Crysis 2 multiplayer Gamescom impressions

I am such a dick. The first thing I did in Crysis 2's multiplayer Gamescom demo was turn invisible, hide in a corner and melee an unsuspecting player. I was rewarded with a brutal neck-snap move. Here's a video of someone trying to be as stealthy as me:

Crysis 2's nano-a-nano (suited) deathmatch takes elements from free-running, Bad Company, and TF2's Spy, and mixes them into a crumbling New York. How crumbling? One old building has crashed sideways into an office block, mixing two floors together in one, creating this oddly beautiful collision of old and new. Crysis 2 has five character classes, taking advantage of different Nanosuit configs. They're broadly what you's expect of a weaponised power suit, with variations built on power and stealthy. I chose 'Scout' (speed, shotgun, stealth), and was encouraged by an attending dev to hold jump and press 'crouch' at the apex. WHAM. The enhanced muscle-suit equivalent of a Mario head stomp. I had dick move number two.

It's between those two ludicrous extremes that Crysis 2 manages to string a fun online shooter. The simple addition of mantling allows you to take on levels with the ease of a freerunner. As a spectator sport, watching others running, jumping, slamming and stealthing away is fun enough. The Penthouse level encourages it more, a vertical space with plenty of opportunity for exploiting the new moves.

And I did. I'll have to confess that I spent so much time attempting to ruin other's fun, dicking them to their demise, that I mostly missed how effective the guns were. I ran, I hid, I melee-killed from above.

It's an encouraging peek at Crytek's retooled multiplayer. Aside from the action, they've built in a series of unlocks, both weapons, suit perks, and achievements. I didn't try the heat vision or the hologram decoy, much less any of the other 60 perks, M60-esque gun emplacements, or sniper rifles. It's not just dick moves.