A year is an eternity when it comes to the ever-changing world of PC graphics technology. It is, therefore, a testament to the developers at Crytek that the original Crysis, released November 2007 (more than three years ago), continues to set the bar for PC game graphics. This title created a standard so lofty that we continue to get requests for benchmarks in Crysis in our graphics card reviews, more than three years later.
Yet, this game is not without its faults. Despite some shining examples of free-form single-player arenas, as Crysis nears its conclusion, it sometimes feels muddled and rushed. The successful sandbox approach often gives way to on-rails shooting and racing sequences that feel out of place. Crysis’ multiplayer component is unique, but not as successful as it aspires to be, with colossal maps and a capture-the-building mechanic that never seems to reach its potential. The ‘Power Struggle’ mode seems better-suited for a large-scale army than a handful of super-soldiers. Simple standbys like team deathmatch aren’t included.
In the final analysis, Crysis was probably more successful at showing off what PC graphics can do than it was at being a great game.

But Crytek has been far from idle for the last three years, and Crysis 2 is about to hit store shelves on the 22nd of March. Happily, the company gave us a chance to experiment with the game via a free multiplayer demo (that demo that is no longer playable, by the way; Crytek disabled it on March 16th). Because of this, we’re able to provide you with detailed information regarding graphics card performance in Crysis 2.
The Crysis 2 Multiplayer Demo

Before we look at that data, let’s discuss the gameplay aspect. Crytek went back to the drawing board with the multiplayer component of Crysis 2, and it’s clear the company paid a lot of attention to the Call of Duty series. Crysis 2 tracks kills and unlocks ranks and achievements in a very similar fashion. Even the feel is similar.

But Crytek’s newest title is so much more than a Call of Duty clone. Of course, the nanosuit’s strength, speed, armor, and cloaking capabilities remain, but the addition of a new ‘nanovision’ mode helps you see other combatants and even cloaked enemies. And all of these wonderful abilities come with an associated energy cost. This adds a whole other dimension to the standard first-person shooter combat formula.

Yes, the controls have been streamlined, but not necessarily in a bad way. It’s easy to point a finger and say the game is dumbed-down for consoles. But in practice, the new scheme makes much more sense. The default mode is strength and speed, but these abilities don’t take any energy unless you use them by jumping or running. Armor and stealth modes can be toggled with the Q and E keys, respectively, but enabling either of these modes will constantly consume energy. Nanovision mode also eats energy, but at a much slower rate than armor or stealth. Energy management is key, and the most successful players are the ones who do that effectively. The simple-but-sensible control scheme helps with that.

The two maps included in the demo are Skyline and Pier 7, both of which are just the right size for a team deathmatch of eight to 12 players. But there’s also a new game mode called ‘capture the pod.’ an alien ship drops an item, and the team that occupies the area surrounding it gains points over time. After a couple minutes, the pod becomes unstable and explodes, and this sequence of events repeats until one of the teams has gained enough points to win. It’s a good metagame alternative to simple team deathmatch.

And that’s about it. Crysis 2 multiplayer might not sound groundbreaking, but it’s certainly very addicting. In this author’s opinion, it contains the best PvP elements of Call of Duty and Aliens vs. Predator, but ends up being more fun and challenging than both.

With no single-player demo for us to try, that’s as much as we can say about the game play until we get our hands on the full release. Now let’s talk about performance.
Actually, a 8800GTX is more or less equal to a 9800GTX, and the 5770 = 9800GTX+/GTS250, so the slight improvements means a 5770 (mainstream today) is only say 10-20% better instead of 2-3 times.
Tom is getting interesting day by day
You should dl it. I really liked it. I'm an avid FPS player, everything from CS/quake/unreal/cod/battlefield. The stealth suit's powers are really fun to play with an adds a tactical aspect to the game. The only similarity i see with cod is getting X kills and you can do a radar sweep/call down gunship. Thing is though, its much harder to reach a 7 kill streak in this game (for gunship), so you rarely ever see the higher call downs, I usually only get 3 kills streak for the radar sweep. I honestly dunno why ppl are saying the demo's bad.
Please, u didn't read? The demo was in DX9...
Dam trolls/idiots piss me off...
LOL BE PREPARED TO BE OWNED
In an interview with crytek developers
"Die Demo lief wie erwähnt unter DirectX 9, die Cryengine 3 beherrscht aber auch DirectX 10 und 11 und wird in einigen Monaten mit DX11-Support an Lizenznehmer ausgeliefert."
I am sure you can put that through a translator (basically demo is in dx9 and crytek will add dx11 later as a patch)
SOURCE: http://www.pcgameshardware.de/aid,768480/Crysis-2-Alles-ueber-DirectX-11-3D-ohne-Leistungsverlust-und-8-Kern-Optimierung/Action-Spiel/News/
And from another interview from IGN
"Regarding DirectX 11 support, which would allow for more advanced graphical effects, Camarillo said, "Crysis 2 will support DirectX 11 but we'll talk more about that in the future. There's an announcement coming soon about that." "
SOURCE: http://pc.ign.com/articles/115/1153248p1.html
And from a swedish source
"At a presentation before the launch of Nvidia's new graphics card in the GeForce 500-series revealed that Crysis 2 initially will not include support for DirectX 11. Instead, the PC gamers had to make do with the six year old DX9......According to Nvidia the developers promises to include a DX11 mode in a future update."
SOURCE: http://www.sweclockers.com/nyhet/13594-crysis-2-endast-dx9-dx11-kommer-senare
From do gaming
"Gamers looking to get Crysis 2 on the PC will need to put up with the console disadvantage for a while as the PC version will only be shipping with DirectX 9. "
SOURCE: http://gaming.do.co.za/articles/news/crysis_2_with_directx_9.htm
Chances they will add directx11 as a patch later - 50% in my book
Chances the patch will actually make the game look better - 10%
Wow you sound really confident there, even to the extent of calling someone else, better informed, an idiot. Given the 5 minutes of research you're probably now conducting after the fact, confirming that the Crysis 2 demo along with the final shipping version of the game will in fact be DX9 only (at least initially), don't you feel like a bit of an... well, I won't say it.
level system = cod
kill cam = cod
load outs = cod
medals = cod
xp system = cod
spawn system = cod
level design = cod
kill streaks = cod
if you disregard the different graphic styles, crysis 2 and cod are the exact same multiplayer game except for one difference. A nanosuit.
Here it's hands on, experience based, results telling what's actually playable and what's not.
It's also worth noting that the Crossfired 6850s actually start to help when you really start throwing work at them, notably 1680 Advanced and higher. It's a small boost, but it's there. The behaviour with the SLi'd 460s is odd considering this is a TWIMTBP title but I'm sure it'll be fixed very soon.
The 560 just eats Crysis 2 up, very impressive. I do know now that my old 4830 will never handle this game.
Please note, the final Hardcore graph says 1920x1800. Other than that