Crysis 2 has only been on shelves for about a week, but PC players are already raising alarms about cheating in online matches, and some are starting to ask whether Crytek is taking the problem seriously enough.
A Locked Thread Sparks Accusations Against Crytek
The latest round of frustration kicked off on NeoGAF, where members flagged that a thread discussing cheats and hacks on Crytek’s official forums had been quickly locked by the developer. Over on the Crymod modding community, a separate thread describing a tool that can decrypt and extract the game’s .pak archives was reportedly still open. Pulling those files apart makes it possible to alter game data, which is exactly the kind of thing that can be abused to gain an edge online.
That contrast led GamingBolt to conclude on Tuesday that the studio does not appear to care whether its game gets hacked. It is worth stressing that this is an interpretation of the situation rather than anything Crytek has actually said. The developer has not issued a fresh statement on the latest reports, and closing a forum thread about cheats could just as easily be read as an attempt to stop the methods from spreading.
Crytek Promised Anti Cheat Measures For Retail
In fact, Crytek’s most recent public comments point the other way. Earlier this month, during the PC multiplayer demo, the studio acknowledged on its official blog that some people had been playing with an unfair advantage. According to HEXUS’s report on that blog post, Crytek explained that the demo did not include the anti cheat features being built for the retail release, and said its team had been working for some time on various anti cheat measures. The goal, it said, was a cheat free community.
The question PC players are now asking is whether those measures made it into the final game in a form that actually works. The fact that tools and discussions aimed at tampering with the game are already circulating suggests some players are determined to test whatever protection is in place, and Crytek has not yet said how it plans to respond, whether through patches, bans or something else.
A Bumpy Launch For Crysis 2 On PC
It has not been the smoothest launch for the PC version in general. An unfinished build of the game leaked online back in February, a full month before release, and Crytek had to reassure fans that the finished product would look and play far better. Many PC owners have also grumbled that the game launched without DirectX 11 support or more advanced graphics settings. Online cheating is one more headache the studio could do without.
Crysis 2 is out now on PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, published by Electronic Arts. The game moves the series from the jungle to a ruined New York City and runs on Crytek’s new CryEngine 3, with multiplayer handled by Crytek UK, the Nottingham studio formerly known as Free Radical.
For now, the ball is in Crytek’s court. A clear statement on how the studio intends to deal with cheaters in the retail PC version would go a long way toward calming a community that already feels it has been through a lot. If you have run into suspicious behaviour online, let us know what you have seen in the comments.