CryEngine 3 employs the most highly abused trick to pseudo-realistic lighting: Over-light and glow or under-light and blacken to hide details. In real life, you're either a rock or dirt, not a blended transition between the two. For example, analysis of 'transitional' textures (ex - points between rock and dirt) reveals that environments in CryEngine 3 transition by texture blending, which is the standard, non-impressive way to distinct one environmental feature from another. This 'natural environment' is just a smooth surface with pretty textures mapped onto it, and not in a technologically remarkable manner, either. The lack of surface protrusions from rocks, and the lack of indentation due to prolonged water flow, sticks out like a sore thumb as blatantly unrealistic. Careful analysis of the scenery and lighting reveals that there's not much to be impressed about, especially in terms of 'realism'.Ī truly natural landscape can not be modeled as a smooth surface it would have protrusions and indentations. But what I think is that CryEngine 3 is nothing more than an advanced texture renderer and lighting system. Impressive or Not? (I think not.) CryEngine 3 GDC Showcase Image: It seems to them, CryEngine 3 makes things about as real they can get.

Press releases are yet again praising the game's environments. The developers have announced a sequel, Crysis 2, which will utilize their new game engine, CryEngine 3. Crysis has become notorious for two things - being impossible to run on a mediocre PC, and having some of the most beautiful environments ever seen in a video game.

Cry engine crazy bump