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Coffee House => Coffee House Boards => CH / Entertainment => Topic started by: Karlos on April 30, 2011, 01:03:17 AM
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So, after much anticipation, yesterday I bought Crysis 2 (for the PC) and after playing a decent chunk of the single player game, I have to say that I'm a bit disappointed.
First of all, the game's configuration options have been dumbed all the way down to absolute subnormal levels. I'm all for making things easier to use, but this is a total joke. In the original game (and the warhead sidequel), you had a simple selector to choose the overall detail and, if you wanted to tweak, an advanced button that gave you controls over many individual aspects of graphics and physics, from model LOD to postprocessing and so on. All that has been taken away and replaced with a "choose your spec" selector with just five options. On the plus side, choosing the highest setting "extreme" still runs completely fluidly on my now cannot-be-called-extreme configuration.
Next there are the player controls. There's no option to go prone, so no crawling through undergrowth or laying flat on a rooftop to minimise your profile. Gone are several of the nano suit options (strength and speed), instead they kick in automatically when running or force jumping.
The gameplay has been, in my opinion, severely compromised relative to the first game and on two fronts. First, you just feel like you are on rails, going from one completely scripted encounter to the next. The freedom to explore, find and complete objectives in various orders seems absent, yet this was a major attraction of the original game. Secondly, and even more irritatingly, the save game option has vanished. You are now forced, it seems, to play to checkpoints. I absolutely do not care what console gamers are used to or have to put up with, but this is totally inexcusable for a PC title. There is absolutely no gameplay advantage to being forced to forego your progress because you haven't made it to the next checkpoint before you have to go out, have dinner or do whatever. Also, there's absolutely no joy in being forced to repeat it all when you come back. Quite why they felt it was in any way an improvement on the original game's save mechanism (auto save at checkpoint, user save at any time) is totally and utterly beyond me. On the plus side, there are more weapon variations and you can get various upgrades for your suit.
Next up, and somewhat controversially, there are the visuals. Don't get me wrong, Crysis 2 looks beautiful. The soft shadows are smoother than the original and the global illumination effects are very nice indeed. However, the first thing you notice upon crouching behind any wall or picking up any random object is that the overall texture detail is a lot lower than the first game. I'd have to estimate that textures are 1/4 the resolution (that is to say, half the resolution in each direction) compared to the first. Secondly, the detail textures that seemed to adorn every item in the first game seem to have no counterpart here. Also, many of the player animations, particularly picking up objects have gone. Perhaps I'm alone in this, but I thought that having to physically collect items and seeing your hand reach out and take them was a nice touch. All the "realism" in the graphics seems moot when items and ammunition magically teleport from their resting location to your hands.
Lastly, the physics has been toned down considerably compared to the first game. In some respects, it probably helps, but the degree to which objects are affected by things like nearby explosions has been greatly reduced. Gone too are the player interaction with the immediate environment. Then sneaking through bushes, twigs and leaves no longer flex out of the way.
I know that a lot of engine sacrifices were made to get it working on game consoles but I don't see why any of those limitations should have been carried over to the PC version.
The game is still perfectly good, but it doesn't give me anything like the same wow factor as the first did when I played it back in 2007.
Still, at least Portal 2 is living up to expectations so far :)
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Having just finished C2 the other day, I was pretty underwhelmed. I spent the last round pretty much hiding behind things to get past all of the enemies and I was able to complete the last four objectives in stealth mode - you'd hope when you triggered an objective the AI would be smart enough to react...
There are third party tools available that let you tweak the C2 graphics options to the point of insanity, but I found it pretty enough already.
The most annoying thing was the save game - why oh why won't they let you save at any point? It got to the stage where I was leaving the game paused whilst I went off and had dinner because I was in between checkpoints. So I wonder how much of the ten-hour playing time (yep, less then 10 hours to beat the game, pretty sad for a high-profile title) was actually playing vs paused.
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Yeah - I've been playing it for console. It really shows me that apart from MMO and RTS, the ports these days are going from console to PC, not the other way around.
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Consolification equals dumbification.
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Consolification equals dumbification.
It seems that you can still tweak some of the parameters from the pull-down console, but there's nothing that can be done for the missing HD textures.
Anybody that has played the first and expects the graphics to be much improved will be disappointed. However, in all fairness, the major issue is the lack of HD detail textures on items viewed close-up. When simply moving around and not paying too close attention to such things, it must be said, the graphics are still very nice indeed. One thing that stands out is the overall lighting. This was good in the first one, but is exceptional in C2. It just seems a shame that the opportunity wasn't used to go for some DX11 goodness. The fact is that Crysis2 is, as far as I can tell, a DX9 title. One that runs very well on my current machine, but then, the first didn't have any trouble either.
Gameplay wise, though, the checkpoint-only save is an absolute passion killer and the linearity of the game is seriously underwhelming. Seems I'm not alone in that criticism, but maybe CryTek won't hear it above the din from all the adulation the console fans will be giving them :)
Anyway, here's hoping that their next title will have a bit more openness, some overtures to higher end systems and do away with the stupid checkpoint only save.
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Now I'm on the track at least. I missed crysis 1 when it was first released, but picked it up on a steam offer today. Have to play towards crysis 2.
(It was impossible to miss, but the graphic card could'nt handle it very good from what i understood at that time, so I waited.)
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Gameplay wise, though, the checkpoint-only save is an absolute passion killer and the linearity of the game is seriously underwhelming.
checkpoints, man that's so 1991 :lol:
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Hi,
@Karlos,
Hmmmmm! Never thought of you as a game player, especially on a PC. I always thought you had a MAC. Always figured you for a Word or Excel person, you know some one who sits behind a desk and counts beans all day. Especially the way you moderate these forums.
Oh well I guess I figured wrong. Right! Right! Right!
smerf
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@smerf
I take great exception to that! Mac user, indeed :lol:
This site is positively littered with anti Mac diatribe from me :)
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So, just finished both of these games today. I have to completely agree with you. Crysis 2 felt like they are trying to set up Prophet to be the new Master Chief.
And Portal 2? That was awesome!
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And Portal 2? That was awesome!
Amen and goodnight!
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http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=11097
&
http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/?p=11172
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Apparently a DX11 patch is in the works. Consequently, a lot of folks are now complaining that there's no DX10 support :lol: I think they are missing the point that whilst a DX10 level card may lack features like hardware tessellation, it can still accomplish other DX11 feats. Perhaps they'll put a bit of DirectCompute into the physics. That'd be nice.
All in all, I'd still settle for just a proper "Save Game" feature. The checkpoint based save is just outright killing the enjoyability of the game. I haven't actually finished it yet because playing it has become more of a chore. Too many times you encounter a sudden death moment caused by yet-another-wave-of-spawned-enemies-at-an-awkward-moment (yeah, that never gets tired as a gameplay feature) a decent stretch of time after the last checkpoint and boom, you have to play it out again.
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Apparently a DX11 patch is in the works. Consequently, a lot of folks are now complaining that there's no DX10 support :lol: I think they are missing the point that whilst a DX10 level card may lack features like hardware tessellation, it can still accomplish other DX11 feats. Perhaps they'll put a bit of DirectCompute into the physics. That'd be nice.
All in all, I'd still settle for just a proper "Save Game" feature. The checkpoint based save is just outright killing the enjoyability of the game. I haven't actually finished it yet because playing it has become more of a chore. Too many times you encounter a sudden death moment caused by yet-another-wave-of-spawned-enemies-at-an-awkward-moment (yeah, that never gets tired as a gameplay feature) a decent stretch of time after the last checkpoint and boom, you have to play it out again.
Stealth mode is key. I pretty much followed this procedure:
1. Stealth run with HUD up until enemies appear.
2. Hide behind something until all enemies are marked.
3. Stealth kill until noticed.
4. bullet hose.
5. grab/throw for those who made it into melee range.
6. GOTO 1
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Stealth mode is key. I pretty much followed this procedure:
1. Stealth run with HUD up until enemies appear.
2. Hide behind something until all enemies are marked.
3. Stealth kill until noticed.
4. bullet hose.
5. grab/throw for those who made it into melee range.
6. GOTO 1
That's pretty much how you are forced to play it though. There's very little variation possible. Stealth was a key aspect of the first game too, but as it ran out far faster, you couldn't depend on it for every situation. Grabbing an enemy in stealth mode, switching to power mode and hurling him at an advancing group, knocking them all over before landing a frag grenade in their midst before they can get up was something that actually worked well in the first game :)
In C2, it seems as if you might as well not have any other suit modes at all. The only time armor [sic] mode has come in useful is in avoiding heat damage from fire or surviving the odd jump. Speed and power activating on demand is not a bad feature though.
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Yeah - I've been playing it for console. It really shows me that apart from MMO and RTS, the ports these days are going from console to PC, not the other way around.
Can't blame them. Console gamers still mostly pay for their games ;)
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Glad you bought it before me, I just saved myself 90 bucks :lol:
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Good review. I take posession of my new Wintel rig tomorrow or Friday. 3 Weeks wait for the GFX Card :( . I'm looking for an up-to-date game with "online" to play. So I won't get Crysis 2. Was thinking of Bad Company. Have BF1942/2/2142. Any reviews/Suggestions. Been resisting COD. Only FPS I really play now is CS Source and rarely.
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I'm looking for an up-to-date game with "online" to play.
Minecraft! :lol:
Seriously, I am completely addicted to that game...:(