» Mon Dec 12, 2011 5:24 am 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 svcks 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.
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
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I just gave the DX11 update a spin myself and I have to say I was impressed with the texture, tessellation and the smoke and fire improvements but that's about all.
I did notice other things that just annoyed me to, like when I first got out of the sub and your just swimming there for a few seconds I kept seeing shadows on the back of some of the guys heads, this was further proven by car windows having shadow problems as well. The shadows on the driver and driver passenger windows flickered in and out while moving and got bigger or smaller at a distance, that's why I think they are shadow problems. This must be a DX11 issue with C2 because I didn't see any one this problems with DX9.
I also noticed the other console shortcuts still present such as no water, mirrors, glass, cars that are ultra shiny and anything else that should be reflective and they are not! The skyscraqer windows are still prerendered pics from ground level even though your 4+ stories up that the player can interact with, this to me is very disappointing and show how lazy Crytek was. They have a video up showing 1 reflective surface but nothing else, and for good reason because nothing else is reflective the way it should. This is console trickery to save memory and should NOT be down played or forgotten but is because every one has been give there DX11 and are happy to have it now and I call shenanigans! There is more to this engine we have seen in your demos, but you put half an effort into it to get the PC gamers off your back.
I will not say it is not welcome because it is by some, but does it change my score about C2? No, in the end it's the end it's still the same game with the same flaws just looks prettier but it wouldn't be a 7 for GFX for me it would have been a 9, even with the console influences. There are times business decisions do out weigh one platform I understand that. However with all the hype and promises Crytek especially the CEO had put into C2 about the PC and staying true to the their roots and etc we should been given better from them, DX11 should have been here day 1.
I wont change my review or my opinion about C2 it's still a terrible a game and a new coat of paint wont fix that, it is at this time a peace offering to get the PC community to quite down now and considering how heartless the effort has been to this point I'm sure many wont be quite but most will, cause something is better then nothing. I just want to know "will it run BF3?" (c;
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My PC Specs in case you were wondering
Koolance PC4-1036BK Liquid Cooled Aluminum Full Tower Case (Upgraded to displace 1320watt of heat) - Koolance 360 ver 1.2 CPU Water Block - PrimoChill ICE Non-Conductive Fluid - Asus P6X58D Premium - Intel I7 950 (OC to 4ghz) - Evga GTX580 FTW Hydro Copper 2 x2 for SLI - Enermax Galaxy 1000W - Corsair Dominator 6 GB 1600 XMP (OC to 1754)- Creative XFI Gamer - Klipsch 5.1 THX Cert Speakers - Pulsewave's Pulsar SX PC Gaming Headphones - Sata II WD 500GB, 2TB, 320GB & 1TB - Cyborg RAT 9 Wireless Mouse - Logitech G19 Keyboard - Logitech G13 Gameboard - Samsung Syncmaster PX2370 Monitor
