“So anyway, I’ll be honest I wasn’t expecting much, either in terms of gameplay or performance. I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. Either the Demo doesn’t contain the highest resolution textures or they are disabled for DX9 but regardless my new machine (1.8Ghz Dual Core, 2GB DDR2, 8800GTS 320MB) was able to run the game with everything on high at 1280*1024. It was just about playable, around an average of 25FPS. Knocking some of the settings down to medium, mainly particle count and effects detail I could make it much more playable (around 35 – 40FPS) while still looking rather nice, in terms of model and texture detail. On both settings there was quite a bit of pop up, and other obvious level of detail artefacts, but it didn’t really damage the game. Crysis also loads significantly faster than Far Cry ever did even for levels that appear to be quite a bit larger.

The demo itself is the first level of the game and after some frustratingly unskipable cutscenes it starts with a sky dive onto an island. I don’t want to give away too much but it’s a rather impressive opening, even if it does take rather too long to actually let you take control.

Gameplay wise it’s very similar to Far Cry, but the big change is the NanoSuit. It took some getting used to, and really does require some thought with regards to key bindings, but once you get the hang of it switching between Strength, Cloak, Speed and Armour is something you do almost instintively depending on your perfered playstyle. Each different setting provides additional bonuses, such as increased Strength allowing for higher jumps and a steadier aim.

Additionally your weapons can be upgraded using a similar system, one which reminds me greatly of Gunman: Chronicles (Half Life Total Conversion turned retail release, and quite a good game actually).

Sadly I’m still not impressed with the vehicles control which feels identical to that of Far Cry and thus generally pretty poor, at least compared to the much tighter controls in something like Unreal Tournament. Enemy AI is at least as good as Far Cry’s, I generally tended to try and pick them off from a distance so didn’t get to notice some of the more specific combat AI.

My only really issue right now is the manner in which the game takes control away from the player, while still maintaining the first person perspective, in certain cutscenes. The cutscenes in question are generally well staged and acted but after playing Half Life 2 it does feel rather odd to have my character being moved around beyond my control, even though he does have a voice of his own.

Anyway, it’s worth a look if you computer anywhere close to mine, I’d suspected it’s still look half way decent on slightly lower settings, and if your machine outstripes mine then there’s every reason to download the demo. I’ve gone from mildly interested but not expecting much to, almost certain to pick it up.”

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I’m such a marketing bitch.

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I hear it’s encrypted – those that have pre-ordered it will have it unlocked on release.

I figured that would be the case, but hadn’t found anywhere that said for sure.

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On the scale of game publisher jackassery, this rates .001 Bioshocks.

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What is to stop people uploading it to other websites?

I hear it’s encrypted – those that have pre-ordered it will have it unlocked on release.

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Why is this really making me think of the money leeching behaviour of the music industry? I have this hunch that as soon as more ‘amateurs’ are granted the capabilities to make games, not hindered by state of the art limitations (because there are high quality open source engines, open source assets, and a good set of building tools), the dinosaur(s like) EA will quickly perish under their own weight.

We aren’t granted the right to decently judge a game unless we buy it, that’s essentially what this implies.. How on earth can we acknowledge this butseqs.

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/me hides

Jokes aside, I find way more annoying the exclusive multiplayer vehicle. Artificially discriminating chances of success among players depending on factors existing outside the “circle of magic” is a good way to turn away anyone with a basic understanding of what competition in a game means.

Then it may turn out just to be a bubble and the vehicle semi-useless (I generally hate vehicles in FPSs anyway – except Quake Wars Icarus and Tribes 2 Shrike *g*), but it’s still quite annoying…

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