Since I upgraded my video card to a gtx260 I'm getting out some titles that previously I had to play on lower settings and didn't enjoy that much, namely Crysis and Oblivion.
Knowing how much effort Oblivion had and how high the production values were coupled with how many people loved the game, I loaded, patched and tried to like it again just to be smacked in the face with the console menus again.
The PC is the premier port for an rpg and the console menus just really are awful here. I tried and tried to like this game despite this huge flaw but I just can't. I'm officially done with this developer and this game.
Crysis seemed like a same old same old kind of shooter on a really good engine when I loaded it a year ago. I couldn't run things very high so the draw of the graphics didn't have much appeal for me either. Now I have put it in, played through the entire game and I must say it is excellent. The production values as you make your way past the first half are awesome. The first half of the game they are pretty low and the gameplay is fairly monotonous. Once you know the suite mechanics and how to customize weapons the gameplay is a little too easy however the varied missions, different vehicles you get to drive and fly along with the introduction of the alien element really kept me going. I don't finish most games but I had to finish this one.
The alien section got very monotonous and I really resented how maze like this part of the game was with all the monochromatic colors. I almost got to a point where I was ready to quit but I did find my way out.
The climatic boss battles at the end were pretty good too. Probably would have been better on land were you weren't pinned in as much and the final boss could have been a little less console oriented, (shoot these 4 sections off then shoot the vulnerable belly like an arcade game), however it was fun and that's what it should be.
Normally I don't care about graphics that much as some of the best games I have ever played weren't necessarily graphic wonders but for some reason playing this game on a better card did make a difference. Go figure.