Does your Nintendo Switch run Crysis?

We tested the Switch version of Crysis, an FPS well known to PC gamers for its avant-garde technical requirements. Surprisingly, it does not put Nintendo’s console in trouble (even in portable).

« Is your PC running Crysis? “: This sentence became a meme must necessarily resonate in the heads of PC gamers from the late 2000s. Crytek’s FPS, published by Electronic Arts, has long been a real benchmark because of its technical requirements far ahead of their time. After launch, rotate properly Crysis was not an easy task and if it worked, we could conclude that his machine held the route.

The FPS was one of the first games developed with DirectX 10 in mind (and without a console version to inhibit its ambitions). It uses 1 GB just for texture data and has 85,000 active shaders. Today, these numbers no longer make you dizzy, but at the time, you had to hang on to play Crysis by combining graphic beauty and performance (fluidity, essential for playing comfort). Since 2007, he has been overtaken by technology, but he is being talked about again thanks to a remaster available, among others, on Switch.

Crysis on Switch, what’s it worth visually?

Due to its limited power, the Switch does not appear at the top of the list of consoles likely to return to Crysis its superb. In the past, we have seen how much portages can hurt the eyes (we still remember Wolfenstein II : The New Colossus and his fuzzy enemy soldiers), sometimes becoming false good ideas. And when we look la version Switch de The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt, we are just as stunned by the feat as amazed at the sacrifices made to offer the RPG to Nintendo fans. In the case of Crysis, who is therefore 13 years old, it can be said that Crytek and Saber Interactive have done wonders.

So, of course, the Switch version of Crysis is never shiny, whether in portable version or when the hybrid console is connected to a television (via the dock). We feel that the two studios have done what they could to push the Switch to its limits and the result is first and foremost a fluidity rarely faulted, with a framerate which oscillates around 30 fps. We have never cursed when faced with a big slowdown, even if the engine can show some signs of weakness when there are a lot of enemies. For comfort, it is appreciable. It is also provided by a depth of field which highlights the very vast environments of the game, without that unsightly blur that characterizes some opportunistic Switch ports. The forest settings are dense and bushy, which does not detract from the very natural atmosphere reminiscent of the film Predator.

A Switch port of Crysis very surprising

To achieve such a successful rendering, barely marred by some textures coarser than others, less fine modeling and flickering on certain edges (a phenomenon called aliasing), Crytek and Saber Interactive have opted for a dynamic definition. According to the analyzes of the specialized site Digital Foundry, it oscillates between 540p and 900p on the dock and between 400p and 720p in portable version. This is a necessary evil to maintain an attractive level of visual effects, starting with the many elements that can be destroyed in real time (trees, boxes, buildings). We appreciate just as much the lighting (more realistic than at the time) and the shadows that accompany them (they are more detailed in living room mode). All these elements allow you to play Crysis under acceptable conditions, as long as you are indulgent with loading times, a few screen freezes, very empty underwater backgrounds or even residual bugs.

Upon arrival, Crytek and Saber Interactive reward us with a Switch port of Crysis very surprising, in the sense that the fears were immense about performance. The developers have managed to pinpoint the right compromises – that is, the least visible – to deliver a visually impressive experience (for this format, obviously). The Nintendo console has not always been entitled to such neat versions. This is good for owners who would have missed the FPS which has given a hard time to many PCs since 2007.