Crysis Demo Impressions

Last night I downloaded the Crysis single-player demo, but I wasn't able to play it until today - and that's pretty much what I've been doing all day, it's awesome. After I finished the demo a few hours ago, I logged into GameSpot to write down my impressions, but just decided to go back and play some more. It's that good. Considering how it looks and what's going on in the environment, it's very well optimized. It doesn't run nearly as smooth as Call of Duty 4 on my PC (Athlon 64 3000+, 1,5 GB of RAM, 7900GS 256MB), but after tinkering with the settings a bit, I've managed to make it run very well with most settings on medium and a few on high at 1024x768.

The demo starts off with a breifing aboard a transport airplane. The squad is supposed to parachute down to a tropical island somwhere near the Phillippines. The gameplay started as I jumped out of the aircraft, flying through the clouds I could see the entire island. Itwasjust before dawn so the visibility wasn't that great. Somethingwent wrong with the parachute and I ended up crashing in the water. The nanosuit basically saved my life. I swam to shore and upon reaching it I noticed a giant turtle on the sand. I picked it up and hurled it into the water like a big rock. As I made my way through the jungle to reach the rendez-vous, I encountered a couple of North Korean soldiers. They were almost invisible in the brush, if you don't pay attention to your radar and subtle movements, they're extremely hard to notice. If they get caught in the crosshair, they'll be highlighted to make it a bit easier.

After meeting with the other guy, I was tasked to destroy some sort of GPS jamming device. At this point, the sun was starting to rise and the light was breaking through the trees and as I reached a clearing, I saw the rising sun, the beach and the ocean below me...it looked spectacular. The moment was ruined as I realized that I've made myself visible to the enemy which immediately called for backup. Enemy fire came from the patrolling boats, from the shacks below, and a jeep with a machine gun came by as well. I died fast. So I decided upon a different approach. I tried to take out as many guys as I could from the cliff, and as I came down, used my nanosuit which gives temporary boosts to strenght, armor, speed, invisibility. I found that mixing these up in combat yielded the best results along with taking cover whenever possible. Crysis uses a Halo-esque shield system intead of a lifebar and the suit boosts work in a similar fashion.

The combat is extremely open-ended thanks to the nanosuit, huge environement and the fact that everything is interactive - yes, you can pick up chickens and smack your enemies with them, jump on roofs, use cloaking to get near your enemies, grab them by the throat and hurl them through the air just like that turtle. During the entire demo I went through several enemy encampments and the encounters were all very different. The combat is very intense, varied, and makes you try out all these different ways to get rid of your enemies. The nanosuit also enables weapon modification such as flashlights and silencers. The AI seems very good, they work together, stick to cover, etc.

The graphics are beyond amazing, the textures look amazing even on medium, volumetric lighting, soft shadows...beautiful stuff. But the real star of the show are the fully destructible/interactive environments. You can pick up and throw basically anything that looks like you can pick it up and you can destroy everything. It's such a thrill being under machine gun fire desperately trying to take the guy down only to notice trees falling around you, or throwing a grenade inside a small shack to have it collapse on the soldiers inside.

Crysis is a true sandbox FPS, Crytek provided the gameworld and some objectives, but it's completely up to the player how to go about them. I've even got distracted by something else and cleared a few encampments that I didn't even need to just because the combat is--how should I put it?--hella fun!

Any of you guys tried it out? Your thoughts?

Just finished it.

I got a decent framerate with everything set on high except shadows and soft particles because those two appear to kill my performance (E6600@2,7Ghz, 8800GTS 320mb, 2GB DDR800Mhz, Xp 32bit and the newest nvidia drivers released today).

The first feeling I got in this game was a farcry dejavu. It really, really, really feels like farcry and thats great. Graphics, AI, animations and especially the physics are something never seen before. They blew me away instantly. Destroyability doesnt seem as high they told it would be but I believe its better on Vista. On xp trees cut down on some level but not from every spot or not even every tree.

How to describe the gameplay? I have one word for you, Revolutionizing...

The nanosuit has to be the best thing ever. It gives you armor, speed, strenght and cloak modes. Mixing those in to your gameplay is amazing. Lurking in shadows while invisible and grappling your enemies form the throat, turning on strenght and blasting them trought walls, trees, other enemies or about anything destroyable. I did not find a single thing to complain in the demo. Everything seem too good to be true, except for minor bugs in physics but nothing unpatchable.

AAAA, GOTY 2007 confirmed judging by the demo.

quite frankly i thouight it was amazing, it ran well enough for me on medium to be easily playable, and its obvious the gfx are amazing, gfx aside i thought the gameplay was easily accesible as well as fun. they have done the nano suit well, giving it too nmuch power would just make you superman and take all balance away from the game, but with the limit its set to it means you have to use it wisely. i just love the amount of ways you can do things...there's no limit really, in fact the only limit i can across was that if you drive a boat outside the perimiter of the reef those ships on the horizon fire missiles at you lol.

the guns do seem a little weak, im kinda sick of having to hit a guy like 8 times to take him down...i mean, i know i have a nanosuit and can take that, but they are wearing shirts, wtf? however it is rly fun using thyose tranquiliser darts and cloaking, taking down groups silently and then finishing them off when they are asleep.

it took me a while to get it working, and yunless i have sgader quality up full i get didgy errors, but im sure this will be sorted in retail, if not then ill just have to do with the hkigh shader detail and a slight drop in framerate...but it still runs pretty smoothly at 25-40 fps, occasionally going between 50-60...

the guns do seem a little weak, im kinda sick of having to hit a guy like 8 times to take him down...i mean, i know i have a nanosuit and can take that, but they are wearing shirts, wtf? however it is rly fun using thyose tranquiliser darts and cloaking, taking down groups silently and then finishing them off when they are asleep.

marriage0

It will be nice if you guys post some screenshots :PD3s7rUc71oN

For your viewing pleasure :D



Teufelhuhn

Holy ****! That looks damn good, especially the sun in the last pic. Thanks dude for the pics.Is there cutscenes? How is the animation and voice acting? Is it as good as Heavenly Sword? I just got done playing that game and damn its the best I've seen yet in those departments. BTWI didn't like the mercs dialogue in Far Cry.

Too bad it won't run on my 6800gs. All I get is solid black textures. :(CodeMunki

I feel your pain...

Other than that the game looks awesome and those Screenshots look great..Hope you guys have fun playing Crysis, Im gonna go play CSS now T.T

I had everything running at high at 1680x1050, with 8x normal AA (16xQ drains a touch),generally running between 30 and 50 odd fps (at a guess). I can't try very high, because that option is currently greyed out. Might try to the new nvidia driver though.

The game is pretty awesome though, and is pretty tough in some spots even on normal (maybe because I suck, not much for trying to find cover, should really give that a go...). As mentioned, just trying to charge in all guns blazing like in some other shooters achieves nothing

Running QX6700, SLi 8800 GTX's, and 2 gig RAM on XP for the curious

This game looks good! Can't wait to see reviews!

It's pretty good. I was playing it last night and found everything about it to be fantastic. The abilities that come with the suit, the customization available to the guns with scopes, flashlights etc. and the interface used, as well as the basic combat and gameplay. Don't even get me started on the graphics and sounds.

Definitely a game I plan on picking up.

You know it would be interesting seeing Counter Strike on the Crytek Engine :P Dust2 With Crysis graphics would be kind've odd haha

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"]For your viewing pleasure :D



D3s7rUc71oN

Alright... so I won't edit my post...

Anyways, I just finished beating the demo on Delta (nearly finished on Hard before). I was seen no more than ten times and killed once. I take great pride in being able to sneak my way through the entire level. I would have liked to have got into a fire fight to actually see how the AI reacts on Delta but sadly, I was so invisible that I was hardly even shot at.

After further analysis and play time, I'm becoming much more fond of the game. The gameplay as I already mentioned is extremely well polished and once you get into the groove, things move swiftly and smoothly. It is great fun sneaking up behind an enemy, grabbing him, dragging him off into the bush, switching to strength and punching his face in. Then repeat for the rest of his buddies.

With enough patience, the demo level is an absolute cake walk. You can almost completely avoid combat (with enough quick thinking, I'd bet you could make it through without killing a single enemy) and still finish all the objectives. This game is growing on me, I think we might have a winner here. Being given free will to do what you want is something the shooter genre lacks quite significantly in these days and this beautiful game is a welcome change.

I tried tweaking a few of the options a little further and was able to get object detail, shadow detail and shader detail up to medium without any noticeable framerate problems. Those few extra things (especially shader and shadow) make quite the visual difference when considering all the shadows that everything casts and it makes it look a ton better (especially at night).

If anyone likes shooters and has a computer that will run this demo, I implore you to try it. It is probably the best shooter experience that will be had this year... easily.
foxhound_fox

Voice-acting is pretty over-the-top hollywood-****stuff. It even comes complete with a Latino named "Jester" who calls people "amigo", and a British dude named "Psycho" who angrily demands to know what the real mission is from your CO. Don't be expecting any academy awards for the script. But the actors certainly do the job well enough. The Koreans are definitely better than the mercs when it comes to dialogue, and will often get scared and yell expletives when they see you cloak or use one of your other super-powers.Teufelhuhn

Right on. Crysis actually reminds more more of the movie Predator rather than Far Cry. It's cliched and cheesy, but in an entertaining kind of way. I think it's stupid that the Korean language comes into play only at the highest difficulty (which I'll never play on). I wish we could set it to normal and just pick English or Korean for the enemies.

I played through the demo once again today,and I just wanted to further emphasize how I love the open-ended approach and how it is my impression that Crytek completely nailed it with Crysis. Some open-ended games make you feel lost or unsure of what you're supposed to be doing exactly, or on the other hand, feel too linear. The balance between freedom and focus is downright perfect in Crysis, I'd say - judging by the demo, of course. I think that's a great achievement.

I wish we could set it to normal and just pick English or Korean for the enemies.

UpInFlames

[QUOTE="UpInFlames"]

I wish we could set it to normal and just pick English or Korean for the enemies.

Teufelhuhn

Have no fear! Teuf just happens to be one of those PC gamers who digs through all the config files in his PC games, and he discovered that you can edit just about every difficulty parameter for each difficulty setting.

The files are in a folder that I think is called "Config" which is in the "Game" subfolder of the demo's installation directory. In the folders you'll see a bunch of .cfg files, just open up the one called "normal_difficulty.cfg" using notepad and then you can edit away. The option for the korean dialogue is called "AI_allternativeReadability" or something like that, set it to zero.Teufelhuhn

Dude! That's awesome! I tried it out and it's so much better. I hate it when foreigners speak English - with each other. :|

Thanks a lot, man. I'm not the one to mess with config files if I'm not told exactly what to do.

Yeah,I've been messing with the Cvars too.The game looks AWESOME on high,but on very high you get the object motion blur,which I really like,but on very high the game's a bit of a slideshow,so I changed the very high setting to the same as high,but left object motion blur on.It's impossible to just paste the object motion blur onto high or lower for some reason. Hope it's not too confusing.Greyhound222

I don't remember that one. But does it sound like music from like Predator? Or like something from Bourne Ultimatium. I hope it sounds good, thats one of the most important things for me in a cinematic fps.

I've noticed that both the AI in the boats and in the jeeps have a very unrealistic ability to see me even when in deep grass behind a bush when I am uncloaked. Its pretty much the only complaint I can render about the game so far... even if it might just be a "perk" of playing on Delta (if it is, then I hope I can disable it because it does not help make the game feel realistic).foxhound_fox

No, it happens on normal too, and yes, it's stupid. That's pretty much my only complaint as well.

BTW...if anybody is having trouble taking out the boats...keep in mind....

the silencer decrease accuracy and power by a lot...dont use it unless you absolutly have too...

using the strength mode, gives you less recoil and weapons sway...allowing you to hit faraway targets easier.

BTW...if anybody is having trouble taking out the boats...keep in mind....cobrax25

I just use the jeep's machine gun. Saves ammo. And it's loud. :wink:

oh, and since you love crysis so much, Ill show you something crytek didnt want you too see :)

bassiclly the point at which the demo ends, isnt the point at which the level actually ends...there is a little more after the cutsce...you cant play it in the demo, but you can in the editor.

in the editor..spawn yourself right after the point at which the demo ends...right after the frozen ship...you will get to play for another 40 or so seconds....

its not much in terms of combat...but something pretty damn cool happens....

oh...and it turns out in the demo, there are aliens flying in the air...they are so far away, they look like birds...but in the editor you can get an up close view of them :)

Hey, that's a great find, I'll try to check it out tomorrow. Thanks!

just play around with the editor in general...spawn a tornado right at the enemy base...or do like I did and complete the entire level with a tank or helicopter...

I havent figured out how to...but apparently if you spawn an alien next to a korean, they automaticlly start fighting each other too.

Also, an alien is what causes you to fall out of the sky. Look to your left during the freefall, and you will see it com towards you and impact you.Manly-manly-man

hmm...didnt notice that at all...

will have to try again.

[QUOTE="Teufelhuhn"] :D



D3s7rUc71oN

Holy ****! That looks damn good, especially the sun in the last pic. Thanks dude for the pics.Is there cutscenes? How is the animation and voice acting? Is it as good as Heavenly Sword? I just got done playing that game and damn its the best I've seen yet in those departments. BTWI didn't like the mercs dialogue in Far Cry.