to find the marines. He already has, obviously Gould does not know.
I am shown how to jump up to a floor above by grabbing a ledge.
I open a door and am looking out over Battery park, Liberty in the distance.
We are shown the visor function. This allows us to tag enemies and see supplies highlighted on the display.
fist we have to find ammo for our pistol.
I then kill two soldiers.
We are told to head towards castle Clinton.
Inside we are shown the stealth feature.
I take out a soldier and then there are two more inside the castle.
They are talking and it seems that prophet has went rogue from the military and the nano suit is being blamed for spreading the plague.
It appears we have suddenly been locked into a suit that is public enemy number one and everyone seeing it thinks we are Prophet.
I kill the soldiers and am told to leave the fort via the roof.
Now in battery park there are more soldiers.
He I see the system the game employs, being gung ho gets you lots of heat. Being stealthy allows you to sneak around and pick off enemies.
They will go around in patterns, until you make a noise, then they come and investigate.
There is also a fairly good cover system, which see you leaning over cover by aiming when next to cover.
I fight through the area which seems to be a processing centre where people were screened for plague.
Inside the decontamination area I am told to stealth kill a few soldiers.
We then go through a large decontamination machine and force open the doors.
Looks like tutorial is over.

Persona Non grata.
I am now in the Wall street area and I am shown an alien floating between the buildings.
I negotiate the barricades and come to a fight, I am shown armour mode which allows us to take punishment at the cost of suit energy.
I find some more soldiers burning bodies.
This is a big fight, each area where you find enemies seems to have a set amount of solider to kill. There is the option to be stealthy, to hide and even just pass by the enemies without engaging them. By accident I found sewers that would let me pass under the soldiers.
I take the gung ho approach as usual and fight it out.
I enter the subway and find some infected people who are still alive, but look far from well.
Gould tells us that there may be a lot of activity in the  subway.
There are little biomechanical bugs running around doing things with the bodies of the infected.

Sudden Impact
We are shown an intercepted transmission. The military have no cure for the nanovirus that is infecting people. They are now just shooting people instead of trying to help. They are also designating us as public enemy number one as well.
An incoming alien threat is detected.
I find a shotgun here.
There is something going outside, something noisy. As we pass between two buildings in a walkway a huge alien ship smashes through it hotly pursued by two helicopters.
They shoot down the alien ship. Gould sounds excited, he wants us to get samples from the ship, he thinks if we can get him samples then maybe they can roll back the invasion.
We have to fight down a street filled with loads of soldiers then at the crash site clear some more soldiers.
We have to investigate two pods which are empty.
Then find a way down to the crashed ships innards. We use a lift to go down under the crash and scan the gloop that has came out of the ship. It seems that it is melted down human tissue. Gould wants alien tissue.
We come back out of the hole in the ground and find our first alien. It grabs us and it seems to be trying to work out if we are a friend or not. The suit can't interface with whatever it is sending on a nano level. Gould tells us to kill one and get a sample. I do so and we now have the ability to upgrade the nano suit by taking loot from the alien bodies.
I am told to take the sample to Gould.
I pass through a tunnel and find the soldiers fighting the aliens, at least they are off my back.
We pass along the tunnel and fight some aliens.

Road Rage
Gould tells us that there are new protocols unlocking in the suit. Someone named Hargreaves is named as the author/designer of these upgrades.
Gould is still needing us to get to him fast.
I pass through a sewer type area and come out to see a helicopter nearby. In cut scene we see Lockhart, the commander of the Cell forces we have been fighting talking to someone named Tara. Tara wants Lockhart  to take Prophet alive, and Lockhart tells her that Hargreaves only need the suit back really and he is going to kill Prophet.
We are now passing along Franklyn D Rosevelt drive to get to Gould. There are lots of soldiers to shoot at along the way.

Tectonic shift
We have to make our way through a cell checkpoint set up on the road, what is left of it after an earthquake knocks it down.
We then get to drive a vehicle with rockets along the road and fight lots of vehicles and helicopters.
Then we have to go back on foot.

Lab rat
Gould has fled to a nearby safe house, however he realises that the address is on his computer, which he is sure the Cell forces will be trying to crack. We have to go to the lab and destroy the computer.
I fight a lot of soldiers in a dock like area then get into the warehouse lab.
Inside the lab I destroy the computer, then have to deal with a swat team type attack on the main room and a helicopter circling the outside.
Survive long enough to blow up the helicopter and you can escape through the hole in the wall it makes when it crashes. I run along the docks and back into the city.
We are now in the building where Gould is.
He is pleased to see us and urges us to sit in a chair which will check out the nanosuit.
He learns that we are not prophet and is going to attack, until he sees the memory taken from us of Prophets last words and his suicide.
Gould tells us that the alien virus is related to Kalamari. Hargreaves designed the suit but it seems to be evolving on it's own thanks to the injection of alien dna.
We need get the new code analysed and see if a cure for the spore can be made. However Gould does not have the equipment. The safe house is attacked and we have to fight off the Cell.

Gate Keepers
We have to get to a Cell base which has a suit cradle. That is the only way the analysis can be done. There is one nearby, though heavily guarded, Gould thinks that by using a tunnel we can access through the wall street church we can sneak in.
I have a long trip over the rooftops before encountering some alien vs Cell fighting.
I have to kill both of them really.
Next we go through a building and out the other side to find the Wall street Church littered with Cell. Gould suggests we cause a diversion so he can sneak inside.
We have to set off two ammo dumps and fight off the cell that are stirred up.
We then go into a door under the church. Here we see an alien cloak.

Dead Man Walking
This is a straight fight across three rooftops with lots of sniping.
We have to blow open a door to get down inside the building.
Inside we meet Gould, he shows us into the suit room which only had one operator.
Holding him at gunpoint Gould gets us to sit in the chair and we find out that the only thing keeping Alcatraz alive is the suit now. His wounds are massive with extensive bone and organ damage. Essentially the suit is now a life support machine.
Lockhart and Tara Stickland arrive and take over. we are escorted out of the building, to be taken to Hargeaves. The fact that we are not Prophet is made known to Lockhart. We are bundles into a helicopter and flown away, as we are taking off a large alien device errupts from the ground and the helicopter is knocked out of the sky.
We are affected by gas which is released from the alien spire. It kills the soldiers around us but after some nano confusion the suit reboots and we have to use a defibrialtor to restart our heart.
Aliens attack in increasing numbers, we are told to leave, a manhole seems to be the way.
As I head for it a cut scene shows meteors flying from the sky, larger enemies appear from them and attack. Everything goes black.

A flashback that seems to belong to Prophet shows scenes presumably from Crysis 1 of suite soldiers and aliens.
I wake up being swarmed on by the little spider aliens.
Hargreaves talks to us, he tells us that there is something we need to see in City Hall.
On the way we pass through an evacuation centre which is full of the dead and some dying still left alive.
Hargreaves tells us that the spiders break down the bodies so reducing enviromental impact.
We now have to fight past aliens to get into city hall.
We come out into a large open area of wrecked street and rail line.
There are lots of aliens to fight.
Hargreaves tells us about the aliens, though not too much and it's obvious he admires them.
We fight through the area and encounter one of the larger aliens which takes some killing.
We then enter a tunnel.

Dark Heart
Hargreaves tells us that there are plans to blow a flood barrier which will flood the lower end of Manhattan. He does not think this is a good plan, though he it seems isn't in overall control.
We are now in the Subway and Hargreaves is urging us to go to the alien hive and investigate in the hope of causing harm.
We pass through tunnels passing wrecked flaming trains and fighting aliens.
Then we come to a large open area where we have to take out all the aliens then disable an alien machine. Hargreaves tells us that we must continue on doing this.
Another spore conduit is broken. Hargreaves tells us to hurry as the flooding is about to take place.
I take out the last conduit and Hargreaves tells us to get up above ground as quickly as possible.
I run to the surface and towards a helicopter, however it's too late the flood catches me.

Semper Fi or die.
I come to and find a squad of marines, I thought everyone else was dead?
I escort them to a location that is safe to defend. Then I have to scout on towards their extraction point. I find another squad further on, we see a helicopter which has come to take them to safety. Of course the aliens object and their pods drop in. One of their dropships also gets in on the action.
Lots of aliens between us and the objective.
We come to a defensive position and have a little last stand, some waves of enemies and then the dropship to shoot down with missiles.
Hargreaves tells us over the comms that the suit is now evolving into a powerful bioweapon against the Zeff.
He needs us to get a stabilising agent from his labs. Our mission is now to get to and into the Hargreaves building.

Corporate Collapse.
After a short trip through some extremely broken up city we reach the building. I am accompanied by a few marines now. One is named as Chino.
I have to find a gun turret to blow open the locked doors to the parking garage of the building.
The garage is sunken under water and we have to swim.
Inside the building we find some soldiers who are it seem not wanting to follow Hargreaves orders anymore. They still think that we are Prophet and want a fight.
I fight my way to an elevator and then to a security area. It is empty and the computer is in the middle. As I access it Lockhart appears on a big screen and it's an ambush. He obviously opposes Hargreaves.
I kill the soldiers sent to kill me and now have to reboot the security system.
The huge windows here are underwater, an alien appears at the glass and breaks it causing a huge tsunami. We crawl from the water and talk with Hargreaves, he is mad and is going to deal with Lockhart. He tells us to regroup with Chino at Grand central Station.

Call to arms
We move through some sewers and broken up areas hearing gunfire and shouting. It seems that there is a battle going on between the army and the Zeff.
We find a new alien, it is called the pinger and it seems to use ultrasound blasts.
It takes a few rockets and c4 blasts to kill but it goes down fairly easily.

Train to Catch
We are now assisting in the military and remaining civilian evacuation.
Hang on if there is a plague why are there soldiers with no suits and why are we evacuating, won't that spread the plague.
I cross a street and help some pinned down soldiers then a dropship arrives and bombs the hell out of Grand Central station.
We have to reactivate two anti aircraft batteries which take out the dropship. We then have to go into Grand Central Station, the place is burning and we have to use armour to pass through the flames.
Out the other side and more enemies to fight.
Here we have more mini bosses and lots of squiddies.
We now get aboard a convoy of vehicles filled with soldiers and civilians.

Unsafe Haven
We still assisting the soldiers evacuation. They are being hit by fire from a large gun and we are to block the line of fire to buy more time.
This is a large area which is filled mainly by road. We have to progress along it fighting until we come to a locked door, which is opened by pressing a switch.
This is the building that is to be brought down. Inside we have to hit three switches to arm the bombs then get out.
We are to make out way back to the station when the man with the detonator is killed. We now have to go and find his body and detonate the bomb.
On the way back to the station a miniboss appears.

Terminus
Now we are to escort the trains as they depart.
We are challenged by freaked out soldiers and making our way past suited tech's who are tending the disease ridden civilians.
We pass through a gate and see that the Cell soldiers have been disarmed and caged.
In the next area we meet the military brass and Gould is with them.
Gould is told to get on the trains with the rest of the civilians.
The military leader believes that Tara Strickland let him go as there is no way he could have got away from her if she didn't let him go. We are told that Tara is a decorated Navy Seal.
We see the trains and the civilians being put aboard.
The Zeff arrive back in the main hall and we are sent to buy time for the trains.
Here we fight lots of Zeff soldiers a mini boss and a Pinger.
We are given a vehicle and ride emplaced gun on it, we are going to Times Square.

Power Out
We are told that we have fifteen minutes to get to Times square where Vtol jets are ready to take us out of New  York.
We have only fifteen minutes before they leave.
Now we have another hold position scene, this time in Times Square.
Pingers and mini bosses with lots of Zeff squiddies.
Next we go through to the vtols and see a lot of them take off. We are chatting as the last few come in to land and take people away, the ground starts to shake and a huge spire erupts from the ground.
Hargreaves comes onto the radio and tells us that we are all going to be dead in under a minutes if we don't do as he tells us immediately.
We have to go inside the spire, a door opens conveniently and we go inside.
We are drawn up inside it and the suit communicates again.
We are chucked out of the spear high up and land with a bump.
The spire sends out it's spore though this time it kills the Zeff.
Not them all though the Pingers are alive though badly damaged. We have some quicktime like button presses to survive and jump onto the helicopter.

Eye of the storm
We are to go to Roosevelt Island and get Hargreaves from a place called the prism.
We jump from the Vtol and land on the Island. We are now fighting Cell soldiers again.
I progress along the island and into a building. Inside Hargreaves tells us that Lockhart has set an emp trap for us.
I fight through an elctric sub station.
Hargreaves wants us to re route the power so that the emp trap fails.
I smell a trap from Hargreaves here.
I go in and reroute the power and then have to get back out in the darkness using nano vision.
Back outside we are heading for the guard tower.
This is the trap and it does not harm us, seems Hargreaves is on the level so far.
Lockhart is angry that we are not dead.
I have to escape down a grate and then back out at the guard house.
Now we have to kill Lockhart, which is done by storming his nano shielded room and throwing him out the window.
Hargreaves tells us that he is opening Prism and we are to come to him.
I do and this time it is a trap. The EMP goes off knocking the suit Offline.
Tara Strickland can be seen coming towards us.

Masks Off
We wake up in an operating room and Hargreaves is talking over video link. Two soldiers and a doctor are in the room. Electronic systems start cutting us out of the suit.
Hargreaves tells us that he is sorry for this and that a grunt just won't do for the job.
We see flashbacks to Prophet and Hargreaves arguing about the suits being symbiotic and that they turn soldiers into dead men walking.
Hargreaves tells Prophet that to beat the Zeff something more than human will be needed.
Tara Strickland comes in and kills the guards and takes us away with her.
Back on our feet she tells us that Hargreaves found Zeff technology 100 years ago at Tunguska.
Tara tells us that we need to get to Hargreaves and kidnap him. She tells us to do it while she secures a helicopter.
I go on into the secure area and eventually find Hargreaves study.
He is augmented also using alien technology. His body floats in a tank while he talks to us from a video screen.
He seems to sense defeat now and grudgingly tells Alcratraz that he must do the job.
He tells us to take an injection that rises from the desk.
The aliens it seems lived on Earth a long time ago. Their machinery is still here deep under the surface.
They have not invaded us they are coming home and as Hargreaves puts it not much liking what has grew behind the fridge since they have been away.
Zeff dropship into the room and it goes on fire. I escape through a door.
We now have to get off the island. Hargreaves has set a self destruct timer in action.
We have to get across the bridge back to Manhattan, there is a lot of fighting between Zeff and Cell here. Hargreaves  has ordered them to help us now.
The bridge is blown when the island goes up and we see a cut scene of us barely surviving the devastation.

Out of the ashes
Gould and Tara meet us when we crawl from the water.
We get into a vehicle and are going towards Central park.
The main Zeff base is under the reservoir in central park.
We have to get the suit in there and it can nano virus attack the Zeff.
There is a driving sequence where we shoot lots of Zeff with rockets and a cannon.
We are blown up and have to go on foot.
There is air support available, though we need targeting aid.
I have to go inside a building and go to the roof to provide targeting for the air support.
There is a drop ship that we have to mark and it is shot down by a jet.
Now we have to get back down.
We fight across rooftops and when we reach a view above central park half the park starts to rise out of the ground.

A walk in the park
We fly into the raised spire that has risen up out of Central park and I am dropped onto it.
We have to make our way over the uneven and sometimes vanishing entirely ground here.
I fight two large groups of enemies in what is left of the park, I find myself battling at the Bethesda fountain.
Here we have to break the Ceph machines like we did earlier.
One machine
Two machines.
Three machines and we have to slide down a pipe that falls from the spire.
Now we fight nanosuited enemies that can cloak, they are hard to kill.
Once I kill them I enter the heart of the ship. I have to make my way along a corridor against what appears to be a strong wind, though it looks like I am on fire.
There is some quicktime and I jump into the heart of the spire.
It looks like Alcatraz is dead as everything goes white.
A view from outside shows a pulse of white energy coming from the spire which kills all the Ceph in New York.
We see Gould, Tara and civilians looking around pleased and celebrating.
Prophet appears and tells Alcatraz that they may have won this battle but they haven't won the war. Looks Like Crysis 3 is on it's way. I see Alcatraz get up and someone speaks to him, I miss his name, maybe Rasch. The nano suited figure declares himself to be Prophet.

12 hours by my reckoning
10 hours on in game clock
315 achievement points for one playthrough on Soldier / normal.