» Tue Nov 29, 2011 3:58 am Presentation - 8/10 (Was 9/10 on PC, read further)
- The storyline AND storytelling in this game are fantastic. It sets itself apart from the already existing plethora of generic, boring, "silent" protagonists by giving NOMAD (you) a voice (a sixy voice) and a personality (a sixy personality).
Most of the voice acting in this game is music to anyone's ears. In fact, I would have given this game a 9/10 in presentation because pretty much everything in it is fantastic, but for some retarded reason, they changed some of the Korean soldiers' voice clips to much, much worse ones for absolutely no reason. If you can ignore some of the vomit-inducing korean voices, the rest is pure gold.
Sound - 5/10 (Was 8/10 on PC, read further)
- SOME guns sound like guns, punches sound like punches, explosions sound like explosions, grenades somehow don't sound like grenades... The sound clips in this version of the game are completely hit and miss. Pretty much every combat-oriented sound clip has been changed for no reason whatsoever. The SCAR sounds like a gun, but mounted machineguns on cars sound terrible. I cannot comprehend this.
To add insult to injury, the sound QUALITY itself is pathetic. I'm not talking about whether it supports ultra-surround 7.2 systems or not, as I do not have those, but beyond any of that, it sounds dirty. It just doesn't sound good. They're simply low-quality sound clips.
Gameplay - 8/10 (Was 9.5/10 on PC, read further)
- To be honest, the gameplay itself hasn't changed much. You can still armor up. You can still strengthen your every move. You can still run really fast, you can still cloak, you can still prone. No lean, but I don't think anyone will really miss that.
Thus, why a lower score when compared to it's older PC big brother? Well, leaving the X360 pad aside, which, as any controller on earth, is not well suited to lightning-speed laser-precision PC-grade aiming, a few compromises had to be done here and there in order to make everything fit and work reasonably well on a controller.
Speed mode has been dumbed down. The speed at which you run is very, very slightly slower (Noticeable, but seriously, a very slight downgrade in this regard. I was pleasantly surprised), but the downers are that you have no Passive Speed Mode (passively increased the speed of your EVERY movement, regular walking, crawling, crouching included). Also, you can no longer sprint in every direction like you could on PC. This time around, you only get the usual Console forwards-cone sprinting (forwards and diagonally forwards), and believe me, Maximum Speed (or even Passive Speed) lateral strafing was a HUGE part in CRYSIS' gunplay, as it allowed you to dodge bullets with relative ease.
Also, as far as I know, there's no way to increase your accuracy through Maximum Strength, although please let me know if this isn't so.
Then there's the weapon selection. It works flawlessly for cycling through your 2 primary weapons, but I do not like that you have to hold Y and then push the left stick down TWICE in order to select your bare fists (as opposed to tapping "1" twice on PC), as selecting your fists has a plethora of advantages, such as faster melee attacking and faster Speed Mode. It was a pretty big thing when switching between offensive play and maximum mobility in the PC version of Crysis, and it could be done in a split second WHILE still moving (left stick for weapon selection means you are also ground to a complete halt).
Beside what I have mentioned, however, the true CRYSIS Sandbox experience is there. The levels are huge, you can explore them, you can weigh your options and do a million different things to accomplish whatever objective or just have dumb fun. Avobe annoyances aside, this is an incredible console game as far as gameplay goes, and it is much better than CRYSIS 2 in most respects regarding this specific aspect.
Graphics - 7/10 (was 10/10 on PC, one of the most beautiful games ever conceived)
- Oh boy, here comes the Maximum Disappointment. And to be honest, this wasn't CRYTEK's fault in any way. This was a compromise that HAD to be done. Console hardware is just both poor and old. There were no miracles to be done here.
Geometrically, the game holds its' own. As far as I have seen, very few objects were dumbed down in regards of Polygon Count. Some weapon models (pretty noticeable in the Shotgun) and other humans (both Koreans and your Nanosuited teammates), although I haven't gotten to the aliens yet.
As far as vegetation goes, draw distance is remarkably decent, but the foliage density is pretty poor. Instead of a "constant carpeting" of grass, as was on PC, you can effortlessly see bald spots everywhere you look. 3D vegetation, such as bushes, are still there, but are noticeably more "hollow" and very, very reduced in number when compared to the PC version. While still present aplenty, they were just everywhere on PC, making everything look lush and rich. As per the trees, I can't say that I have noticed any differences in quantity or geometrical quality. Their textures however, I'll comment on a bit later...
Allow me to say, there is a stupid "filter/black spots thingy that moves with your camera" on certain plants in certain areas during certain times of day/lighting conditions. It looks horrible, I do not know what the hell it is, and it is most likely a bug. Whether it is the infamous "Grain filter bug" in Crysis 2, I cannot say, as I only own it on PC and haven't experienced pretty much any graphical bug there.
Now, onto the textures: This part is outragely piss-poor, and yet again, nothing that could be made better on CRYTEK's end of the bargain. Pixels as big as your face will be seen everywhere. Plants suffer enormously from this, as their leaves look like pixely green blobs rather than anything else. But fool not yourself, it's not only the plants. Every texture in the game is "crap-resoluted" except for your hands and your weapon. Even the bump maps are pretty low-res. Needless to say, textures on PC were breathtaking on vanilla, and simply unbelievable with a few mods.
A final remark on vegetation: Grass on the ground has some sort of blur filter that makes it look terrible most of the time, and is especially noticeable during night-time. I do not know what the hell gives. It is not the "Edge Antialiasing" present on the PC version, it just blurs the hell out of the grass on the ground, and sadly, it doesn't look like it's a bug.
Wrapping up on the graphics side of the game, the physics are significantly dumbed down and unrealistic, but they are still a massive far cry from what console users are used to: Even if they compare negatively to the physics on the PC version, the physics engine present on consoles is nothing short of incredible. Massive kudos to Crytek in this regard.
Sadly, the beautiful physics can barely make up for the muddy textures and lower vegetation density/quality in general. To add to this, the game has pretty much no form of anti-aliasing (everything just looks blurry as hell), Anisotropic Filtering is NOWHERE to be seen, making everything look so much worse and making Parallax Occlusion Mapping (and the textures themselves) invisible 15 feet ahead of you.
The resolution, the final nail on CRYSIS Remastered's graphical coffin, is vomit inducing. I haven't counted the pixels one by one, but I honestly do not buy that this is 1280x720 at all. It looks rather like 1024x600 or something in between that and 720p. It hurts my eyes really bad.
HALO Reach looks comparably decent against this game, and the likes of Uncharted 1 & 2 simply mop the floor with it.
Final Thoughts
- If you have a half-decent computer (which in no way implies an expensive one), with any graphics card equal or higher than an 8800GTX, stay the hell away from this version.
If it is completely impossible for you to acquire a semi-decent gaming rig, and I say COMPLETELY IMPOSSIBLE, then and only then you may begin to entertain the thought of purchasing this game.
And lets be honest, if you ABSOLUTELY MUST stick to consoles for your gaming needs, 20 bucks is an incredible deal for this piece of entertainment. It's a fun game. It's an experience you don't normally get on consoles. The levels are huge and deep, the possibilities are endless. Just don't expect it to look any good when compared to, say, Uncharted (Although if Call of Duty is your graphical standard of quality, you'll drop your balls when you see/play CRYSIS).
Buy it if you can't get it on PC, and as long as there was no humanly possible way for you to get to play it on a decent rig, you won't regret it.
COMPLETELY RECOMMENDED PURCHASE FOR CONSOLE STANDARDS
