Crysis 2 Graphics Comparison

Water Reflections and Underwater Refraction

All the games support water reflections and refraction. The clear water and sunny skies in Crysis and Crysis Warhead show off considerably more reflections, but they're still apparent on the dark waters of Crysis 2. Overall, water quality seems to be much higher on the previous two games. Of course both games also take place on an island - surrounded by water - it'd be a bad element to ignore. The cityscapes of Crysis 2 remove the need for a heavy emphasis on incredibly detailed water.

Hopping into the water for a look up toward land gives us a wavy look across all the games. Crysis Warhead also drops in minor rainbow effects.

Crysis       Crysis Warhead       Crysis 2      

Crysis       Crysis Warhead       Crysis 2      

Settings

A quick look at the settings page shows that Crysis 2 really slimmed down the number of options users can tweak. Now we’re left with High, Very High, and Extreme. Low, Medium, and High would have sufficed, but apparently gamers tend to be an overly sensitive bunch.

A third party group has released a mod that enables access to more settings for Crysis 2. It can be found here. It is a mod, so be aware that it can have adverse effects.

Crysis       Crysis Warhead       Crysis 2      

It's clear some features didn't quite make it into Crysis 2. However, playable frame rates are generally preferable to eye candy moving at a snail's pace. Crysis 2 came out quite the looker, even with the emphasis on performance over pizazz. We can't wait to see how Crytek modifies Crysis 2 with its upcoming DirectX 11 patch.