Today is the big day for Crytek, as Crysis 2 is being released. PC
gamers around the world have been waiting patiently for this moment but
there is something just not right. Forget the beta and the demo that had
major ‘consolified’ features. Let’s concentrate on the final PC version
that is released and see how Crytek have literally doomed the PC
version of Crysis 2.
For starters, the game doesn’t support DX11. Although Crytek stated
that they will address that via a patch, this is not what you, me and
every PC gamer out there want to. PC gamers don’t want gimmick DX11
effects. As the game is not developed with the DX11 in mind, we won’t
get the tessellation results of (let’s say) the Unigine ‘Heaven’
Benchmark. We are certain that when the DX11 patch gets released, Crytek
will be stating how gritty those PC gamers are for pirating their game
and how disappointed they are as they did what PC gamers asked for. This
is not the true however.
As Crytek stated in the past, the PC version development would not be
hurt by the console versions. Then how come there isn’t already the
DX11 path? How come there isn’t a 64bit executable file? How come
there is still the ‘press start button’ (in order to fix it, you’ll have
to update the game with the day-0 patch)? How come there are still
issues with those that have 5.1/7.1 sound systems and are forced to
select 2.1 from their soundcard’s control panel? And for the love of
God, how come there aren’t any advanced settings as we are talking about
a PC game?
These issues would have been addressed, if there was a proper beta
test for the PC version. And that’s the whole purpose of a beta test my
dear Crytek. It is not about hyping your game to attract more gamers as
you did with the exclusive X360 test. The fact that the ‘press start
button’ issue is not fixed in the final version and needs a patch means
that the game went Gold when the PC demo got released. Plain and simple.
That’s why Nathan Camarillo stated, regarding the advanced settings,
that “they’ll look at whether that’s a possibility”. Because the game
has already went Gold. Or in other words… it was a statement to handle
damage control.
To add more salt to PC gamers wounds, Crytek didn’t include any
modding tools or an editor to the PC version of Crysis 2. This basically
means that Crytek is turning their back to their big modding community.
Crytek stated that they’d release a CryEngine 3 SDK in summer but here
is the tricky part. There isn’t any mention about a ‘modders version’ of
the editor for Crysis 2 yet. In other words, it will be similar to UDK
and will be best suited for indie teams, not modders of Crysis 2. But
even if there is a ‘modders version’, the first mods will surface around
October at best… and by that time we’ll be enjoying games like Deus Ex:
Human Revolution, Batman: Arkham City and both Battlefield 3 and The
Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (which will be friendly to the mod community)
will be around the corner.
At this point, I really need to mention some Crysis modders that
offered us some amazing mods. Just to let you know what you’ll be
missing. Xzero offered us some incredible mods and one of them was the
POM with AF mod. Although Crytek stated that it was an engine limitation
(the incompatibility of POM with AF), Xzero managed to find a work
around. And we were really disappointed with the absence of POM in
Crysis 2. Yeap, you read it right. Crysis 2 doesn’t support POM.
YodaStar and Xigmatek offered us some amazing particles effects that put
to shame the ones found in Crysis 2. CyberAlien’s Extreme Quality Mod
is mind-blowing and let’s not forget Silent’s high-resolution textures.
All in all, the PC version of Crysis 2 is a console port and nothing
more. We haven’t discussed the gameplay as we wanted to focus on
specific PC features that are present in Crysis 1 and everyone would
expect them to be still present. After all, this is not a review of the game. It
is also funny witnessing Crytek’s employees wondering why PC gamers
need ‘Advanced Settings’ when they can edit the cVar files to change
whatever setting they want. How about it’s easier to find out what
settings can impact the framerate with the in-game advanced settings?
We are pretty sure that Crytek will be blaming PC piracy if the PC
version sales don’t meet their expectations. Instead of the PC piracy
however, Crytek should blame themselves for letting down their PC
fanbase and offering them a simple console port that lacks features that
made Crysis what it is today. Maximum disappointment!
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