Crytek CEO Cevat Yerli has been talking about the PC version of Crysis 2. The first game was famous for being a graphical benchmark, and a showcase for the power of the PC. Many are worried that the sequel’s cross platform release will mean compromises for the PC version. Yerli is keen to dismiss these fears, saying that “Crysis 2 will have a PC version that’s a PC game. We’re going to push it as much as the engine can take.”
Yerli was asked by Edge if there would be any blurry textures on Crysis 2 PC, a common problem with cross-platform games that don’t take advantage of the PC’s’ ability to run games at much higher resolutions. “Will Crysis 2 have hi-res textures; will it get blurry? Crysis 2 will have a PC version that’s a PC game. We’re going to push it as much as the engine can take. It’ll be at least as beautiful as Crysis, but the context is different. It’s New York. Not a jungle, but an urban jungle.”
In fact, Yerli claims that Crysis 2’s cross-platform release has increased the budget of the game to the extent that Crysis 2 is better on PC than it otherwise would have been. “You have to understand that the budget for Crysis was much lower than for Crysis 2. We could spend much more on Crysis 2 because we expected to sell more through multiplatform development. So PC gamers will get a better game out of that; it isn’t just take, it’s also give. The gameplay has received much more research about accessibility, streamlining and making it more fun, but also making it deeper. So every angle is improved. The amount of diligence and production volume we’ve spent makes it so much better than Crysis.”
A set of unofficial Crysis 2 minimum specs appeared recently, revealing that Crysis 2 won’t need a monster PC to run. Yerli says this is a deliberate move after taking criticism for the high system requirements of the first game. “I’m frustrated about this. We said it was a game that was pushing boundaries, which would stay relevant in the future, and all we got was a backlash: “This game doesn’t run!” Then games came out for the same hardware that weren’t running at all, or were choppy and whatnot despite low-res graphics. Yet we were the bad guys for pushing PC graphics, making it too expensive to play.”
“Now, it’s more like we want to give you the best PC experience with current high-end equipment. So if you bought the last high-end graphics card, you’re going to get a blast out of it. Likewise, the minimum-spec experience will be of a far higher quality than Crysis was.”
Crysis 2 is due out on March 25, and a multiplayer demo should be coming to PC sometime before launch.
