so...about 40 usable cvars. The individual sys_spec_xxxx can be modified, but none of their related commands like e_shadows or r_usePOM can be accessed. This game is extremely UNMODDABLE in its current state. The cvars should be locked smartly, not like this. This is the wrong way to do it.
The console in Crysis worked just fine. Some commands were locked in multiplayer. Granted, there were a few that they didn't catch, but it worked well overall. Again, Crytek changes for the worse what doesn't need to be changed.