Digital foundry managed to get access to the remaster Crysis on Nintendo Switch before tomorrow’s shooter premiere, thanks to which technical experts have prepared a detailed breakdown of the new iteration of the project.
The Switch version is based on the original Crysis port for PS3 and Xbox 360, which, for example, made the geometry of many objects simpler, which is noticeable even in nanosuit models. Mission “Climbing” by plane is also not available on the console.
Nanosuit geometry is easier on Switch and PS3 than PC
The key change for the remaster, however, was the introduction of real-time voxel global illumination – SVOGI… It noticeably saturates the picture, bringing back the warm tone of the original on the PC, rather than reproducing the cold one from the PS3 and Xbox 360.
The new lighting works especially well in interiors. Where in the original on PC the feeling of “flatness” was created in buildings, including due to the lack of shading and other technologies, on Switch the picture becomes much more “three-dimensional”.
Left version for PC, right – for Switch
The Switch also managed to transfer the destruction without changes: buildings, boxes and other objects can still be broken and blown up, but in especially difficult scenes, the console still noticeably loses in performance, albeit for a short time.
But plants for some reason react to interaction with them with slowed down animations, which is especially surprising, given that there were no problems with this on PS3 and Xbox 360.
At the same time, the amount of vegetation like grass has grown noticeably compared to the previous console version, but it still does not reach the dense population of the original on the PC. Bushes and other plants also cast shadows from the flashlight, but somehow not at the beginning of the first mission.
Left version for PC, right – for Switch
Perhaps the main graphic simplification on the Nintendo Switch was the complete disabling of parallax occlusion mapping – this technique made many textures like stones three-dimensional. POM has been on both PC and PS3 and Xbox 360.
According to the developers, it had to be abandoned due to low performance in portable mode, and they did not find a solution to seamlessly enable the option when connected to a docking station. But in the future this can still be fixed.
POM not on Switch, but available on PS3
But the method of drawing water was seriously modernized by switching to DirectX 11. At the same time, some of the tasks were removed from the central processor, which helps performance.
Left version for PC, right – for Switch
Water on Nintendo Switch
True, here it was not without a fly in the ointment: we got rid of stones, algae and practically all the “underwater filling”. Now there is just sand under the water, although stones can still be found in few reservoirs.
Compared to the original on PC, the difference is huge underwater.
Left version for PC, right – for Switch
In general, the Nintendo Switch version is surprising. It is much sharper due to the fairly high resolution (on average about 720r in both modes) than in other blockbusters like DOOM.
With regard to performance, the situation is as follows: Crysis has a lock at 31 frames per second, which is why the frame feed is almost constantly unstable. Overall, the game often holds the bar and performs better than any Crysis on consoles.
In complex scenes with heavy use of physics and many enemies in a firefight, performance can drop to 17 frames per second. This is noticeable by the level in the village, where the tank is also driving.
However, thanks to various tweaks, even at a reduced frame rate, the game feels responsive and “smooth”, so Crytek can only be praised for the work done.
Yes, the Nintendo Switch is pulling Crysis.
The remaster of the shooter is out tomorrow on Nintendo Switch, while it will reach PS4, Xbox One and PC in a few weeks.
Bonus – comparison of versions for PC, Switch and PS3
More on review
