Crysis: Warhead

[TerranUp16]

Article

Actually I read a much lengthier and mostly more informative article on C:W in PC Gamer, but anyway what's been said, shown, and revealed so far looks good (and that goes for more than just its looks). It goes without saying that visually Warhead is going to be insane as Crysis itself was (and Far Cry 2 is showing no signs of challenging Crysis for the visual crown), though Crytek is probably going to get a lot of flak from a bunch of ignorant dumbasses because of their improvements to CryEngine 2- "Wha? You are going to increase quality w/out decreasing performance!? So Crysis WAS an unoptimized PoS!" Before complaining about how crappy Crysis runs on your system, do some research into why it runs like that (or just look at how effing good it looks and that pretty much tells the story). Another year of development will certainly allow Crytek to bring additional technology to bear and thus better optimization- that follows much the same concept as why God of War 2 on the PS2 looks far better than any PS2 game from 2001. Anyway, the big thing that Crytek was harping on in the PC Gamer article was their new use of fully global lighting, which I am presuming will remove the discrepancy between the excellent lighting on the nanosuits and the rather flat, dull lighting on the North Koreans (they still looked amazing, but grab one by the neck and check how the nanosuit hand looks super-realistic and the North Korean almost looks cartoony in comparison).

What's more interesting to me though is the gameplay. The first six missions of Crysis on Delta mode offer some of the best tactical FPS combat around and are infinitely replayable (I've lost count of how many times I've played the first mission of Crysis but it's well into double digits), and it sounds like Warhead will try to pander more in that direction than in the direction of the last 2/3's of Crysis while still keeping the intensity high. Admittedly I'm a bit concerned about the amped-up intensity as the best Crysis missions came from the more open, stealthier missions (such as the first). However, with an RTS team helming Warhead and a seeming commitment to offer intensity and stealth (or, pretty much, whatever the player wants), Warhead can hopefully maintain a consistency throughout its campaign that Crysis lacked.

In any case, if the current Far Cry 2 videos and trailers are indicative of its gameplay, Crysis with some amped-up intensity would still get my vote over what I've seen of FC2 so far.

Oh, right, and speaking of intensity...

[TerranUp16]

Another Preview w/more Performance Indicators and Some Really Good Gameplay News

I suppose it suffices to say I'm now looking forward to Crysis: Warhead more than I am Far Cry 2.

[TerranUp16]

PC Gamer Got Around to Posting its Lengthy Crysis: Warhead Preview on GamesRadar

Includes a full preview as well as an interview w/Cevat Yerli (and even a picture of Cevat Yerli for those wanting to see the man/myth/legend, lol).

Anyway, really good/detailed read if you want to get some idea of just wtf Crysis: Warhead is and how/if it differs from Crysis.

[TerranUp16]

Frustrated with gas prices lately? Looks like Crysis: Warhead will let you vent your frustration in the *proper* manner

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:Another Preview w/more Performance Indicators and Some Really Good Gameplay News

I suppose it suffices to say I'm now looking forward to Crysis: Warhead more than I am Far Cry 2.

I'm not going to read these articles but.. 1. how does Crysis:Warhead continue on from the original storyline?

2. FarCry2 doesn't look bad. Visually that is.

[TerranUp16]

I highly recommend you set aside some time to read, but whatever...

1.) It doesn't- it's the Blue Shift or Opposing Forces of Crysis. It plops you in the boots of Psycho and runs parallel to the events of Crysis vanilla.
2.) I never said Far Cry 2 looks bad- I merely commented on not being particularly enthralled with the gameplay combat footage they've released so far. It's a bit more... "deathmatchy"... and not quite as tactical as I'd liked to have seen. Crysis, on the other hand, is a deadly ballet of tactical stealth action. I have yet to come across a singleplayer FPS that has even come close to hitting that perfect spot of tactical thinking and sheer exhilaration that Crysis has down so perfectly. Far Cry perhaps, but not quite as much. Crysis: Warhead sounds like it's going to amplify a lot of what I liked about Crysis. Far Cry 2... well, it's got a lot to prove, and hopefully the combat will be better than what they've released so far in vids.

Either way, visually, Crysis: Warhead has Far Cry 2 beat hands-down, though supposedly Ubisoft has yet to release any DX10 FC2 material.

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:I highly recommend you set aside some time to read, but whatever...

1.) It doesn't- it's the Blue Shift or Opposing Forces of Crysis. It plops you in the boots of Psycho and runs parallel to the events of Crysis vanilla.
2.) I never said Far Cry 2 looks bad- I merely commented on not being particularly enthralled with the gameplay combat footage they've released so far. It's a bit more... "deathmatchy"... and not quite as tactical as I'd liked to have seen. Crysis, on the other hand, is a deadly ballet of tactical stealth action. I have yet to come across a singleplayer FPS that has even come close to hitting that perfect spot of tactical thinking and sheer exhilaration that Crysis has down so perfectly. Far Cry perhaps, but not quite as much. Crysis: Warhead sounds like it's going to amplify a lot of what I liked about Crysis. Far Cry 2... well, it's got a lot to prove, and hopefully the combat will be better than what they've released so far in vids.

Either way, visually, Crysis: Warhead has Far Cry 2 beat hands-down, though supposedly Ubisoft has yet to release any DX10 FC2 material.

Er... What does "Crysis vanilla" mean..?

Also I can still see FarCry2 taking Crysis... come on the original was the best looking game, beautiful water effects. The whole 9 yards.

[TerranUp16]

Crytek made Far Cry and Crysis. Ubisoft took over the Far Cry franchise and Ubisoft Montreal is developing Far Cry 2 on the Dunia engine. Anyway, the biggest difference right now seems to be texture resolution, but that could change with DX10 FC2. Still, check-out the FC2 vids and compare those to Crysis or Crysis: Warhead and they leave quite a bit to be desired right now. Screenshots make that even more apparent. And if Crytek really is implementing the realistic global lighting I think they are (they're definitely tweaking the lighting- my only question is if they're headed in the direction of the Natural Mod because that is simply amazing), Far Cry 2 and Dunia have a huge hill to climb to start to really take-on Crysis: Warhead.

However, the key really is that Dunia isn't particularly focused on graphics primarily. It seems to be using a lot of procedural elements and is far more concerned about presenting its dynamic fire and wind and etc... than CryEngine 2's amazing graphics. Of course, that isn't to say that CryEngine 2/Crysis are only about graphics- heh, I was playing yesterday and took-out a red barrel in the midst of a small camp and 3-4 North Koreans. The barrel exploded and sent a tin roof flying- realistically- into two of the North Koreans, killing them, while the barrel outright killed the other NK and the explosion just about killed by ears coming through my speakers, xD Was very purty though

Vanilla = original (non-XP, non-mod, etc...)

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:Crytek made Far Cry and Crysis. Ubisoft took over the Far Cry franchise and Ubisoft Montreal is developing Far Cry 2 on the Dunia engine. Anyway, the biggest difference right now seems to be texture resolution, but that could change with DX10 FC2. Still, check-out the FC2 vids and compare those to Crysis or Crysis: Warhead and they leave quite a bit to be desired right now. Screenshots make that even more apparent. And if Crytek really is implementing the realistic global lighting I think they are (they're definitely tweaking the lighting- my only question is if they're headed in the direction of the Natural Mod because that is simply amazing), Far Cry 2 and Dunia have a huge hill to climb to start to really take-on Crysis: Warhead.

However, the key really is that Dunia isn't particularly focused on graphics primarily. It seems to be using a lot of procedural elements and is far more concerned about presenting its dynamic fire and wind and etc... than CryEngine 2's amazing graphics. Of course, that isn't to say that CryEngine 2/Crysis are only about graphics- heh, I was playing yesterday and took-out a red barrel in the midst of a small camp and 3-4 North Koreans. The barrel exploded and sent a tin roof flying- realistically- into two of the North Koreans, killing them, while the barrel outright killed the other NK and the explosion just about killed by ears coming through my speakers, xD Was very purty though

Vanilla = original (non-XP, non-mod, etc...)

Natural Mod makes it look worse imo. Plus I unno, I can still see FarCry2 being better in gameplay and stuff.

[TerranUp16]

~VanMavus Wrote:

TerranUp16 Wrote:Crytek made Far Cry and Crysis. Ubisoft took over the Far Cry franchise and Ubisoft Montreal is developing Far Cry 2 on the Dunia engine. Anyway, the biggest difference right now seems to be texture resolution, but that could change with DX10 FC2. Still, check-out the FC2 vids and compare those to Crysis or Crysis: Warhead and they leave quite a bit to be desired right now. Screenshots make that even more apparent. And if Crytek really is implementing the realistic global lighting I think they are (they're definitely tweaking the lighting- my only question is if they're headed in the direction of the Natural Mod because that is simply amazing), Far Cry 2 and Dunia have a huge hill to climb to start to really take-on Crysis: Warhead.

However, the key really is that Dunia isn't particularly focused on graphics primarily. It seems to be using a lot of procedural elements and is far more concerned about presenting its dynamic fire and wind and etc... than CryEngine 2's amazing graphics. Of course, that isn't to say that CryEngine 2/Crysis are only about graphics- heh, I was playing yesterday and took-out a red barrel in the midst of a small camp and 3-4 North Koreans. The barrel exploded and sent a tin roof flying- realistically- into two of the North Koreans, killing them, while the barrel outright killed the other NK and the explosion just about killed by ears coming through my speakers, xD Was very purty though

Vanilla = original (non-XP, non-mod, etc...)

Natural Mod makes it look worse imo. Plus I unno, I can still see FarCry2 being better in gameplay and stuff.

The screenshots don't do it justice. It needs to be seen in motion, in real-time. It's a HUGE improvement (with only the very small exception that the viewing distance is farther than Crysis's- realistically so, but despite that Crysis was built for extremely long viewing distances and uses them, this extra extension makes some of Crysis's LOD management occasionally more visible; there are also some effects that were obviously specifically built for Crysis's lighting environment that don't translate amazingly well; however, everything assumes realistic, "uniform" lighting and that permeates everywhere- Korean faces don't look cartoony anymore and Nanosuits blend in naturally with their surrounding environments).

Far Cry 2 has potential as far as gameplay goes, but what I've seen so far from the vids they've released has been below my expectations and far below the bar set by a Crysis- a bar Warhead looks like it will raise.

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:

~VanMavus Wrote:

TerranUp16 Wrote:Crytek made Far Cry and Crysis. Ubisoft took over the Far Cry franchise and Ubisoft Montreal is developing Far Cry 2 on the Dunia engine. Anyway, the biggest difference right now seems to be texture resolution, but that could change with DX10 FC2. Still, check-out the FC2 vids and compare those to Crysis or Crysis: Warhead and they leave quite a bit to be desired right now. Screenshots make that even more apparent. And if Crytek really is implementing the realistic global lighting I think they are (they're definitely tweaking the lighting- my only question is if they're headed in the direction of the Natural Mod because that is simply amazing), Far Cry 2 and Dunia have a huge hill to climb to start to really take-on Crysis: Warhead.

However, the key really is that Dunia isn't particularly focused on graphics primarily. It seems to be using a lot of procedural elements and is far more concerned about presenting its dynamic fire and wind and etc... than CryEngine 2's amazing graphics. Of course, that isn't to say that CryEngine 2/Crysis are only about graphics- heh, I was playing yesterday and took-out a red barrel in the midst of a small camp and 3-4 North Koreans. The barrel exploded and sent a tin roof flying- realistically- into two of the North Koreans, killing them, while the barrel outright killed the other NK and the explosion just about killed by ears coming through my speakers, xD Was very purty though

Vanilla = original (non-XP, non-mod, etc...)

Natural Mod makes it look worse imo. Plus I unno, I can still see FarCry2 being better in gameplay and stuff.

The screenshots don't do it justice. It needs to be seen in motion, in real-time. It's a HUGE improvement (with only the very small exception that the viewing distance is farther than Crysis's- realistically so, but despite that Crysis was built for extremely long viewing distances and uses them, this extra extension makes some of Crysis's LOD management occasionally more visible; there are also some effects that were obviously specifically built for Crysis's lighting environment that don't translate amazingly well; however, everything assumes realistic, "uniform" lighting and that permeates everywhere- Korean faces don't look cartoony anymore and Nanosuits blend in naturally with their surrounding environments).

Far Cry 2 has potential as far as gameplay goes, but what I've seen so far from the vids they've released has been below my expectations and far below the bar set by a Crysis- a bar Warhead looks like it will raise.

How could it be better in video.. but not in screenshots?

Eghh! I still haven't played Crysis but from what I've seen and heard FarCry2 sounds better.

[TerranUp16]

Better in-game than in screenshots because the whole mod is about realistic lighting- which is best seen in-game, in real-time, with a real, rendered environment, Screenshots are just stills.

Quote:Eghh! I still haven't played Crysis but from what I've seen and heard FarCry2 sounds better.

Don't go by what you've heard, because undoubtedly what you've heard takes into account the second two-thirds of the game- and those parts suck. I flat-out ignore them, because the first third has amazing gameplay and its levels are so open-ended that I am STILL finding new outposts and new ways to traverse them. They are, in short, infinitely replayable, making the rest of the game irrelevant. Furthermore, the Crysis modding and mapping community is huge. There are dozens of maps that build off of the first third of Crysis, so if you like the first third of Crysis there's plenty of content to literally make the second two-thirds of the game forgettable.

And, as mentioned before, Warhead is going to focus on the first third of Crysis as far as gameplay goes. Keeping in mind that it's a parallel story and standalone game with an expansion's price, then if you are concerned about the second two-thirds of Crysis then just picking-up Warhead should be rather sufficient. Still, imo, the first third of Crysis is worth having and playing through- time and time and time again. Of course, there are also some really awesome mods in development. Though its development team looks the least promising at the moment, I am most looking forward to the Predator mod because a Predator is exactly what I feel like when playing Crysis as I cloak and decloak in a ballet of North Korean doom. Just replacing Nomad and his nanosuit with a Predator model and Predator weaponry would be more than sufficient, xD

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:Better in-game than in screenshots because the whole mod is about realistic lighting- which is best seen in-game, in real-time, with a real, rendered environment, Screenshots are just stills.

Quote:Eghh! I still haven't played Crysis but from what I've seen and heard FarCry2 sounds better.

Don't go by what you've heard, because undoubtedly what you've heard takes into account the second two-thirds of the game- and those parts suck. I flat-out ignore them, because the first third has amazing gameplay and its levels are so open-ended that I am STILL finding new outposts and new ways to traverse them. They are, in short, infinitely replayable, making the rest of the game irrelevant. Furthermore, the Crysis modding and mapping community is huge. There are dozens of maps that build off of the first third of Crysis, so if you like the first third of Crysis there's plenty of content to literally make the second two-thirds of the game forgettable.

And, as mentioned before, Warhead is going to focus on the first third of Crysis as far as gameplay goes. Keeping in mind that it's a parallel story and standalone game with an expansion's price, then if you are concerned about the second two-thirds of Crysis then just picking-up Warhead should be rather sufficient. Still, imo, the first third of Crysis is worth having and playing through- time and time and time again. Of course, there are also some really awesome mods in development. Though its development team looks the least promising at the moment, I am most looking forward to the Predator mod because a Predator is exactly what I feel like when playing Crysis as I cloak and decloak in a ballet of North Korean doom. Just replacing Nomad and his nanosuit with a Predator model and Predator weaponry would be more than sufficient, xD

And now you tell me only a third of Crysis is fun? Wow; that... that's incentive to buy it eh? Hmm. Far Cry 2 looks worse but.. I can feel it being much better. What was it like 1000km^2+ of African Savannah to explore, it looks so fun... you can shoot a guy in the foot and when a guard see's him he will pick him up and try to help him, then you can shoot them both at once. Or shoot the guy who's carrying him in the foot .

[TerranUp16]

Look into what you can accomplish with explosives, grenades, etc... in Crysis and screwing with the AI

As I said above- a third is rather inaccurate. In actuality, if you go by the actual time it takes to complete the first third of Crysis versus the time it takes to finish the last two thirds instead of going by mission counts, it's really a great deal more than "a third". And, as I said, it's ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT. That one third of the game has more replayability than most multiplayer games- including Call of Duty 4. Once again, that is without even getting into the hordes of community content that is currently available for Crysis and the hordes more en route.

Btw, 50km^2.

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:Look into what you can accomplish with explosives, grenades, etc... in Crysis and screwing with the AI

As I said above- a third is rather inaccurate. In actuality, if you go by the actual time it takes to complete the first third of Crysis versus the time it takes to finish the last two thirds instead of going by mission counts, it's really a great deal more than "a third". And, as I said, it's ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT. That one third of the game has more replayability than most multiplayer games- including Call of Duty 4. Once again, that is without even getting into the hordes of community content that is currently available for Crysis and the hordes more en route.

Btw, 50km^2.

I love the solitary little "Btw, 50km^2" .

Eh... at any rate if I do end up buying it with this new computer you've specced out for me I'll certainly be complaining to you if it's not what you've promised .

Btw will Crysis:Warhead be an expansion or a whole seperate... thingy.. er... a whole... standalone game?

[TerranUp16]

~VanMavus Wrote:

TerranUp16 Wrote:Look into what you can accomplish with explosives, grenades, etc... in Crysis and screwing with the AI

As I said above- a third is rather inaccurate. In actuality, if you go by the actual time it takes to complete the first third of Crysis versus the time it takes to finish the last two thirds instead of going by mission counts, it's really a great deal more than "a third". And, as I said, it's ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT. That one third of the game has more replayability than most multiplayer games- including Call of Duty 4. Once again, that is without even getting into the hordes of community content that is currently available for Crysis and the hordes more en route.

Btw, 50km^2.

I love the solitary little "Btw, 50km^2" .

Eh... at any rate if I do end up buying it with this new computer you've specced out for me I'll certainly be complaining to you if it's not what you've promised .

Btw will Crysis:Warhead be an expansion or a whole seperate... thingy.. er... a whole... standalone game?

Standalone with an expansion price. In the US, new PC games generally cost $50 (compared to $60 for 360/PS3 games; there's also a bit of a trend towards $40 on the PC side of things atm) and expansion packs usually cost $30. Crysis: Warhead is a standalone game that will only cost $30.

[~VanMavus]

So.. they're not redoing the engine or anything? Like it's like a map pack? And Model pack...

[TerranUp16]

No... they're upgrading the engine... Why don't you just read the articles I've linked you to? They're redoing the lighting in the engine- I presume to be more like the lighting in the Natural Mod (and if the game is actually engineered for that, which it will be if they do that, then it will be a huge increase without a performance hit) and they're also optimizing it more. There are reports of it currently running High settings smoothly on an 8600GT.

[~VanMavus]

3:35am.. I'm not reading articles =.= Thank god we have you to cover our assess and give us info on the forums .

So, it's not being "totally" redone... but it's going to look better yet be smoother? What the hell are they going to do it? Hm. Plus with the way you've supporting it maybe the Natural Mod should be just added in? At any rate, can you run the current Crysis on high with an 8600GT?

[TerranUp16]

No, an 8600GT is lucky to get Medium settings at a modest resolution. However, I'm not 100% sure what High settings means in Warhead. Cevat Yerli has noted that the naming of the graphical settings in Crysis wasn't done well. For example, even Medium settings in Crysis blow away just about any 360/PS3 game in existence. However, players interpreted Medium to be sub-par. So Yerli said they were going to fix that in Warhead- guessing they're going to call Low Medium, Medium High, High Very High, and Very High Ultra. Wondering if they'll make a new Low setting or not.

But anyway, point is I'm not sure if High in Warhead corresponds to High or Medium in Crysis. I'm also not sure what scale the journalists were going by. They seemed to be indicating the settings were equivalent to Crysis's High settings, but that could just be due to the new lighting and such that Warhead is introducing and thus what had been Medium settings looks a lot better (or the journalists have just been playing too much Call of Duty 4, lol). But anyway, no an 8600GT has a hell of a time running Crysis on High settings at any decent resolution.

As for Warhead's graphics... they're being tweaked and tuned. Why would they need to be 'redone"? They're getting an upgrade- not an overhaul. Why would they need to overhaul the most graphically-advanced game on the planet right now?

[~VanMavus]

Ah, so... I can assume even on Low the game was still fairly... exuberant? Anyway I can't wait to get this new rig now . Spore, Farcry2, Crysis (not on my top to get list... especially with the expansions looming).

[TerranUp16]

It's ok on Low. Medium is where it begins to shine though.

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:It's ok on Low. Medium is where it begins to shine though.

Is the game anything without it's visuals? Like... I mean obviously visuals make up a great deal of a game but I still enjoy games such as Warcraft III and even older games.

[TerranUp16]

Yeah- like I said before, the first third of the game is infinitely replayable- that should be answer enough. But I'll go farther. The Nanosuit and tactical nature of the combat (when playing at Delta difficulty at least) make it the most enjoyable ballet of tactical death ever packed into an FPS game. The graphics make it look nicer, but it would still be an incredible game without them.

If you've ever read the StarCraft novel, Liberty's Crusade, recall the part where Kerrigan enters the Antigan Command Center (if you've played StarCraft, that correlates to the fifth mission) and how Kerrigan dispatched everyone in there. Think of that, but in an FPS. That's Crysis.

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:Yeah- like I said before, the first third of the game is infinitely replayable- that should be answer enough. But I'll go farther. The Nanosuit and tactical nature of the combat (when playing at Delta difficulty at least) make it the most enjoyable ballet of tactical death ever packed into an FPS game. The graphics make it look nicer, but it would still be an incredible game without them.

If you've ever read the StarCraft novel, Liberty's Crusade, recall the part where Kerrigan enters the Antigan Command Center (if you've played StarCraft, that correlates to the fifth mission) and how Kerrigan dispatched everyone in there. Think of that, but in an FPS. That's Crysis.

Ah-huh... just, out of curiosity. No matter who or where I ask this question always get skewiffed. Is there stealth based combat?

Don't skewiff my question, can you shoot a guy in the head, throw on stealth mode and run around the other NPC(s) who are still alive and they not know.. I mean obvisouly they know about the dead guy. But can you play the game stealthily?

[TerranUp16]

You can't shoot and stay cloaked at the same time. And if you kill an enemy when there are others around him, they're going to get suspicious. If they see you they'll shoot- if you cloak they'll shoot where they think you are. The sounds you make and such can tip them off. You can get like right up to enemies while cloaked if they won't know where you are (it's always fun to toss a grenade to some random spot away from you and they'll head towards the explosion while you sneak-up from behind) but if you bump into them they'll figure-out there's something there and once again- sound. And, of course, some NPC's will call for reinforcements the second they see a dead comrade.

Generally, if you kill an enemy from long-range with a silencer attached, they'll get suspicious and start looking around. If you kill two or kill one without a silencer, they're going to start blind-firing towards where they think you are.

[~VanMavus]

TerranUp16 Wrote:You can't shoot and stay cloaked at the same time. And if you kill an enemy when there are others around him, they're going to get suspicious. If they see you they'll shoot- if you cloak they'll shoot where they think you are. The sounds you make and such can tip them off. You can get like right up to enemies while cloaked if they won't know where you are (it's always fun to toss a grenade to some random spot away from you and they'll head towards the explosion while you sneak-up from behind) but if you bump into them they'll figure-out there's something there and once again- sound. And, of course, some NPC's will call for reinforcements the second they see a dead comrade.

Generally, if you kill an enemy from long-range with a silencer attached, they'll get suspicious and start looking around. If you kill two or kill one without a silencer, they're going to start blind-firing towards where they think you are.

You totally skewiffed my question.

Yes or no question, Is there stealth based fighting?

[TerranUp16]

Your question is... unclear... I mean, a lot of the combat revolves around cloaking, moving into an area and setting-up behind some cover, decloaking and firing-off some shots to kill an enemy, then recloaking and moving to a new spot while the enemies scramble to figure out wtf is going on, and letting loose another blast as you decloak and recloak and etc... Like I said, it's a ballet of sorts, with you pretty much flitting in and out of visibility as you cloak/decloak/recloak.

[~VanMavus]

Is it only me who sees this just a little... un-cool.

[TerranUp16]

~VanMavus Wrote:Is it only me who sees this just a little... un-cool.

?