Crysis 2 Brings Out The Worst In PC Gamers
Crysis 2 Brings Out The Worst In PC Gamers
On March 24th, Crysis 2 was released in the UK. Inevitably, the game was showered with praise from the biggest critics in the industry; stellar graphics, unconventional gameplay and a none-too-shabby story have rightfully earned the latest Crytek offering a string of complimentary reviews. The PC gaming community, however, has had its cage well and truly rattled by the game's release. Technical issues plagued the game's launch, but the sole root of gamers' dissatisfaction cannot be found buried in some Crytek employee's debugging log. Rather, I feel some of the faults lie with the community itself. Let's take a look at some of the issues gamers have experienced.
The first problem really only applies to those of us in the UK and Australia, but it is an increasingly frequent and illogical one: the inexplicable delay between release dates across the world. Our American friends got their hands on the game two days earlier than us, and our Australian brethren were forced to wait a further day still. I was always under the impression that the internet served to alleviate us of such inconveniences as waiting for foreign products to become available to us. Platforms such as Valve's Steam and indeed EA's own distribution service are more than capable of managing a simultaneous and instant release across the treacherous oceans which once had us tapping our feet, waiting for our gaming fix. Why publishers continue to make some paying customers wait for content while others receive a head start in this day and age is beyond me, and apparently a lot of gamers besides. This was the least of my worries when the game actually unlocked and I fired it up for the first time, however.
The multiplayer demo had, overall, really excited me. The nanosuit allowed for interesting gameplay dynamics and encouraged a thrilling guerilla-warfare combat style, as opposed to simply setting up camp in an area and holding the front line. This was especially true for the sniper class; disabling the suit's stealth module to pick off an opponent in the open before recloaking and scaling a nearby building to find your next vantage point was ceaselessly engaging. The only concern raised by the demo was the limited nature of the game's graphical options. Crysis, as you are most likely aware, is a graphical behemoth and so the exclusion of the ability to fine tune settings independently of each other was disheartening, though I was optimistic this would be rectified in the game's retail release.
It wasn't, as it happens. A few extra gradients of graphical settings were added, but no fine tuning is officially available. This had PC gamers- quite rightly- in an uproar, but I'll return to this in a moment. For now, let me describe Crysis 2's online experience for the first two days after release in one word: Nonexistent.
Issues with the game's MyCrysis account management system meant very few people were able to log in to online play when the game finally released. A patch has yet to be rolled out officially fixing this error, and has reputedly driven many gamers to return the game almost immediately out of frustration.
The MyCrysis debacle is indeed a grave error on Crytek's behalf and one I feel could have been avoided by integrating Crysis 2 with the aforementioned Steam service, but I digress. The release date frustration too is the fault of publishers EA, no doubt. How then, is the community at fault? Well, it's their attitude, actually.
Dare to venture onto the MyCrysis forums and you will doubtlessly be left breathless by the overwhelming stench of self entitlement from what I hope is a very loud minority of players. Thread topics range from the likes of WHERE THE **** IS MY DIRECT X 11' to the incredibly tactful I am never buying another game from these **** developers'. As paying customers, these people are naturally at liberty to voice their opinions and make known their dissatisfaction with the product, but when posts devolve into nothing more than personal slurs against the development team, once-reasonable arguments lose all credibility.
Backtracking briefly into the realm of graphical options, one major source of fury among the community is the lack of DirectX 11 support. Crysis 2 actually utilizes DirectX 9, which believe it or not- is a step backwards from earlier Crysis games, which made use of the technology's tenth iteration. The most obvious reason for this is the need to ensure smooth performance across multiple platforms. Don't mention that in the forums, however, because you'll most likely be scolded with retorts along the lines of I CAN'T BELIEVE CRYTEK RELEASED SUCH A SHODDY CONSOLE PORT' and YOU CONSOLE BABIES HAVE RUINED IT FOR US'.
Consider for a moment: This game is making use of DirectX 9. It looks amazing. I feel as though I am the sole person who was more impressed by the game's graphical prowess when I became privy to this. Brilliant graphics does not make a brilliant game, and I feel sorry for those members of the community on a rampage as though the inclusion of DirectX11 will suddenly vastly improve the game's content. I feel as though they're rather missing the point, and can't see the forest for its superbly rendered, ambient occluded trees.
I say the following as an avid and lifelong PC gamer: Consoles are where the money is. It's saddening, yes, but console ports are something we are all going to have to get used to. While I agree some ports smack of laziness and greed, I can say with total confidence that this is not one of these ports. It is arguable that the term port' is wholly inappropriate, considering the game was developed for all platforms simultaneously using Crytek's shiny new CryEngine 3. While there are certainly issues with Crysis 2, as with all big budget releases, these problems have largely been exacerbated by a community that has become obsessed with the shallow rather than judging a game on other more important elements such as narrative and gameplay. I think we would all do well to take a step back, and appreciate for a moment the game with which we have been presented, instead of getting caught up in what will ultimately be antiquated faster than you can say 'Unreal Engine 4'.
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