Thirteen years after the game’s original release, Crysis is back for gamers in Nintendo’s handheld Switch. The game finally arrived for all on Switch despite the earlier versions being delayed a lot. The Eurogamer’s tech specialists Digital Foundry, famous for creating technical breakdowns, have released a tech review highlighting the differences between each version and sequel of Crysis that have been so far released and how the Nintendo Switch operates the game. Digital Foundry is terming it as the Switch’s “impossible” ports where the game is being released.
Crysis is a popular CPU-intensive game, and this is the first time a game like that is coming to mobile or a handheld port. Of late, the delays in the launch of the game led to the rise of ‘Can It Run Crysis?’ meme games culture, with fans spreading the meme-like crazy.
Crysis on Switch
The port is handled by Saber Interactive, who is very eager and upfront about the tech running the Crysis game on Switch. It is based on the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of the Crysis game, with additional improvements for Digital Foundry enough to declare it as “undoubtedly the best console port.” The game runs at 720P in docked mode, with at times dropping down to 540P or lower in “busy times.” The full dynamic resolution scaling fluctuates between 540P to 900P docked, and 400P to 700P undocked. “The main takeaway of the game is that its image quality isn’t bad,” the report states. “It’s not pristine, but comparatively it is better than the heavily blurred presentations that are usually seen in Tech 6 ports-The Witcher 3 and Warframe.“
Crysis on Nintendo Switch Review
The Crysis game also boasts of improved lighting, surpassing its PC version at times. This is due to the use of sparse voxel-based global illumination that offers a ‘real-time illumination system for both ambient occlusion and indirect light bounce.‘
The game’s frame rate stands at 30, with occasional dips into the 20s in times of massive action. There are also some compromises in the vegetation destruction scene, “when you unload on a tree, it appears somewhat choppy,” the report stated. The detail on materials as well as the surfaces like the nanosuit, roads and other surfaces have been dialled back to the point that they seem incredibly muddy and lack photorealism. Though users will be able to destroy buildings with grenades, topple boards off a bridge, and trees, the game may halt momentarily. However, the game’s entire tenth mission titled the “Ascension,” is missing on Nintendo Switch.
Despite all the shortcomings, Digital Foundry stated that Nintendo Switch version of Crysis is “without a doubt the best console release of a Crysis game to date,” at least until the PS4 and Xbox One remastered versions are launched.
About Crysis
Crysis is a first-person good shooter video game series that is created and developed by German developer Crytek. The series plot revolves around military protagonists group with “nano suits”, that give them superpower physical strength, speed, defence, and cloaking abilities. The protagonists’ mission on a face-off against the hostile North Korean soldiers, heavily armed mercenaries, and a race swarm of technologically advanced aliens ‘Ceph’.
The series has three main instalments, with a standalone spinoff of the first game, a separate multiplayer title, and a compilation. The first two games, Crysis and Crysis Warhead are set in the year 2020 on the fictional Lingshan Islands, off the Philippines. Crysis 2 and Crysis 3, the sequels to the original game, are set in the year 2023 in New York City. The remastered version of the original Crysis was announced on April 16, 2020.
