Well I having finished an extended romp with the editor and the demo. Let me use one word to sum it up before going into detail: Amazing!
My Performance:
I am able to run it on high at 1280x800 with 2x AA at a very respectable 30-40 FPS in DX9 XP (which is max settings for XP, bar the low AA (which isn't really needed)). Keep in mind this game has amazing motion blur so 30-40 FPS is much more playable than a game without it. Granted I wouldn't mind more FPS=)
With DX10 in Vista...the game truly shines where graphics are concerned. If ever their was a exercise in graphics whoring this is it. At very high 1680x1050 no AA I was managing a lowly 9-15 FPS. Not exactly playable, but holy crap is it gorgeous. The game is just breathtaking on those settings, especially if you are standing on the edge of a dock watching the sunset over the rolling waves as the tide comes in. I am heading to a friend's place tomorrow evening to check it out on the rig I built for him (Quad Core, 8800GTX SLI, 4GB RAM, etc...). If the game is as good at utilizing hardware as they claim I think there is a chance he could manage very high at a very smooth clip...possibly even with a decent AA setting given the 768MB of VRAM. Anyways...
Add on top of this a very robust physics engine, and what I think is one of the best additions to a FPS game yet in the nano-suit. And I think this game is a real winner. Much more so than when I went into the demo.
My expectations going in where to see a game that was lacking on the gameplay and strong on graphics, AI, and physics. It was strong at everything I expected, but the gameplay surprised me quite a bit. The fact that the game properly implements a "choose your own strategy" methodology is fantastic. And it does so by providing you options in the form of nanosuit abilities.
Stealth: You are invisible but not undetectable to enemies. Moving around in this mode drains power from the nanosuit and you can't stay invisible forever. If you are crawling, squatting, etc... you lose power more slowly. Basically the power loss if based on movement rate with a minimum loss rate for if you are standing still. All told you could probably stay invisible for a few minutes without moving and you get maybe 10 seconds if you are running. Very well balanced here, I love this feature.
Strength: As it sounds but with some added benefits that may not be as readily apparent to most people. Obviously you are strong and thus you can punch harder and jump higher etc...but it also lessens recoil from weapons fire making it a lot easier to snipe folks from a distance...although a nice scope would be better =)
Armor: As it sounds...but again with a very nice extra! Not only does it allow you to utilize the suit energy as basically a sort of reservoir of HP but it also regenerates your health MUCH faster than the suit normally does so. But there is more! You also recover your suit energy hellaciously fast in this mode If you can duck out of combat for 5-10 seconds while in this mode you will be full force ready to go again.
Speed: Another very nice ability but needs to be used with care. Speed is great for combat when you are trying to flank or need to get across a long distance covered heavily by MG fire. But in the jungle with the leaves actually being brushed aside as you move through you make a shitload of noise and can bring down a lot of people on you very quickly. The nice part is that while it adds a huge amount of speed to your standard movement modes it supercharges your sprint to the point that its a bit hard to steer in this mode...seriously it is the motion blur makes it a bit hard to make out where you are going sometimes =P
Grading Crytek:
B -- for adding the level editor in the demo, great touch, but I was sad that it was a bit limited in the fact that you only get the objects/weapons/vehicles/etc that are in the demo (understandable)
A+ -- for graphic quality (even medium is on par with the highest settings of any game out right now) yes its THAT good.
A -- for the nanosuit which imo adds a similar level (not style) of depth as the gravity gun did in HL2. My impression on this little addition will depend on where they take it in the game as I am lead to believe from watching dev videos that there will be upgrades from alien tech etc...
B --for the weapons and vehicles available. There wasn't a lot of selection in these departments but what is there works well and is fun as hell. Especially when you get into modding your weapons! I am looking forward to some nifty scopes and attachments for the full game
PS - You know you are playing a next gen FPS when the bullets shooting through the forest are actually kicking up the branches which are reacting like you would expect them to rather than ignoring it like last gen FPS games. Crysis takes FPS photorealism to an entirely new level. You can debate the pros and cons of that if you like, but you have to give credit where it is due..and boy is it ever due right here.
PPS - I agree that as far as a demo goes this is a 10/10 for a demo. Anyone with the hardware to run at a decent setting will likely agree.
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