Crysis 2 PC Demo Impressions

[Armenius]

Well the PC demo is now here. Let me be the first to congratulate Crytek on their first console port for PC! I am so glad I don't have to be bothered with all those confusing options that let me customize the performance of the game to my specific configuration anymore. The interface is so engaging that I have to navigate through so many eyepopping menus to get to what I want to change or observe. And it's so good that it looks and plays exactly like the Xbox 360 version! I now have HD console gaming for my PC! I also have that wonderful progressive acceleration you need for joysticks on my mouse. This totally immerses the player and levels the playing field for all.

Seriously, though, the gameplay is pretty fun once you get used to it. And at least the game is Hor+ in widescreen resolutions with no HUD anomalies, though the FOV is a lot narrower now coming from the consoles.

[DaFox]

Autoaim is on in multiplayer by default, that is all.

[Hydralisk_X]

Anyone tried multi monitors yet? I can't download big files during the day... share the internet with 3 other guys and it's slow enough as it is.

[RostokMcSpoons]

Yes, it actually works well.

Unfortunately

1) It still feels too 'zoomed-in', the FOV feels the same as Far Cry or Modern Warfare 2 ... enough to make me feel a tiny bit motion sick when running the game on a single screen

2) Enabling 3 screen eyefinity at 5292x1080 slaughtered the framerate. It was pretty much unplayably low on my system (overclocked 5850, overclocked Q6600 @ 3.33ghz). I had to slow my game down and camp or ambush.

Even with 3 screens I'd like the FOV widened a bit.

That was on the highest setting, I think (Hardcore), so I've switched it down to the lowest (Advanced) but not tried again yet. Will do tomorrow and report back. But what's the point of playing Crysis with the eye candy off? I've not played for long, but the gameplay doesn't seem sooooo amazing that I can make do with ugly graphics.

[capable heart]

Everything seems to be proper Hor+ so far.
Except for one minor problem with the character model on the class loadout screen (but the menu buttons themselves seem to be fine?)
Some menus are pillarboxed at 16:9.
HUD seems to be on screen edges.
The demo graphics menu detected the custom resolution I had set up in Windows.





16:9 stacked on top of wider shot.

[tet5uo]

"MAXIMUM CONSOLE..." :nudgenudge

[scavvenjahh]

A couple nice tweaks... Create a shortcut and add these parameters :

+cl_fov=90 +pl_movement.power_sprint_targetFov=90 +r_MotionBlur=0 +g_skipIntro=1 +r_glow=0

-Default FOV seems to be 60, higher values will act like a zoom out (Hor+/Vert+).
-Motion blur & glow off should help the game look like a proper PC product :P

Screenshots (found here with the rest):

Default


FOV 75

[JohnnyWakko]

The interface is so engaging that I have to navigate through so many eyepopping menus to get to what I want to change or observe.
I also have that wonderful progressive acceleration you need for joysticks on my mouse.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I might down load the demo and see how she goes. But I aint buying it if it feels like your usual console port, which by the above sounds like it is. Darsted porting.

[tet5uo]

Technically the game isn't really a "port" in the true sense. But the console-focused design decisions are obvious and piss me off.

[Armenius]

[quote]

The interface is so engaging that I have to navigate through so many eyepopping menus to get to what I want to change or observe.
I also have that wonderful progressive acceleration you need for joysticks on my mouse.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I might down load the demo and see how she goes. But I aint buying it if it feels like your usual console port, which by the above sounds like it is. Darsted porting.
I kind of over exaggerated, but it does get across my disdain for the console-focused design. I loved the menus in Crysis and Warhead so much, it was so easy to find and change things. The new interface is like a kick to the nuts, looking a lot like Call of Duty. The reduced customizable options add insult to injury. There may be command line or config file options to disable mouse acceleration or smoothing, but I don't think we'll know more about that until the retail release.

[g00seberry]

A couple nice tweaks... Create a shortcut and add these parameters :

+cl_fov=90 +pl_movement.power_sprint_targetFov=90 +r_MotionBlur=0 +g_skipIntro=1 +r_glow=0

-Default FOV seems to be 60, higher values will act like a zoom out (Hor+/Vert+).
-Motion blur & glow off should help the game look like a proper PC product :P

Those tweaks helped a LOT. I absolutely hate motion blur. The game still feels like I'm playing it on a console though. That slight sluggishness, that blurry look, lobbies. Bit disappointing.

[JohnnyWakko]

A couple nice tweaks... Create a shortcut and add these parameters :

+cl_fov=90 +pl_movement.power_sprint_targetFov=90 +r_MotionBlur=0 +g_skipIntro=1 +r_glow=0

-Default FOV seems to be 60, higher values will act like a zoom out (Hor+/Vert+).
-Motion blur & glow off should help the game look like a proper PC product :P

Screenshots (found here with the rest):

Default

How exactly do we add those parameters? XP here.

[Armenius]

Create a shortcut to Crysis2Demo.exe, right-click on the shortcut, select Properties, select the Target entry in the shortcut tab, and add all the entries after the executable. Make sure they are added AFTER the quotation mark. You can just copy-paste them from the post. If you have the Steam version right-click on the game in library view, select Properties, and select "Set Launch Options." You simply need to add the parameters here.

[tet5uo]

You could also use notepad and paste something like this into it to make a bat file to run the game.

Code: Select all

@echo off

   cd C:Program Files (x86)Electronic ArtsCrytekCrysis 2 Demobin32

   start Crysis2Demo.exe +cl_crouchToggle=1 +cl_zoomToggle=1 +i_mouse_accel=0 +g_skipIntro=1 +cl_fov=68 +r_DrawNearFoV=68 +pl_movement.power_sprint_targetFov=68 +cl_sensitivity=5 + r_motionblur=0

[GeneralAdmission]

Well the PC demo is now here. Let me be the first to congratulate Crytek on their first console port for PC! I am so glad I don't have to be bothered with all those confusing options that let me customize the performance of the game to my specific configuration anymore. The interface is so engaging that I have to navigate through so many eyepopping menus to get to what I want to change or observe. And it's so good that it looks and plays exactly like the Xbox 360 version! I now have HD console gaming for my PC! I also have that wonderful progressive acceleration you need for joysticks on my mouse. This totally immerses the player and levels the playing field for all.

I feel like rage-quitting and I haven't even tried the game yet.

-Motion blur & glow off should help the game look like a proper PC product :P

Amen.

"MAXIMUM CONSOLE..." :nudgenudge

Nailhead, meet hammer.

[greylantern]

Long time no visit. Good PC games on the horizon = me coming back to moan about stuff :)

Well I tried the demo, I actually enjoyed it (suprising considering I'm running on an 8800 gtx + E6850 which is getting long in the tooth. Will be upgraded soon to i7 2600k + new gpu.

Anyway, I thought the graphics were nice (for multiplayer) but I had some severe slowdowns and network lag (probably all my own fault given my current connection and PC speed).

What I did notice straight away was the terribly low FOV. A dead give away of consolitis. Hope they put a proper option to adjust that in the final game! Also noted the lack of advanced graphics settings /duh
.

Mouse control was a bit strange but livable. I've played worse.

I absolutely loved Crysis *1*, and I can't see this bettering it in single player, maybe in story but not in that immersive/free feeling due to setting but hopefully I'm wrong.

Preliminary verdict: Showing definite signs of console nerfing but nothing too horrific imo. Will reserve full judgment for final game as I'm actually more into the single player side anyway but do hope to play a bit of online.

And at least it appears to be doing widescreen right, that's the main thing eh?

[Armenius]

I had to lower the detail to "Gamer" on Pier 17, but I haven't tried forcing SLI for it yet. The water and severe bloom is what really hinders performance here I'm guessing. Should still run about as well as the original once proper support is added by nVidia to the drivers.

Like I said, once you get used to it it's pretty fun. I wish that all the suit powers from the original carried over, but it seems balanced as-is.

[JohnnyWakko]

Nicely polished Multiplayer, however the suit power have been nerfed and the whole experience is now quite boring. I got over it after 3 hours of play. The whole game is too slow now so there is not much power left in the "super" suit.

[Armenius]

They're probably "mass-produced" versions of the suit from the first two games, since this "Crysis" is now on a global scale. The suit from the first two games is probably a prototype made specifically for Prophet and his team.

[MobsterOO7]

You're adorable, Armenius.