behemoth wrote:

Looking forward to this one. The original Crysis still impresses me immensely, despite the many flaws. Apparently this semi-sequel will have far fewer linear sections (very pleased with that), improved performance at the same time as even prettier graphics (slightly skeptical about that, but excellent if true), vastly improved multiplayer (hopefully), and you play as the hilariously stereotypical ex-SAS guy (prepare for shocking one-liners). Ooh, and more asplosions (the more the merrier, I say). It'll be out this Thursday/Friday, it looks as though there won't be a demo, but it will be available on Steam. I highly recommend the Steam version unless you have limited bandwidth and/or a slow connection, as the disc version will probably have horrible copy protection that may cause all sorts of problems, and limit the number of times you can install it without a lot of fannying about. You don't need the original Crysis either. I am going to put on my "brace for giant clusterfuck" safety helmet though, as I think this is the first EA-published game being released on Steam (unstoppable force/immovable object?), and it seems a bit sudden, I really hope they have everything sorted in time.

behemoth wrote:

Well, I've been playing it over the last few days and have been having a great time. The singleplayer really is just rammed full of action, there are most certainly some very fancy new effects (even on the lower settings), not sure about performance yet, the new weapons are great, there's definitely much less linearity, the action-focused gameplay doesn't limit the options available to you, and the multiplayer has been given a much needed do-over. I don't know why it took so long for Team Instant Action (team deathmatch) to arrive, but I've just had a great few hours on it. It's simple, straightforward and just absolute carnage, and the one vehicle dominated map is serious amounts of fun. It's also much more stable and many of the bugs have been killed, so it looks like Crytek have really taken the feedback onboard. Everything installed fine on release day and it runs nicely apart from a few minor hiccups, although I'm expecting driver updates in the near future to improve perfomance a little bit. No real complaints at all, certainly not for £15. If you enjoyed the orginal Crysis at all, you absolutely can't go wrong with this.

fabriknos wrote:

where do you get this? is it an expansion basically? never heard about it, but i am really out of the loop these days. i am replaying Crysis on hardest difficulty level and already near the end, just freakin love this game. so i would love to play some extra levels.

behemoth wrote:

It is basically an expansion, although you don't need the original Crysis to play. You can get it on Steam (if you have a decent connection and enough badnwidth), or you can order the DVD (you shouldn't have a problem finding it with any of the major online retailers). I have to say that Warhead has been a bit unstable for me, but I suspect that's probably a video driver issue or other issue. The new particle effects such as the smoke and new alien attacks really do look much better in Warhead, which is saying something.

It's not a terribly long game, but it's loads of fun all the way through - there are weapons everywhere, so you can blow the crap out of anything that moves and not have to worry about conserving ammo, but speed, stealth, sneaky distractions or anything else you can think of are still valid tactics. The only real problem I have with the singleplayer campaign this time around is with the last boss - it was quite disappointing visually and just annoying rather than a challenge. The whole of the last level prior to the last boss was pretty fucking awesome, so it seemed like a bit of an anticlimax. Apart from that, I had loads of fun the whole way through.

As for multiplayer, it's much more stable, has several nice new maps, everything seems more fairly balanced and team instant action (team deathmatch) works great. I seriously recommend trying out team instant action online on the Battleground map - it's just a big valley full of vehicles, carnage and fun. There's some excellent looking mods coming out soon too, I'll post some more details later.

fabriknos wrote:

cool, can't wait to grab that. just beat Crysis again last night and already want to play more.


this is exactly how i felt about the ending to the original Crysis. the Alien Warship was so easy it was insulting. compared to some of the fights you have with multiple aliens inside the cave, it was just like you said... annoying and repetitive rather than an on-your-toes challenge. so many games fall prey to this, thinking that just adding massive health points (or multiple weapons or appendages, or whatever)to the final boss and extending the fight is the way to finish the game. no, i prefer really clever, fast reacting, strategic opponents as final bosses.

behemoth wrote:

Yeah, I wasn't too impressed with the original Crysis last boss either, but the one in Warhead is even more disappointing, disappointingly. As for mods, there's tons at Crymod, but in particular: DINOSAURS!!!!!11

fabriknos wrote:

damn i cannot play this game at all. on low graphics setting sure, but then it looks like i'm playing half life or something (ok, not that, but you know what i mean). did PC requirements go up that much in just one year? damn, shows how short the lifespan is for these components at least in terms of gaming. oh well i'm going to wait for the next big upgrade to try this game again, so for now it will sit in stasis.