Xzi said:
After getting that chance, however, I can't lie and say that I'm still compelled to pay full price for it. I didn't think anything could dissuade me from pre-ordering or buying Crysis 2 on day one, but there it is. Maybe others will find the experience worth that price. It's a disappointment when placed side-by-side with Crysis, however, at least in the campaign. Hopefully the multiplayer can make up for that.
Just a reminder, and one I'm sure I don't need to point out, but pre-release
beta builds are not always 100% indicative of the final release alpha. Many times they are simply a tech demonstration, proof-of-concept, trial run, or some other WIP. Saying not much will change in two months time is completely inane.
Case in point - back in May of 2008, a beta build of STALKER: Clear Sky (used at E3) was released to the internetz. This build showcased only a small portion of one of the new maps, a working demonstration of the new Smart Terrain system, improved AI and helicopter logic, as well as a few graphical changes (new sunshafts and sun flare effects as well as dynamic weather) . . . while at the same time showing
no widescreen support (and no 16:9 or 16:10 resolutions were available), was still running on X-Ray 1.0 (which
was NOT the DX10 compliant X-Ray 1.5 that Clear Sky was running on, although the DX10 option and console commands existed in this beta build), was buggy as hell, the map was actually rather small, sounds and textures were still dated from SoC and prior . . .
Clear Sky was released 5-6 months later (depending on your current continent), and the final build was a night and day difference over the E3 beta. There's no way that many changes were made in only a span of 5-6 months . . . even more-so considering how long it takes to actually compile the finished maps (upwards of weeks or more, depending on one's rig), and the scripted events and logics can not be written until the maps are done. The E3 build was
much older than it's actual compile date (of March-April '08), and was really aimed as only an interactable tech/concept demonstration for a convention showing.
There were a TON of users put off by this build, as Clear Sky was being hyped for a good 6 months prior to this leak. In no way does the beta build resemble the final product - some "features" of the build were even cut entirelly, while many more features were added in.