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Crysis 2's quite a looker, but it certainly didn't make your PC explode. Hell, we bet it only caught on fire a little. And – given the original Crysis' bleeding-edge legacy – we'd be lying if we said that wasn't a bit of a letdown. Crytek, however, isn't about to leave us high, dry, and without a few flecks of PC shrapnel forever lodged in our lungs. The developer still cares, and as proof of that, it's dropping a big, fat DX11-shaped love letter on PC gamers' doorsteps – completely free of charge.
"Crysis 1's intention was, if I were to play it three years later, it looks great. And it does, actually, it fulfilled that. But it made it difficult for entry-level players," Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli told Gamasutra. "So with Crysis 2, we took a different direction, and it backfired a little bit."
"This is much more like a gift to the high-end community," said Yerli. "And I think gamers will appreciate that. It lifts up Crysis 2 and gives a sneak peak of how PC gaming will evolve in the future, if you support a high-end preference."
So, what's on the menu? Well, Crytek's posted a detailed list of changes, but here's the gist: full DirectX 11 support, tessellation and displacement mapping, HDR motion blur, and many other such terms that make our stomachs feel like they're full of perfectly rendered, completely anti-aliased butterflies.
The patch is set to drop next week, but PC Gamer's gotten its hands on some side-by-side comparison shots to ease the wait. To be completely honest, we don't see too terribly much of a difference – except holy moley those bricks. We want to gently caress them. With our faces.
But! Beyond that, our eyeballs remain resolutely inside our heads. Have a look for yourselves, though. What do you think?
Comments are closed on this article
x1unreel1x
July 01, 2011 at 7:15pm
Homefront is way better (in single player mode anyway) have not tried pvp
Has DX 11 and supports SLI
x1unreel1x
July 01, 2011 at 7:01pm
Crysis has long been regarded as the benchmark for great visual graphics, after buying the game I was surprised that it didnt have DX11 or that it does not support SLI
I just built a new rig with 2 graphic cards (sli) I have to turn off that option to play the game.
iceman08
June 24, 2011 at 5:29am
people complain that the bricks looked like shit, like a console game when the game first came out; the company responds by taking their time to give a proper rendering and not delaying the game's release further. Now they shit bricks since they can tell the difference between the bricks with the new detail. and now they're pissed that the game took freaking 2 MONTHS to release a patch so the bricks can be awesome.
go play metro if you want a game that can push a pc to its limits, currently
kixofmyg0t
June 23, 2011 at 2:58pm
I bought Crysis:Warhead and my computer laughed at me and said "Are you f*ing kidding me?"
Bought Crysis 2 (for PS3) and enjoyed it. Thought it was pretty fun and a good game, although I still think Killzone 3 and Uncharted 2 look better. Remember I have the PS3 version there kiddo's.
I've already written off Crysis 3 as a game I do not want. So many people have bitched and moaned about Crysis 2 and the graphics and how it(or NOTHING for that matter) doesnt compare to(the apperently almighty) Crysis 1. I already know Crysis 3 is gonna suck as a GAME. It's gonna be the most intense graphical orgasm ever attempted sure.....but THAT'S IT. 99% of the focus of the game will be about pleasing the "hardcore" graphics nerds that believe Crysis should be a benchmark more than a game. Doesn't matter if hire Valve...who uses Steven Speilberg as a consultant....who calls Micheal Bay on the phone to get his opinion on the "story" or "gameplay". IT'S GONNA SUCK.
But alas that's the only way to satisfy these people. If you're $5,000 PC can render a Crysis at more than 4 frames per second then it's just not "Crysis" to these wack jobs.
ugzz
June 23, 2011 at 11:56am
releasing it "free" and "as a gift". -bull
Sorry Nathan, don't know if your quoting them or if you belive it. but DX11 was listed as supported BEFORE the release of the game. then when i got it, it just wasnt there.. sure the game looks good in dx10, but i would have rather seen the game delayed and released "correctly".
forums have been full of complaints day 1, about that, and about the whole 3 choice for graphic type crap.
i suppose it is nice they didnt just bail on the idea and tehy are going to release it. and yes ill get it. but ill prolly just fire up the game for 20 min and run around to see the differance then quit.
kixofmyg0t
June 23, 2011 at 4:56am
Doesn't look too much different. But I guess you need some way of making people with 4 6990's struggle to play a game.
Arlips
June 23, 2011 at 2:07am
Better late than never, but it still should have been there to begin with.
Still, at least it didn't suffer the same fate as Crysis 1's promised "ultra mode" update that Crytek quietly let people forget about. Not many people remember now that the first game was also supposed to get an update that increased its visuals. Footage from before Crysis was released was better than what the game actually looked like, and Crytek claimed they were going to update the game later, adding "ultra mode" to give us what the earlier footage promised. A few months later they patched the game with minor fixes and no graphical updates. That was that.
I was pretty sure they were going to pull the same crap with Crysis 2's DX11 update. They're late as hell but at least they followed through this time.
jonelsorel
June 23, 2011 at 1:43am
"Gift to the High-End community?" I call it too little way too freaking late. For all the "developing for console and PC will benefit both" mumbo jumbo, I only saw DRAWBACKS on the PC version on release day, compared to your previous title, which in my book is a no-no.
So thanks, Crytek, but I've already sold my copy. You'll be well remembered for that quote next time a developer tries to charm us with such nice utopic messages.
Holly Golightly
June 23, 2011 at 12:13am
I saw the demonstration. Those bricks sure do look a hell of a lot better. The article was absolutely correct, other than the bricks, there is not much else to see. None the less the game is very beautiful. Loving the graphics with those cool light up aliens. Lets see if this new feature will make our PCs sweat like the first one did. When they release the third party, they better released the PC version fully complete.
dedgar
June 23, 2011 at 7:32am
About "they better release the PC version fully complete". Are you willing to place a small wager on that being the case?
Holly Golightly
June 23, 2011 at 1:28pm
Well, when they do make a 3rd part, they should make it complete with the latest graphic capabilities. As the article said, releasing an incomplete game eventually back fired on them. I think it is fair enough to say that the lesson was well learnt.
