I fear that Crysis 2 has become the new whipping boy of gaming as of late. Everyone has it in for the game these days, or so it seems. Still, I think the marketing for Crysis 2 has to be at least partly to blame. If you are going to talk the talk, you need to walk the walk.
The original Crysis was a beast of a game when it came out for the PC. Graphically it was just a monster, and few people had the hardware to do the game justice. It had an elitism that made it both desirable, and admirable. It still holds its own to this very day. Although one could argue that the steep hardware requirements was financial suicide for Crysis, no one can deny the brilliance of the free advertising it created.
In a gaming world so heavily focused on graphical prowess, Crysis basically marketed itself for free, and made Crytek a household name amongst gamers. Early leaks and pirates ensured the game was minimally profitable, but Crytek succeeded in putting Crysis in the minds of gamers, which is a VERY important feat in such a crowded market. Companies spend countless millions to gain such a desirable image. "Crysis" is now associated with "amazing graphics" to the average gamer. Few think "mediocre gameplay."
With Crysis 2, Crytek was most likely up against a financial wall. Game studios need to make money. Agree with me or not, but developing games for the PC is a difficult proposition given development costs, competition, and pirating. Although pirating is not unheard of on consoles, it is not at the level of the PC. As such, it only made sense for Crytek to bring Crysis 2 to the console masses. The problem here was the hardware: How do you develop a bleeding edge game for the PC, that ALSO runs on 5 year old console hardware?
I will reserve judgment on Crysis 2 on the PC until I see the retail version at full settings, but the interwebz is jumping all over the PC demo in a bad way. For a name built on graphics, being anything less than top of the line is a blow to the image of Crysis 2. Here is where reputation for graphics becomes a double edged sword.
I should point out that the goal of a demo is to get it to the PC masses. The masses don't all have the latest and greatest in computer hardware. As such, it does not surprise me that the PC demo is not running at full graphical steam. Still, many a PC fanboy, angry at "press start to continue", take this as an opportunity to bash Crysis 2. Maybe it is part anti-console angst, or maybe Crytek set themselves up to fail with all it's hype and tough talk about the prowess of CryEngine 3... that they may be unable to deliver on.
On the topic of Crysis 2 being set up to fail, let this be a lesson: In the world of gaming websites and webpage hits, it is easy to tweet/blog/etc comments like "My game is better than your game", or "my game uses 100% of the console power", or "No other game engine could do what our engine is doing" or "my game can make you breakfast." Such comments can get you a lot of free advertising and build hype. The problem is that when a developer starts talking trash, the product better well be able to hold it's own in a fight.
The internet is a touchy medium. Just as quickly as gamers, bloggers and news sites jump on the bandwagon to hype your game, they can easily go sour and be turned against you. Crysis 2 is feeling a bit of that heat right now. In the PC world Crysis 2 is failing to blow the competition out of the water in graphics, and the demo is looking solid, but it is not where fans expect it to be. Some PC gamers blame consoles, and Crytek for "selling out" and playing to the lowest common denominator. To top things off, PS3 fans are upset they have been all but left out to date. No demo yet. The lack of PS3 footage/demo has some PS3 fans paranoid that Crysis 2 will be just another in the line of low-quality ports (in reality, I think it will be fine, Microsoft just paid $$$ for the timed demo exclusive to drive sales of the 360 version). Plus, core PS3 fanboys these days seem to be anti any shooter that is not KZ3 or console exclusive to the PS3. The Crytek boasting, and the KZ3 vs Crysis 2 comparisons did not help matters either...
So in the end of the day we have a gaming franchise that built its name on graphical prowess, that has in some ways set itself up to fail because maybe, just maybe, it is not the next coming of a graphical Jesus. The tides of hype appear to be changing from positive to negative, and the feeding frenzy is building. Bad news and controversy creates hits, and bloggers/websites want your readership. Combine this with the early leak of Crysis 2 on the PC, and Crysis 2 is looking shaky.
The sad thing is that Crysis 2 looks to be a solid game, with solid graphics, and fresh game-play in a stagnating shooter genre. I personally have enjoyed the demo more than most full games, and it will be a day 1 buy for me. However, I suspect that it will meet the fate that many a PS3 exclusive knows well (think GT5, KZ3): a long period of hype that builds up the game in the mind of gamers to the point that the end product will never be able to satisfy the unrealistic expectations. When the respectable 8 and 8.5 out of 10's start rolling in, Fanboys will troll or cry, and Crysis 2 will be just another shooter. 8 is a terrible score in the minds of gamers who expected 10's. A bad enough score to prevent cash from flowing into the pockets of Crytek, and for torrent to get a healthy consideration.
I fear Crytek has set Crysis 2 up to fail. Gamers are a fickle bunch.
The friendly folks over at Razer recently sent us their full size Kishi Ultra mobile gaming controller, and this thing didn't disappoint.
VGChartz's Mark Nielsen: "Upon finally finishing Devil May Cry 5 recently - after it spent several years on my “I’ll play that soon” list - I considered giving it a fittingly-named Late Look article. However, considering that this was indeed the final piece I was missing in the DMC puzzle, I decided to instead take this opportunity to take a look back at the entirety of this genre-defining series and rank the entries. What also made this a particularly tempting notion was that while most high-profile series have developed fairly evenly over time, with a few bumps on the road, the history of Devil May Cry has, at least in my eyes, been an absolute roller coaster, with everything from total disasters to action game gold."
Me leaving it out should be telling of my thoughts on it. Better than 2 as a DMC game.
Still a good game though.
3,1,4,5 to me, never played 2. 5 gameplay is amazing but level design was really disappointing to me, just a bunch of plain arenas, the story felt like a worse written rehash of the 3rd and the charater models looked weird ( specially the ladies ). Another problem with 5 was that there was not enough content for 3 charaters so I could never really familiarize with any of them
2.
Dmc.
4.
5.
1.
3.
God DMC2 was an awful game.
And in case this isn't obvious it goes worst to best
Order changes depending on your focus. I tend to focus on gameplay/fun factor, so...
5, 3, 1, 4, 2.
I really didn't like 4 but commend Dante's weapon diversity. The retreading of old ground was pretty unacceptable to me.
But even then... Still more enjoyable than 2 for me
TSA go hands on with the beta for Inazuma Eleven: Victory Road, but how is the game transitioning to the post-stylus era?
Idk, I think you're describing the n4g bunch, which is a small minority, although they're vocal they're also retarded. Leave it up to reviews and word of mouth concerning quality of Crysis 2. If it's good, then it'll survive the ridicule thats deserving/undeserving.
I'm enjoying the PC demo at the moment. I think it's a pretty good multiplayer game but with it being DX9 with a Press Start screen and no graphical options other than screen resolution it's pretty obvious it's a port of the 360 version.
Still, I've already bought the game on Steam and look forward to seeing the full game. I really hope Crytek haven't screwed up the PC version in terms of it's graphical capabilities since we all know Crytek is more than capable of bringing our mighty PCs to their knees.
The demo is very fun. This game is a certain buy for me.