Challenge: Find Differences between Crysis 2 Console SKUs

Wednesday 16th March 2011, 09:31:00 PM, written by Alex G

Since the release of Crysis in 2007, Crytek has been touted as PC Gaming's saviour for pushing graphics technology to the limit.  Once they announced plans for their next generation, multiplatform engine, CryEngine 3, there was much skepticism and speculation as to how they might be able to move forwards whilst simultaneously developing for hardware that technically predates Crysis! And now, with the recent releases of the Crysis 2 multiplayer demo on PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, B3D forum image connoisseurs have been at the forefront of comparisons, from pixel counting to hacking away at config files.

From PlayStation Blog, Crytek's own Nathan Camarillo has issued a challenge that many will certainly take up:

"I’ve gone on the record saying that if you stick PS3 and 360 side by side I would challenge anyone to find any meaningful difference. I don’t see it at all."

For quite some time, we have had a couple threads where objective comparisons or discussions can be made, namely the CryEngine 3 Thread, which is focused more on the engine itself, however, there is a more general thread on image quality for unreleased games here.  Just beware the PR language as, "meaningful difference" is about as subjective as it gets - though from what I've seen of both demos, there are some clear differences starting with the resolution.

Comments on the challenge itself can be made here.

Discuss on the forums

Tagging

± crytek, crysis, consoles, PS3, X360


Latest Thread Comments (429 total)
Posted by PSman on Tuesday, 17-Jul-12 02:07:48 UTC
OK, I decided to get the PS3 version due to concern that I might run into the (360 exclusive) grain glitch. I asked the Crysis forum and other Xbox forums as well and yep nearly every single one of them have experienced it (especially during their second play through where it get even worse) - even the developer themselves acknowledge it, they just refused to fix it.. This glitch does make the 360 version looks a whole lot worse. I don't think every single person who play the 360 version have or will encounter it, but it's def there and quiet a few of them does encounter it. They even show me these two pictures to show me what they meant Image: http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/1523/crysis2sidebyside.jpg Image: http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/2907/crysis2sidebyside2.jpg I'm utterly SHOCK and even disgusted at how lensoftruth and eurogamers didn't point this out. Because this glitch gravely hurt the 360 image quality and give the PS3 version a major advantage. This further show their pro-MS bias/agenda. OK, maybe I'm being too hard on them, maybe they haven't encounter it, yet? Either ways I strongly suggest that Lens and Eurogamers revise their articles. Sorry for the rant, but stuff like this annoys me.

Posted by N_B on Tuesday, 17-Jul-12 03:32:15 UTC
Lens of truth never play games all the way through (rarely past ther opening scenes even), and I doubt DF plays everything the whole way through either. Considering the buzz and rumors and reputation of Crysis visuals there would have been a lot of pressure to get the articles done fast.

Posted by Billy Idol on Tuesday, 17-Jul-12 06:20:28 UTC
Quoting PSman
OK, I decided to get the PS3 version due to concern that I might run into the (360 exclusive) grain glitch. I asked the Crysis forum and other Xbox forums as well and yep nearly every single one of them have experienced it (especially during their second play through where it get even worse) - even the developer themselves acknowledge it, they just refused to fix it.. This glitch does make the 360 version looks a whole lot worse. I don't think every single person who play the 360 version have or will encounter it, but it's def there and quiet a few of them does encounter it. They even show me these two pictures to show me what they meantI'm utterly SHOCK and even disgusted at how lensoftruth and eurogamers didn't point this out. Because this glitch gravely hurt the 360 image quality and give the PS3 version a major advantage. This further show their pro-MS bias/agenda. OK, maybe I'm being too hard on them, maybe they haven't encounter it, yet? Either ways I strongly suggest that Lens and Eurogamers revise their articles.Sorry for the rant, but stuff like this annoys me.
Why are you mad at LoT and DF? Be mad at Crytek, they are the once who decided to not patch the glitch...so if you are annoyed don't support them and don't buy the game!?!

Posted by PSman on Tuesday, 17-Jul-12 06:48:46 UTC
Quoting Billy Idol
Why are you mad at LoT and DF? Be mad at Crytek, they are the once who decided to not patch the glitch...so if you are annoyed don't support them and don't buy the game!?!
Well, I am mad at both. The reason why I'm mad at LoT and DF as well is because those two sites did a half-baked comparison and complete missed (or even ignored) the flaws that the 360 version has. It seems to me that they both have a pro-MS agenda because in a lot of their head-to-head of multi-plats games they often skewed things in the 360 favor and did stuff to make the PS3 version look worse. Ever since the day that the PS3 launch the gaming media seem to be hell-benting on smearing the PS3.That's why I'm bumping this thread and ask you guys since this is a pretty unbias site. I also bumped it to inform people as wellWe can't let LoT and DF (and Crytek) get away with this.

Posted by antwan on Wednesday, 18-Jul-12 13:18:26 UTC
PS3 has the lighting, physics, anisotropy, and texture resolution advantage,360 has resolution and framerate.I'd go with 360

Posted by PSman on Thursday, 19-Jul-12 07:50:31 UTC
OK, I just popped the game into my PS3 today to give it a run. Overall I like this game. It's like Deus Ex but with a lot more actions. I really like how open ended the environment is - this give you multiples ways to accomplish your goals/objectives. The Nano Suit upgrade and Weapon customization is also another nice touch that add another layer of depth to the gameplay.

Technically it's no Killzone but it is still a very attractive game. I love the realistic city setting and lighting. The frame rate can chug quiet a bit in some scenarios but overall it is stable through out most of the game. One of the most interesting I noticed is how despite being a sub-HD game, the back of the box says that it supports 1080p. When I played this on my 32" Sony Bravia 1080p HDTV it looks a bit blurry so it immediately occurred to me that the game automatically upscaled to 1080p - this puzzled me because why the heck would they upscaled a sub-HD game to 1080p?! Wouldn't that make the IQ even worse? So I then decided to unchecked the 1080p box in my PS3 display setting to see how the game looks in 720p. In 720p the game does look noticeably sharper, but unfortunately the jaggies are a lot more noticeable as well (at least to me). Maybe this is the reason why they upscaled the game to 1080p - to hide the jaggies?

So I have dilemma: should I stick to upscaled 1080p (blurrier but less jaggies) or sub-720 (sharper but more jaggies).

Question for you guys who played the PS3 version, which resolution did you stick with?

Posted by antwan on Thursday, 19-Jul-12 10:18:01 UTC
Quoting PSman
OK, I just popped the game into my PS3 today to give it a run. Overall I like this game. It's like Deus Ex but with a lot more actions. I really like how open ended the environment is - this give you multiples ways to accomplish your goals/objectives. The Nano Suit upgrade and Weapon customization is also another nice touch that add another layer of depth to the gameplay.

Technically it's no Killzone but it is still a very attractive game. I love the realistic city setting and lighting. The frame rate can chug quiet a bit in some scenarios but overall it is stable through out most of the game. One of the most interesting I noticed is how despite being a sub-HD game, the back of the box says that it supports 1080p. When I played this on my 32" Sony Bravia 1080p HDTV it looks a bit blurry so it immediately occurred to me that the game automatically upscaled to 1080p - this puzzled me because why the heck would they upscaled a sub-HD game to 1080p?! Wouldn't that make the IQ even worse? So I then decided to unchecked the 1080p box in my PS3 display setting to see how the game looks in 720p. In 720p the game does look noticeably sharper, but unfortunately the jaggies are a lot more noticeable as well (at least to me). Maybe this is the reason why they upscaled the game to 1080p - to hide the jaggies?

So I have dilemma: should I stick to upscaled 1080p (blurrier but less jaggies) or sub-720 (sharper but more jaggies).

Question for you guys who played the PS3 version, which resolution did you stick with?
After 2 hours of play, I played through the rest of it at 720P. It was sharper, and (could be placebo) it felt like the response was better.
I forgot to turn it back to 1080P, but my goodness, did GT5 look fantastic. it has 4xMSAA, in that mode, which lead to a really clean image.

You could try turning the sharpening of your tv down when playing crisis2, the image quality should be comparable to the soft-upscale 1080P mode

Posted by kots on Friday, 20-Jul-12 17:23:38 UTC
Quoting PSman
OK, I just popped the game into my PS3 today to give it a run.

Technically it's no Killzone but it is still a very attractive game.
Also Crysis 2 is a corridor shooter , not a game with huge , open ended environments like Killzone .

Posted by pjbliverpool on Friday, 20-Jul-12 19:43:53 UTC
Quoting kots
Also Crysis 2 is a corridor shooter , not a game with huge , open ended environments like Killzone .
Explains why it looks better then! :twisted:

Posted by PSman on Saturday, 21-Jul-12 02:43:39 UTC
Quoting antwan
After 2 hours of play, I played through the rest of it at 720P. It was sharper, and (could be placebo) it felt like the response was better.
I forgot to turn it back to 1080P, but my goodness, did GT5 look fantastic. it has 4xMSAA, in that mode, which lead to a really clean image.

You could try turning the sharpening of your tv down when playing crisis2, the image quality should be comparable to the soft-upscale 1080P mode
After thinking about I decided to stick with 720p. Thanks :smile:

I'm getting more impressed by the game as I play it. I'm especially impressed by the collapsing building and bridges wow! Though, I'm disappointed at how there are so little foliage interaction - when you're moving through bushes or grass you just CLIP right through them - and plus it seems like dust and fire effects are all rendered in 2d, whoa WTF!? :???:


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