I agree about it "infected by consolitis" but it getting better I don't know, I haven't touched it since patch 1.2 like I said.
Here is my review of Crysis 2, I did about two weeks after it came out,
Edit: I decided to add a few things to be a little more balanced in my review. I bashed on it pretty hard but there were good points and they deserve comment.
The whole Press Start thing really pissed me off and I caught it too before it was reported, that was a real slap in the face to the PC community but come on did they even test this game on the PC to make sure it even worked? I am sure they tested the SP but the MP was broken worse then a train wreck, here is my exp. When you joined a Ranked server that was almost ready to go and all they needed was bodies then when you got the minimum amount of players it would sit there, it did not launch the game nor did it launch with the max amount of players. There was nothing from Crytek or any Game news site about all the issues for the PC and I have no idea why, but I suspect because Consoles didn't have the problem it wasn't big enough. The servers would randomly start, there was no rhyme or reason some ppl reported they would wait for 20min move on and sometimes when they got the minimum amount of player it would work. This same time when I could find a server that was working I played with my bro and we joined a ranked server together he followed me, we played for 2 hours he got to keep the exp and equipment next time he logged in and it said I had played 0 hours so I had earned 0 exp, needless to say I was quite put out. C2 just wasn't tested on the PC at all in my mind and the initial released proved this and they are still patching it. They are proving the old addage "Why release a solid PC game when it can be buggy to get paid now and patch later?" but a billion fold in my mind.
In Crysis the freedom of choice to approach an objective was fantastic left, right, truck, speed or whatever you had choice in C2 you don't it's linear and this is because of consoles, how do I know? Here is why. I had gone to school for Game Design and Development at UAT and one of the few things I did learn about consoles for development short cuts to save on memory was to make the levels smaller and linear, C2 is perfect example of this. The other point about taking away these abilities has been brought and they blame consoles and no I don't agree. I did take a while to go to speed, or strength when really a suit that sophisticated couldn't figure out your running oh let's give him speed! I really thought that was dumb in Crysis and I liked that changed in C2, hate me if you want but I like the design change of it.
The GFX oh how I loath thee, it's DX9 only and it should be running DX11 for the PC. Okay I understand that they delayed it's release, they did the same with Shogun 2 so I am not going to make any shots across their bow for this one because I honestly think Shogun 2 looks awesome, but C2 has problems and I have it set to Extreme. I am running only 1 580 (I have 2 for sli) and it's pumping 60+ fps at 1920x1080 and I am seeing a lot of pop-ins in the foliage, textures on the wall, the draw distance just sucks and I have on my Steam profile pics of the water glitches. I have seem the demos of what this engine can do and this just looks water painting in some cases and it's nasty. I was looking at a building and there are NO reflections what the heck is this?!? Is this the same engine they have been showing dev's and posting video's on that is so power it can't handle a simple window reflection? Seriously it is all the same textures everywhere, this is typical consoles smoke and mirrors memory saving crap again and isn't a PC game and the Crytek CEO said they didn't leave behind their PC roots, I am calling shenanigans on that comment. This could be because of it only being DX9 it could change with DX11, I highly HIGHLY doubt it though. This isn't Bioware where they will release another 1.1gb file for better textures and etc just for DX 11, Crytek has all ready let me this much what's another 3 feet with noose around my neck? I will say the background imagery is nice to look at and the building have a proper sense of scale, sometimes that can be a problem but they got that right here.
The story is it any good? It's along the bounds of Sci-trash really. The dialogue is horrible, the writing is barely up to High School standards. I'm not saying mine couldn't use some improvements but hey I'm not trying to pass mine off as professional quality.
The AI is too perfect, it's like they all have Superman's senses and can hear me move even behind perfect cover, only time I can is when I'm in the sewer so scripted crap. They also know where I am going to pop out too so they can see me moving out of cover and if I take a shot with a sniper rifle ALL of the AI have me instantly, it's too perfect. Seriously unless your cloaked don't sneak around it is point less they know exactly where you are. The battery time seems way shorter then in the first game and I don't know why that is. This makes things like sneaking and stealth kills take much more precise timing, which wouldn't be an issue if the opposition wasn't perfect at taking you down with stealth. Trust me go running and gunning, much easier with the human opponents.
The gun's are balanced I have to give them that, they aren't perfect but they all do their jobs wells and make you think about the right tool for the right job.
The aliens are different and have weak points, something missing in other shooters which gives them a nice twist. I did miss using the cold weapons and there was no real explanation as to why they were suddenly absent in C2.
The fact I had to use a third party program to change in game settings like film grain, mouse acceleration and a host of other things just reinforced to me Crytek made this for the console not the PC.
The sound I would say was flawless. Hearing the alien ship come screaming over head as it was crash landing was excellent to hear. The radio broadcasts made me think they really were being invaded cause it was a regular Joe not a pro. However him and Bishop were about the only VO that I really liked in the game.
The one thing I did like in MP and it may have been around for a while but it's my first experience with it. That is you can get a group of ppl together and make a group and that group can all join the same server and possibly the same team, now it would be nice if they were put in que and not told servers full and forced to keep trying to rejoin to keep the anxiety down. This is the one thing I liked and it should have been mentioned and now it is, edits are a good thing. (c;
If this was to be a PC game experience brought to the console like Crytek CEO said then it should not have been designed around consoles like the levels and the gfx, they should have done what Splinter Cell did make the game for the PC then dumb down the gfx for the consoles to make it work. With the lack MP testing and the obvious focus of consoles from the get go. The PC community was screwed from the get go and if it wasn't maybe this could have been an enjoyable game on our platform, but sadly we will never know. All we do know is that it is a horrible game PC and Console standards alike, the console elements made it an even worse experience for the PC community my self in particular.
4.2 out of 10
END REVIEW
I did kick it up a two tenths of a point because it was 4 out of 10, because at least they are still putting out patches to fix stuff and if they are that at least deserves some part of a brownie point.
Anyways Rob and one else who may still be reading. I think console shortcuts do take away from a game if they want to bring it to the PC, if they do not try to change it before it does. I am not saying this is always it is a couple of big things like in C2 with the gfx or level design, but for me if I see it I will get pissed. It tells me they are lazy they put it on the PC to just make money and they didn't do anything to customize it for the PC platform. Like Dirt 2, it wasn't the gfx or level design it was the menu I couldn't navigate it very well with my G27 and most Race enthusiasts are going to have a wheel, just like most Flight Sim enthusiasts are going to have a stick and throttle. If the game doesn't support it or is hard to use with these devices the games are going to be shunned. That's how I feel about porting console games to the PC with out putting care like the gfx crap in C2. It's because I want to know they care enough to do it to support the PC community, because I know the engine supports it, I have seen it and I know they are lazy and just making a quick buck on the PC gamers for not doing it and that's what pisses me off.
I was trying to make this point to Rob last night but I was so tired I kept spinning my wheels and he got me good on something I am too ashamed to talk about now. /c:
