By Richard Leadbetter, Alex Goh and MazingerDUDE
First of all kudos to Crytek for releasing a trailer that really is an accurate representation of the work it has done so far on its new CryEngine 3 console technology. We’re talking about direct captures from the PS3 and Xbox 360. In an age where massaging and manipulation of media assets is all but the norm, what Crytek has revealed is refreshingly authentic. We’re also really happy that Crytek itself took control of how the media was presented, providing their own encodes which are lightyears beyond the bit-starved movies released by the major games sites.

The engine is clearly still in development, and we suspect that it’s pretty early to boot. Most people have already commented on the fluctuating frame rate, but it’s also clear to see that there are a range of differences between implementations of graphical features on both platforms. We’ll save the in-depth analysis there for a time when there is actually a gameplay experience at stake.

Frame rate analysis on the released video? Yes, we’ve done it on the 340MB WMV issued by Crytek - an amazingly clean encode, by the way, requiring only a handful of tweaks to the frame analyser readout owing to macroblocking turning a few dupe frames into unique ones. All that being the case, we can say that as an average across the entire range of clips, frame rate on both systems is at 25.5fps give or take a 0.1fps variance.

We can surmise that the Xbox 360 version of the engine appears to be ahead in development compared to the PS3 rendition. We draw this conclusion simply from the fact that the majority of shots involving elements that really tax the engine (and thus incur frame loss) are using 360 video. So, early days yet, and we’d be hoping for closer platform parity and a solid 30fps frame rate on any game powered by this new engine… the first of which must surely be Crysis itself? Crytek needs a showcase release for its console technology, and why not a console rendition of one of the most beautiful-looking games ever made?

Our technical analysis of Crytek’s GDC demo, annotated by Alex Goh. Note that we have so much to tell you here that you’re going to need to freeze the video at some points in order to read the captions before they vanish off-screen. A streaming HD version of this is available here.

So there we go. What is clear is that both versions are running at native 720p, with anti-aliasing absent at this time - we’d be hoping at least for an EdgeAA solution in the final game, as used on the PC version. The trailer itself is a very intriguing teaser and it leaves us hungry for more information. We’re currently sorting out a technical Q+A with Crytek itself which is a hugely exciting opportunity, so look out for that soon.