Another Crysis lover here. I think I've finally found the FPS that will keep me gaming.
My rig isn't all that great: 7900GT, Pentium D 805 2.66GHz/core, 4GB RAM, Vista x64.
I'm playing on a Soyo 24" monitor - 1920x1200. Obviously this resolution doesn't work too well for me. With everything on low, it's ok. 1600x1200 is a bit better and definitely playable with everything set to low. With everything on high except shaders, 1280x800 is ok. Shaders really kick my butt at any resolution.
Anyway, I'm a really big fan of stealth games mixed with a good deal of realism. Delta hard mode is wonderful because I'm so vulnerable. Maximum armor can absorb maybe 2 shots and then I'm close to death, which means I need to think things through and take it slow. There's no longer that mindless run and gun feel. I love the suppressors. I love the stealth mode. I love sneaking up on enemies and taking them out without a sound. I love using the knock-out darts to knock people out. This thing reminds me a lot of Splinter Cell where I used to headshot people with the sticky cam to knock them out, thus conserving ammo and avoiding bloodshed.
1. Shaders are crazy. They make the game unbelievably realistic looking with all the lighting effects and the bajillion pieces of foliage swaying in the wind. Unfortunately, it's absolutely un-runnable for me and takes more of a performance hit than anything else by far. The second most demanding graphics option is textures. Everything else like particle effects, shadows, sound quality, water effects, and physics don't seem to make much of a difference.
2. The suit modes are very intuitive and quick to change IMO. Simply click the middle mouse button and wave the mouse in the general direction of that mode. I can switch modes incredibly fast and on the run. Changing gun accessories is a different story, but this is infrequent.
3. The patrol boats have a totally unrealistic sense of sight. I had a patrol boat tracking me throughout the entire level, shooting at me in the forest from a mile away if I even poked up my head out without stealth mode. At this distance the red dot on my reflex sight is more than the size of three people on that boat. Not to mention it's still deadly accurate at that distance. The boat would even move with me along the level when I was cloaked. It wouldn't fire, but it would just chug along near the shore after me.
4. The audio isn't tied to the actual NPCs. I approached a group of three NKs talking to each other by a rock on the side of the road. I shot all three without detection with my knock out darts and the conversation audio kept on playing from out of thin air. Until I killed each one.
5. NPCs don't have realistic reactions to their teammates getting shot. In #4 above, when I shot the first guy with a dart, the other two didn't react. When I shot the second guy, the remaining soldier didn't react. They were originally standing a foot away from each other holding a conversation.
6. NPCs don't run away from barrels that catch on fire and are about to explode. They just stand there when they should be doing something like a frag grenade reaction where they run away.
7. NPCs don't get out of burning vehicles. When you shoot the gas tank on a car, the NPC just stays in the burning vehicle until it blows up.
8. Grabbing characters is cool. I once grabbed a character and then walked into the ocean to drown him. Unfortunately, you can't dive with the character. The game automatically chucks him into the water when you get to submerging depth.
9. You can't take over patrol boats that have enemies occupying them. I once swam under a patrol boat wanting to hop in and blow away everyone on board. Didn't work. Couldn't get on. Even right underneath the boat, the enemy "saw" me and started shooting.
10. The short draw distance kinda sucks with objects like rocks popping into view scarcely 25 feet away. I hope the final version has an option to increase the object view distance.
All in all though, the stealth aspect is going to keep me coming back. Throughout the entire level I probably shot 30 bullets. I'm not that great at full auto reflex run and gun, and prefer to hide and shoot. That's why I hate it when enemies see me when they shouldn't (#3). But I have a feeling that the aliens have heat vision and that is going to make my life horrible.