I don't have a "high-end" system but it is decent, runs Crysis 2 on max settings without a hitch. So I guess I'll put in a word for those of us who "meet the system requirements" and had high hopes for this game.
I'm an old hand at Il-2, which was a great game, but required a great deal of know-how and experimentation and legions of dedicated modders to make it not only a great idea, but a rich, varied, realistic, and visually gratifying game.
Awaiting Cod with bated breath, I expected not only improved visuals and increased user options, but an improved and more solid game engine.
After spending 3 days tweaking this game and tweaking my system, dealing with crashes and bludgeoning my head against an insurmountable performance obstacle to playing the game over the land--either with decent-looking terrain and buildings or horrible-looking terrain and buildings--I have begun finally to curse this game and the people who foisted it on us all in its awful state, dashing hopes and crushing spirits of innocent flight-simmers on multiple continents.
Yes, I see the improvements and I see the potential built-in to the game and these things make me optimistic that ultimately Cod will inherit and surpass the Il-2 legacy, but the campaign should be playable by people who meet the minimum requirements (what else are they for?) out of the box with some compromises in graphical quality--and even with those compromises, the game should look pretty good, good enough to play and enjoy, not like a lump of sh.....t.
Like most, the game for me is only playable on any decent graphics settings while over the water. This is fun, but not what is advertised. And even safely out of sight of land, with settings turned up as far as they will go, the models look absolutely terrible at any distance due to the screwed up AA. It's hard to get immersed when I'm thinking "yuck".
And how did they manage to make the machine guns sound so bad? Or the tracers look so crappy? Or the hit effects on enemy airplanes so unimpressive? And why are all of the AA guns operated by invisible men? And what's up with the cotton-ball smoke effects? What is this? 1995?
Of course, without the performance issues, I would have taken those things in stride, knowing mods would sort them out. As it is, I'm peeved.
Performance, one hopes, can be improved by patches, and also, mods. So, in two years I expect the flight-sim community will have polished this turd until it gleams like a P-51 rolling off the factory floor.
In the meantime, I guess I'll be flying FMB missions out in the middle of the Channel and cursing under my breath.
