• Games to Pimp Your Gaming Rig: Part 1

    Games to Pimp Your Gaming Rig: Part 1

    Nachiket Mhatre, Jan 22, 2011 1000 hrs IST

    We forget gameplay for a change to bring on the eye candy

    mail share

Expert Review

    next

The compulsive desire to play the latest games at the highest resolution with every single graphical parameter maxed out is the only logical reason to shovel money down the black hole, otherwise known as system upgrade. However, there are two sides to the tendency that makes us tick every feature in the eye candy department. As important as it is to run games in hardware heaven at ultra high settings, it is equally important to have someone to share the graphical goodness with.

I mean, even Archimedes had to run around naked yelling 'Eureka' to share his discovery. So when you've sold a kidney or two to fund your latest gaming rig, you may be equally compelled to indulge in similar levels of attention seeking. But now that we have serious laws discouraging indecent exposure, we bring you games (in no particular order) to pimp your sweet gaming rig out to your friends in a safe PG13 manner.

Crysis Warhead and Crysis (with Natural mod)

The original Crysis and the stand-alone expansion Crysis Warhead rank among the few games that can bring any monster PC, you throw at them, right down to its knees with consummate ease. For a good reason too, because despite being released three years ago - and three years is a decade in terms of PC hardware - there is nothing out there that even comes close to the graphical goodness of these games. If you want to impress your friends, anything else will do, but Crysis is a game you whip out when you want to make their eyes bleed.

crysis



Crysis features a staggering amount of texture detail, and packs in almost 1GB of texture data. CryEngine 2 is a complex piece of code with over 85,000 shaders bringing unprecedented volumetric lighting and post process effects like blur, bloom, and HDR with unseen beauty and precision. The Natural mod (download here) for Crysis upped the ante even further by increasing the complexity of lighting effects. Just check out the screenshots to know what I mean.

Crysis Warhead did everything that Crysis did, and better, but a tad bit more optimized. That's not saying much though, as both Crysis games are known to be resource hogs and well established benchmarks for performance. No wonder the common gamer refrain is, "Can your system run Crysis?" It is the Mount Everest of the enthusiast world, if you must.

Follow Techtree on Twitter

    next

Do you agree with this Review?
YesNo

Up

12

Down

1

Related Links
Crysis Warhead (PC)
"Crysis 1.5" for the PS3?
"Crysis Warhead" Announced
Tag keywords
Crysis Warhead Crysis Mirrors Edge Metro 2033 Colin McRae Dirt 2



Discussion Board
(17) Comments
Buna Boy
,Silicon Valley, on Dec 19, 2011 07:08 PM
Great work Nachiket. Dont listen to those d**k heads. They all have lost their minds (and their girl friends). Its usual for them to have such behavior. Also I was hoping for Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 in this.
Report abuse
The Banat
,aka Mr. Anthrope, on Jan 22, 2011 02:43 PM
Whaddya know. I'm quite in agreement with all the titles you've picked, Mr. Mhatre. Played all of them maxed out (except ME, due to processor bottlenecks), and they are effing awesome. Good job. I'm particularly pleased to see Metro 2033 on here. I'm also pleased to see the random Mhatre haters on these posts as well. My efforts were not in vain :)
Report abuse
Nachiket
,TechTree, on Jan 22, 2011 09:37 PM
It's not a processor bottleneck. The original build of Mirror's Edge has an issue with Physx, which can be fixed with an official patch. If the problem still persists, you can simply turn it off and everything will run smooth. I had similar problems, but the patch fixed it for me.
Report abuse
The Banat
,aka Mr. Anthrope, on Jan 23, 2011 12:06 AM
Yes, patch notwithstanding. I had an E6550 previously overclocked from 2.3 to 3.3GHz for a couple of years. It then started coughing and spluttering and generally saying, "No, no. Please, no" and had to be underclocked to 1.8GHz to work and be stable. Which was about the time I was playing Mirror's Edge. Hence, the bottleneck theory. We're being oddly polite here, aren't we? Perhaps an alias would change all that :P
Report abuse
Nachiket
, TechTree, on Jan 23, 2011 01:17 AM
Any kind of a forum, or the Internet as a whole, is an archive - a rich source of information that people will stumble across through a web-search or otherwise. I only posted about the Mirror's Edge's Physx problem for that very reason, and most certainly NOT because I wanted to humour you with small talk. I must humbly submit that you take yourself way too seriously.
Report abuse
The Banat
,aka Mr. Anthrope, on Jan 24, 2011 04:10 PM
I see. May I also humbly suggest that the Facebook page of Billoo Balatkari (one of your MANY aliases - though, strangely, not one you've used on TechTree comments sections. I wonder why?) says much the same about you? Surely, people reading online forums would also want to know more about the authors, no? :)
Report abuse
Chetan
, Mumbai, on Jan 25, 2011 12:33 AM
Are you sipping coffee or snorting cocaine? And what's this fixation with rape and the author? That's like 10 different kinds of fudged up!
Report abuse
Sana Khan
, Mumbai, on Jan 25, 2011 01:02 AM
Why is Banatwalla obsessed with balatkaar?
Report abuse
The Banat
,aka Mr. Anthrope, on Jan 25, 2011 12:03 PM
Hahahahaha! It's amusing that you have to keep creating aliases to create the illusion that you have support, Mr. Mhatre. Dear, dear. Try, try, all you will. Also, Sana Khan isn't from Mumbai. Research and stalk a little more next time, won't you? :P
Report abuse
The Banat
,aka Mr. Anthrope, on Jan 25, 2011 12:33 PM
*sips on chilled coffee* It's also strange that you would start unprovoked personal attacks on innocent readers who are essentially telling you that you did a good job.
Report abuse
The Banat
,aka Mr. Anthrope, on Jan 25, 2011 12:39 PM
I don't suppose Mr. Makwana would be particularly pleased if he were shown proof that you're flaming readers on public comments sections, Mr. Mhatre. You're rather careless with what you say in your FB messages to me :)
Report abuse
Don
,Pune, on Jan 23, 2011 04:31 PM
The graphics and textures all seem wonderful but they still have a long way to go interms of getting the physics right.. The overturning vehicle @ "1:07", "1:18" in the vid posted for Crysis Warhead just looks comical.. Nice post Nachiket...
Report abuse
hurr
,durr, on Jan 22, 2011 10:38 AM
Dirt 2 sh1ts on the face of GT5, both in terms of gameplay and especially graphics.
Report abuse
hurr durr
,delhi, on Jan 22, 2011 04:21 PM
the only place dirt2 beats GT5 are the environments and car damage. i know, ive played dirt2 maxed on my PC. GT5's premium cars are in another league, and gameplay, you serious? Dirt 2 is an arcade racer at heart and damage is not going to change that.
Report abuse
Derp
, Derp, on Jan 22, 2011 09:47 PM
I'm a big simulation fan, but gameplay doesn't always mean realism. Dirt 2 indeed has a better, more fun gameplay than the fake simulation gameplay of GT5.
Report abuse
Ritesh
,Delhi, on Jan 22, 2011 04:04 PM
Very nice.. totally agree with you.. And you can include Half Life 2 Episode 2 as well.. Very optimised engine and great graphics..
Report abuse
hurrdurr
,delhi, on Jan 22, 2011 09:43 AM
Another day, another dig by nachiket matre at gt5. Get a life, xbot
Report abuse

Opinion Poll