That's saying nothing about Psycho's characterization now as opposed to how it was in the original. He's still a bit rough around the edges, but comes across nowhere near as brash, macho, and nearly insubordinate as he was in the original. The new boom-boom toys in Warhead's arsenal lend themselves to his "blow up everything" mentality, but that's sort of putting the cart in front of the horse.
Two moments relay anything about who this character is. The first is when he disobeys a direct order and gets all support suspended while he goes off-mission to rescue his "friend" Sean O'Neill. There are murky sound bites relating to O'Neill's origins as they pertain to Psycho, but they really aren't fleshed out at all and wind up tacked onto the rest of the story. As Psycho stalks intercepting KPA soldiers to rescue Sean, we sort of see his rebellious side, though he ends up smack dab in the middle of his next objective waypoint by doing so. So, it didn't feel all that off-mission after all.
The other moment (potential spoiler alert) is the change between how Psycho refuses to kill an unarmed soldier he gets the drop on in a cutscene, then later rather forcefully drowns a disarmed enemy for killing a single random U.S. marine. One marine. Nevermind that Psycho has been mowing down hundreds of North Korean militia. That aside, seeing him go from someone who won't break moral guidelines to the darker cold-blooded opposite was compelling, if not Oscar-worthy acting/writing. Of course, then he's dropped right back into the player's hands, where they might revert to simply using tranquilizer darts on all enemies. Thus is the omnipresent flaw for games, which let players tell their own stories.
The conclusion of the game (another potential spoiler alert) doesn't entirely coincide with the original (though it doesn't refute it either), and also lacks some of the desperation and punch we saw previously with Nomad's denouement. Nomad really had all the odds against him and seemed on the verge of throwing in the towel. On the other hand, just when Psycho's about to be completely outmanned, O'Neill unveils the PAX cannon for him, which takes out all but the very largest of alien enemies in a single shot. It can rip a Humvee in two. It can flatten a building. It's a fun weapon. Too bad you only get to use it for one fight, and it's not quite the crowd-pleaser that the TAC cannon was for the finale of the original Crysis.
Article comments
1 - Mark Buckingham
Speaking of EA and their obsession with DRM, this showed up in a Google ad:
SecuROM Investigation
I can't verify it, and I'm not suggesting you necessarily get involved. Just found it interesting. I'd love to know if this is legit and whether anyone hears more about it down the road.